For the last 87 days, MGNREGS workers have been protesting at the Muzaffarpur district headquarters in Bihar. The Union government had assured them that until the Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB–G RAM G) Act, 2025, passed by Parliament in December, is rolled out, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) would continue unchanged. But on the ground, workers say the story is very different.
The protest in Muzaffarpur began on January 2 this year. Nearly 12,000 workers in the district have not received work for the past three to four months — even before the new rural employment law was introduced.
How MGNREGA changed caste and gender relations, and why workers fear losing it
There is no clarity on when the new scheme under the VB–G RAM G Act will be implemented on the ground, as the Centre is still holding talks with States to establish the necessary framework.
‘Instructed not to start new work’
