On October 26, 2025, the Supreme Court dismissed the Central government’s plea challenging the Calcutta High Court’s order (passed in June this year) on the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
In order to provide relief to the 275 lakh registered MGNREGA workers in the state, the HC directed the Center to resume the 100-day work scheme in the state. The High Commission reiterated its order on November 7 as well. MGNREGA workers have been suffering since 2022, when the funds were blocked entirely by the Centre, citing corruption at the state level. In its order, the SC made it clear that the Center is free to continue its action regarding the alleged corruption charges, but the rural poor should not suffer because of it. Work under the scheme was supposed to resume from August 1. However, nothing has changed since the Centre, instead of complying with the HC order and resuming work, submitted a special leave petition to the SC on July 31.
Meanwhile, many disturbing stories about the plight of Bangladeshi migrant workers have appeared in the news. Police in Gurugram have reportedly arrested and detained large groups simply because they are Bengali-speaking people. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was quick to attack the BJP government for unfairly targeting the state once again and announced a new scheme, Charmashri, under which migrant workers who agree to return to the state will be given a monthly stipend of INR 5,000 for a year.
Due to shortage of jobs in the home state, poor workers moved from Bengal to survive, especially after the complete collapse of MGNREGA.
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Meanwhile, after the SC’s positive order in June, there was hope in the most backward and vulnerable areas of the state. In Purulia district alone, thousands of applications were submitted to the respective collective offices in June and July, many of them by women whose husbands had already left the state. They expected MGNREGA to begin in August, which could make the upcoming Durga Puja less difficult for their children this time.
The Supreme Court’s recent intervention and the SC’s reiteration of its earlier order bring new hope once again. But there are some bigger questions that need to be addressed. Why, in the first place, is the Center so reluctant to resume MGNREGA when it can simultaneously pursue corruption investigations? Why was the state government oblivious to this situation, attacking the Center so harshly and launching counter schemes without legal safeguards?
A few days ago, Banerjee took to the streets holding the Indian Constitution in her hand and a sea of people following her. The practice of SIR began in the state amid competing claims ranging from it being a secret operation to implement NRC and CAA to its connection to the recent suicide cases.
Conflicting claims and narratives around the fear of losing citizenship and the fear of losing the right to work are now replacing the “freebies” and incentives that were always at the heart of pre-election discourse. The confusion between consumers and citizens has been a consequence of neoliberalism in general. But depriving vulnerable groups of the means of subsistence – and giving them only in exchange for voting – seems far more terrifying than distributing “freebies.” It seems to turn constitutional rights into incentives.
The writer is a scientist, TISS, Mumbai
(Tags for translation)Bengal
