On August 21, a three-judge Supreme Court Bench led by the Chief Justice of India dismissed a petition and sought a fresh one in a case on minimum wages in rural employment guarantee programmes. The Bench lauded MGNREGA’s role in rural development. It probed whether the ‘Right to Work’ should be treated on par with Article 21, the fundamental right to life, sparking an important discussion on the constitutional foundations of this right.
Despite its limited scope of only 100 days of work per rural household and chronic underfunding, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was the only law anchored in the core principle of the right to work. In December 2025, the Union government replaced MGNREGA with the Viksit Bharat — Guarantee for Rozgar & Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-GRAM G) Act, and its implementation began on July 1. About 3.44 crore households worked for about 44 crore person-days under MGNREGA in July and August, on average, over the previous five years (Table 1). There has been a 68% decrease in employment in July and August this year compared with the average of the preceding five years. Notwithstanding the...
By Doris Obinna The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has warned against reports declaring Nigeria Ebola-free, insisting that although the country currently has no confirmed...