‘LPG Crisis Driving Migrant Workers Home, But No Work Guarantee in Villages’

New Delhi: The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), which has been fighting to the rights of workers engaged in the Centre’s flagship rural employment guarantee scheme, MGNREGA, has flagged the acute crisis facing these workers amid the US-Israel war on Iran.

In a press statement after reports of LPG prices and shortage and closure of factories and small outlets pushing large-scale migration of workers to villages, the NSM said unlike the pandemic lockdown, “this time there is “there is no safety net of MGNREGA waiting for them at home. “

“Workers across states report that no work is being provided anywhere. Local officials are refusing to accept applications for work, citing lack of instructions on VB-GRAMG, while also claiming they have been directed not to initiate new works under MGNREGA”, said the statement.

It said the ground situation of distress may frutehr aggravate as the Centre “for the first time in over ten years, revised NREGA wage rates have not been notified before the start of the financial year.”

 Read the full statement below:

LPG Crisis Driving Migrant Workers Home, But No Guarantee of Work in Villages

The ongoing war in Iran has disrupted global oil supply chains, pushing up LPG prices and triggering factory slowdowns across India. Once again, the country’s poorest are bearing the brunt. Migrant workers are returning to their villages en masse — but this time, there is no safety net of MGNREGA waiting for them at home.

Since April 1, rural employment programmes have come to a near standstill. MGNREGA works have effectively stopped, with no clarity on the rollout of VB-GRAMG. Workers across states report that no work is being provided anywhere. Local officials are refusing to accept applications for work, citing lack of instructions on VB-GRAMG, while also claiming they have been directed not to initiate new works under MGNREGA. Even where worker pressure has led to work acceptance being accepted — as in some districts of Karnataka, Rajasthan and UP — no new worksites have been opened. Only a  handful of workers are being absorbed into old works sanctioned before February, leaving the vast majority without work.

The MGNREGA MIS reflects this collapse. Only 95 lakh persondays have been generated in April 2026 so far, as opposed to 10.5 crore in the first half of April 2025. In the final quarter of FY 25-26, just 21 crore persondays were generated — 31% lower than the previous year despite higher budgets. Wage payments have also stalled, with nearly ₹10,000 crore pending and almost no payments cleared since January 21, 2026.

Some officials are citing a Ministry Circular from July 2021 imposing a cap of 20 works per panchayat in NREGASoft. This arbitrary technical restriction has long been criticised by workers’ groups as illegal and in violation of the MGNREGA Act. Yet, it continues to be used to deny workers their statutory right to employment. Plus, longstanding issues persist. Workers in UP report loss of attendance due to facial recognition, while those in Jharkhand complain about wages pending for months. These systemic issues are discouraging workers from even demanding work - bringing the Modi government closer to its aim of dismantling the world’s largest work guarantee programme.

For the first time in over ten years, revised NREGA wage rates have not been notified before the start of the financial year. With the revised cost sharing ratio of 60:40 under VB-GRAMG where States will have to bear 40% of all costs, there is no reason for the notified wage-rate to be less than the state’s notified minimum wage.

This comes amid growing labour unrest across the country, most recently in Gurgaon and Noida. From industrial workers to domestic workers, workers across sectors are coming out in protest to demand minimum wages and fair working conditions.

The situation is particularly alarming in West Bengal where no MGNREGA has happened since December 2021. Despite a Calcutta High Court in June 2025 directing its resumption, workers have received nothing but verbal assurances from the Centre that it would restart NREGA work in the state. The Central Government had even reassured the Court that MGNREGA would remain operational till the VB-GRAMG Act was notified. The situation on the ground, however, tells a very different story. And between the tall claims made in Court and the hollow promises behind closed doors, it is millions of workers who are being pushed deeper into distress.

-NREGA Sangharsh Morcha