In the last couple of weeks, the Rozgar Adhikar Yatra travelled through Bihar and U. P., using public debates and conversations with various sections of our communities to discuss the need for minimum wage employment programs for the economic sustenance of India.

The Yatra went through Lucknow and Hardoi and now makes its way to Lakhimpur Kheri. In Hardoi there were public rallies which were attended by over 600 people. The yatra met with labourers and peasants. In Lucknow, the yatra made participated in discussions with Rickshaw-pullers, discussing the issue of livelihood, minimum wages and how the proposed bill based on the Right to Employment will affect the poorest and the working classes in India.

The yatra now heads to Lakhimpur Kheri which has been the center of large food and land scams involving the local mafia and the bureaucracy. Land reforms in this area have been co-opted by the landlords. Programs have been organized where the members of the yatra will meet with peasants and labourers and with the bureaucracy to help support the movement for land reform in that region.

Owing to the boycott of the parliament by the opposition, the bill could not be presented during the spring session of Parliament. It is expected to be discussed in the monsoon session. However, the bill in its current form is rather toothless. Frontline reported:
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill tabled by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in Parliament in December 2004 is being denounced as a "facade exercise" that does little credit to the right to work. The Bill promises a minimum of 100 days of employment to every poor household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. If an eligible applicant is not provided such employment within 15 days of receipt of making an application, he/she shall be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance, the rate of which will be specified by the State governments.

But certain clauses in the Bill make it an inadequate exercise. Some of them are: (a) It applies only to rural areas, and does not cater to the urban poor; (b) there is no assurance that there will be a definite unemployment allowance in case the government is unable to provide work; (c) only those who hold BPL cards will be considered for work; (d) a rural "household" is treated as a unit, instead of considering each individual who seeks work; (e) there is no accountability at the local level; and (f) it is restricted to only 150 "backward" districts and is not applicable across India.

India is a signatory to all the employment-related human rights, which it is obliged to satisfy. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights had a vital impact in framing the Indian Constitution. However, the Constituent Assembly that framed it did not throw much light on the right to work as an enforceable right. Ambedkar, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, remarked:
"If a person who is unemployed is offered a choice between a job of some sort and exercise of his rights to freedom of speech, association, religion, etc., can there be any doubt as to what his choice would be? The unemployed are thus compelled to relinquish their fundamental rights for the sake of securing the privilege to work and subsist.

Earlier, The Rozgar Adhikar Yatra enjoyed a warm reception in Ranchi on 17th June after completing the first part of its 5,000 km journey. The Yatra was welcomed with garlands, songs, diyas, music and folk dances including a very special performance by renowned folk artist Mukun Nayak and his associates. The Yatra stayed in Ranchi for three days for a national convention on employment guarantee and the right to work, before starting its final journey towards Delhi on 19 June.

In this area as elsewhere, the Yatra went through districts covered by the National Food For Work Programme (NFFWP). Testimonies from NFFWP labourers have been heard at many public meetings, and the Yatra has also made occasional stopovers at NFFWP worksites. A grim picture is emerging from these testimonies and investigations. The Programme guidelines are simply not being enforced: muster rolls are nowhere to be seen, minimum wages are never paid, contractors are routinely used to implement the work, and use of labour-displacing machines is also quite common.

In Surguja, a team of researchers associated with the Yatra carried out a public verification of muster rolls and found evidence of blatant fraud: some labourers had worked for three days only but the muster rolls showed that they had worked for sixty days. In Palamau, the Yatra made an unannounced visit to a NFWWP worksite and found that labourers had beend �displaced� by tractors � documentation are available. In Puruliya, labourers were found to be working for as little as Rs 20 per day. A detailed affidavit was taken from a poor woman who had worked for three days with her son and daughter and earned as little as 13 kg of rice for these nine person-days of work.

Meanwhile, a one-member committee led by Mr. Sunil Kumar Khadjur, Secretary Women and Child Welfare is investigating the police attack on members of the yatra as well as villagers who were participating in a public discussion in Balrampur, Chattisgarh. While the committee was supposed to present its findings in 15 days � which went by on 29th of June � no report has been forthcoming so far.

For further info please contact the Yatra�s support team in Delhi (09868800329 [Kamal] or 09891050213 [Neha]). The Yatra can also be contacted directly at 09868888127 or 09350530150 (however the Yatra is often outside the coverage of mobile networks), or by e-mail at rozgar@gmail.com

This note is based on notes from the yatra website (www.righttofoodindia.org), and conversations with Arundhati Dhuru who is organizing the Lucknow-Hardoi-Lakhimpur Kheri section of the march.

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