According to a 2014 state-level study, at least one or two members in 56.6 percent of households in southern Rajasthan were migrating in search of work. As the level of male outmigration, in particular, has remained high in the region, a significant share of the livelihoods of such households is dependent on women’s labour.
In this context, MGNREGA has been more than an employment scheme and a source of income. It has been an important medium for women to access the panchayat, voice their views and concerns, organise collectively, and demand accountability from the local administration.
MGNREGA: More than just employment for women
Over the years, thousands of women associated with Ujala Sangathan, a rural women’s collective that I work with in southern Rajasthan, have gone to their village panchayats to apply for work under MGNREGA.
The process of demanding work also gave them the opportunity to interact with the panchayat secretary, the sarpanch, and other local officials, gradually overcoming their hesitation in asking for an acknowledgement receipt of their application. As one leader of the sangathan explained, “When we went alone, no one in the panchayat would listen to us. But when we all go together, they have no choice but to give us the receipt.”ing their hesitation in asking for an acknowledgement receipt of their application. As one leader of the sangathan explained, “When we went alone, no one in the panchayat would listen to us. But when we all go together, they have no choice but to give us the receipt.”
In 2016–17, around 200 women in a gram panchayat in the Dungarpur district were illegally charged INR 50 each to submit applications for work under MGNREGA. When women protested this fee, many were denied work, while others faced delays in receiving their wages. Despite this, they did not back down. They continued to visit the panchayat office, submit applications, and expose the flaws in the system. Ultimately, the women ensured that those who had been forced to pay money to submit their applications were given a refund. This became a strong example of women collectively holding the panchayat and local administration accountable. Despite this, they did not back down. They continued to visit the panchayat office, submit applications, and expose the flaws in the system. Ultimately, the women ensured that those who had been forced to pay money to submit their applications were given a refund. This became a strong example of women collectively holding the panchayat and local administration accountable.
Over time, as women began attending panchayat meetings, they discussed far more than just MGNREGA. They raised issues related to their families and households, anganwadis, schools, roads, ration, errors in Aadhaar records, suspended pensions, incorrect dates of birth on state government-issued Jan Aadhaar cards, shortage of doctors in government hospitals, as well as cases of violence and fraud in the area.
Women say their greatest strength is that they can now step out of their homes, attend panchayat meetings, have the panchayat convened when necessary, and raise questions to the sarpanch, the panchayat secretary, and the Lower Division Clerk (LDC) about their rights.
A space to share work and life
At a MGNREGA worksite in the Kherwara region, a group of women chatted while they worked. One woman remarked, “It is so cold today. I was feeling lazy this morning, so I only brought rotis, but no cooked vegetables to eat them with.” Another replied, laughing, “I brought vegetables.” Hearing the exchange, an elderly woman sitting nearby chimed in, “Well, I only brought a knife. If someone has brought a cucumber, I’ll [chop and] eat it.”
While such everyday conversations may seem mundane to an outsider, the worksite is a space of such companionship and conversation, where women can speak freely with friends, share their worries and, for some time, live outside of their daily routines.
In conversations, women also share information about government schemes, talk about deadlines for applications, make plans to visit banks or e-Mitra centres together, and provide help and support to each other.
This also has a crucial, albeit indirect connection to women’s health, including their mental and emotional well-being. A good state of health is not simply dependent on adequate nutrition. It also means having access to spaces where women can express and share their stress, anxieties, and emotions. In this sense, a MGNREGA worksite often becomes a source of social and emotional support as well.
Strengthening economic agency and bargaining power
“There is a sense of joy when we get our wages from MGNREGA,” said Kiran Bai*, a sangathan leader from Kodar village. “However, if there is no work, there is no money.”
For women in southern Rajasthan, having their own income becomes an important means to reduce their financial dependence, especially when men leave the region for work. An income gives women the confidence to make decisions regarding household expenses, their children’s needs, travel, and their own small personal expenditures.
Women and activists also shared that MGNREGA strengthened their bargaining power in the local informal labour markets. As one activist explained, “Women tell contractors or employers that they can earn INR 200–250 a day under MGNREGA, so they won’t work for anything less than that.”
In this way, MGNREGA wages serve as a benchmark for a dignified minimum wage.
MGNREGA as a gateway to rights and social welfare
MGNREGA has served as a pathway for women to claim other government rights and entitlements. In rural areas, where opportunities for local construction work are limited, many women have relied on the record of 90 days of employment under the Act to qualify for registration under the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act. This registration in turn provides access to scholarships, maternity benefits, and a range of other social security schemes.
What do women stand to lose when the right to demand work is weakened?
Over the course of working with women, we have also observed that MGNREGA has long been plagued by issues such as delayed wage payments and uncertainty about the availability of work. Now, there are concerns that if the new legal and institutional changes under the VB-G RAM G Act impose a greater financial burden on state governments or further limit the availability of work, it could become even more difficult for rural women to access employment.
The impact will resemble a cascading effect. If women are unable to find sufficient work within their villages, they will be forced to turn to the informal labour market and take up jobs in private construction or other unorganised sectors, where they are already paid relatively lower wages and where their bargaining power will be far weaker. On top of this, women will no longer be able to demand better rates by citing MGNREGA wages.
Women are worried that if the process of seeking work is curtailed, if the nature of the work changes, or if accountability at the local level is weakened, then their collective access to the gram panchayat and to government schemes—strengthened over years—and their ability to exercise decision-making over their own earnings in their household could all be undermined.
They also raised concerns that decisions around work budgets, priorities, and their implementation will become increasingly centralised, rather than being made by the local community. Gauri*, a sangathan leader from the Sabla region put it this way: “Now the people sitting in Delhi will decide whether the chulha [mud stove] in my home gets lit or not.”
With the VB-G RAM G Act having come into force on July 1, 2026, the central question, therefore, is not simply whether women will continue to receive employment. It is also whether they will retain the public and democratic spaces through which they were learning how to hold the panchayat accountable, negotiating for fair wages, supporting one another, and building an identity beyond the confines of their home.
*Names changed to maintain confidentiality.
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Know more
- Learn more about why rural women will be disproportionately impacted by the dismantling of MGNREGA.
- Read how MGNREGA reshaped the dynamics of migration and labour markets in India.
