A tussle for job cards
— Blog Post — 1 min read
Two weeks ago I wrote how denying job cards seems to be one of the ways used to deny employment guarantee under NREGA. Legally, a job card has to be issued to anyone who applies for it within 15 days of application. It turns out that people are not all that entitled to their entitlements. It takes a lot of time, effort, organization, and struggle.
There is an interesting story in today's The Hindu about women's struggle in western UP (not far from where RICE is) to get job cards and other entitlements:
About 80,000 women of nine districts have been fighting and creating awareness to get their legal entitlements like right to food, right to work and right to health. Working under the banner of Nari Sangh, these women have succeeded in regularising almost 268 PDS shops in the past four years. It was not an easy task to get job cards, payment receipts and pass books under the right to work scheme, but collective efforts of the women has resulted in providing work to 45,000 families in 666 gram panchayats.