Nagaland: NPMCC launches campaign to defend women’s rights under MGNREGA

Nagaland Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee (NPMCC) held an executive and organizational meeting under the theme “Save MGNREGA” at Congress Bhavan, Dimapur, on January 31. The meeting was attended by Mahila Congress leaders, activists, and members from across the state.
According to a press release by NPMCC, in her keynote address, special guest, general secretary of All India Mahila Congress and Incharge Northeast, Lhingkim Haokip reiterated that MGNREGA is a constitutional right, not a government favor. She criticized the Modi government for undermining the scheme through inadequate budgeting, payment delays, and administrative hurdles, which disproportionately affect women workers. Haokip announced that the All India Mahila Congress, along with state units, will launch a nationwide movement to defend MGNREGA, ensure timely wage payments, secure adequate budgetary allocations, and resist any dilution of the Act.
Vice president, NPMCC, Neojila Yim, highlighted the critical role of MGNREGA in securing livelihoods for rural and tribal women in Nagaland, emphasizing that it is a legal right to employment and dignity, not merely a welfare measure. She expressed concern over delayed wage payments, reduced workdays, and exclusion of vulnerable women due to systematic weakening of the scheme.
The meeting also featured speeches from president, Dimapur District Mahila Congress Kihoni Awomi, and other constituency Mahila presidents, who shared ground-level reports of how women in Nagaland are facing economic distress due to the erosion of MGNREGA.
The NPMCC resolved to organize grassroots awareness campaigns, document and escalate cases of wage delays and work denial, mobilize women across districts to protest peacefully, and engage MPs and MLAs to raise the issue in Parliament and the State Assembly.
The session was chaired by general secretary, NPMCC Shikali Swu, and invocation by vice president, NPMCC Neojila Yim. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks by vice president, NPMCC, Sentila Imchen,