Dimapur, January 31 (MExN): The Nagaland Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee (NPMCC) on January 31 held an executive and organisational meeting under the theme “Save MGNREGA” at Congress Bhavan, Dimapur, with leaders raising concern over what they termed the systematic weakening of the rural employment guarantee scheme.
The meeting was attended by Mahila Congress leaders, activists and members from across Nagaland. It was chaired by NPMCC General Secretary Shikali Swu and began with an invocation by Vice President Neojila Yim.
Addressing the gathering, Yim underlined the critical role of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in securing livelihoods for rural and tribal women in the state. She said the scheme was not merely a welfare measure but a legal right that ensured employment and dignity.
Expressing concern over the functioning of the scheme, Yim alleged that MGNREGA was being systematically weakened by the central government, resulting in delayed wage payments, reduced number of workdays and the exclusion of the most vulnerable women from the workforce.
Speeches were also delivered by Kihoni Awomi, President of Dimapur District Mahila Congress, along with other constituency Mahila Congress presidents, who shared ground-level accounts of economic distress faced by women due to the erosion of MGNREGA in Nagaland.
The special guest and keynote speaker, Lhingkim Haokip, General Secretary of the All India Mahila Congress and Incharge Northeast, said MGNREGA was a constitutional right and not a government favour. Criticising the Modi government, she alleged that the scheme was being undermined through inadequate budgetary allocations, delays in wage payments and administrative hurdles, which she said disproportionately affected women workers.
Haokip announced that the All India Mahila Congress, in coordination with its state units, would launch a nationwide movement to defend MGNREGA, demand timely payment of wages, ensure adequate budgetary provisions and resist any dilution of the Act.
During the meeting, the Nagaland Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee resolved to organise grassroots-level awareness campaigns on MGNREGA rights, document and escalate cases of wage delays and denial of work, mobilise women across districts for peaceful and democratic protests, and engage with Members of Parliament and Members of the Legislative Assembly to raise the issue in Parliament and the State Assembly.
The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks by NPMCC Vice President Sentila Imchen, followed by a press conference and light refreshments.
The NPMCC said it stood united with women workers across the country in the fight to protect MGNREGA and to secure economic justice, dignity and empowerment for women.
