Protesters from various states have been sitting on a dharna at Jantar Mantar against what they perceive as an attack on the MGNREGS, the Right to Work scheme of the government.

When Catch spoke to them, they complain of how the government has not increased wages, how the payments are often late with no compensation for the delays, and how the government talks of increasing the budgetary outlay for the scheme means little.

A delegation from the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, the Right to Food Campaign and the National Campaign for People's Right to Information met the Finance Minister with the demand of allocating adequate funds for the employment guarantee act to allow a substantial increase in the wage rate, timely payment of wages, enhancement of the rate of compensation for delayed payments and a guarantee of 200 days of work in the years of disasters such as droughts and floods (see the attached letter). Adequate budgets were also demanded for maternity entitlements and the immediate passage of the Grievance Redress Bill. However, the members of the delegation say that Arun Jaitley showed little interest in these demands..