The State Executive Committee of the Dehati Mazdoor Sabha held a meeting at the state office in Jalandhar, chaired by Amrik Singh Daud. Following the meeting, state general secretary Gurnam Singh Daud and press secretary Baldev Singh Noorpuri announced that all district and tehsil committees across Punjab have been urged to actively participate in submitting memorandums to the Chief Minister through Deputy Commissioners on June 30. This action is in response to a call by the Joint Front of Rural and Agricultural Labour Organisations.
Key demands outlined in the memorandums
The memorandums will remind the Punjab Government of its unfulfilled commitments since assuming office. Key demands include permanent employment for labourers, year-round work under MGNREGA, increasing the minimum daily wage to Rs 700, and repealing the "Viksit Bharat G Ram G Law." Additionally, the government is urged to honour election promises such as providing unconditional monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 or Rs 1,500 to women with arrears, increasing widow, old-age, and disability pensions to Rs 5,000 per month, and waiving all government, non-government, cooperative, and microfinance loans owed by labourers.
Labour laws and land reforms
The memorandums also call for repealing the four Labour Codes enacted by the Central Government, implementing land reforms by distributing surplus land among landless labourers and marginal farmers, allotting one-third of panchayati land to labourers, and providing residential plots along with a grant of Rs 5 lakh for house construction to needy families.
Struggle for basic demands
According to the leaders, rural labourers have been continuously struggling for these basic and legitimate demands. However, the government, which came to power promising “change,” has consistently ignored the concerns and demands of labourers. The meeting resolved to intensify the struggle for these just and legitimate demands. Among those present were Comrade Shamsher Singh Batala, Parmjit Randhawa, Gurnam Singh Bhinder, and Jagjit Singh Jasseyana.
