SKM announces all India protest against G RAM G law on 16 Jan

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Monday announced an 'All India Resistance Day' to be observed on 16 January 2026, stepping up its confrontation with the Centre over a cluster of recently cleared laws — most prominently the new statute that replaces the rural jobs programme MGNREGA.

Addressing a press conference, SKM leaders demanded the immediate repeal of the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajiveeka Mission (Gramin) Act, or VB-G RAM G, arguing that the legislation dismantles the legal entitlement to work that had been at the heart of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee framework for nearly two decades. They accused the government of rushing the law through Parliament without adequate debate and ignoring objections raised by the Opposition.

The farmers’ platform also renewed its call for the withdrawal of a raft of other Bills passed or proposed by the NDA government, including the new Labour Codes, the Seeds Bill 2025 and the Electricity Bill 2025. Reiterating long-standing demands, the SKM said it would continue to press for a statutory guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) in line with the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission.

In a sharply worded statement, SKM leaders described the government as “authoritarian and anti-people”, alleging that the VB-G RAM G law had been “bulldozed” through Parliament to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a scheme they said had provided a critical lifeline to rural households during agrarian distress, economic slowdowns and the pandemic years.

The farmers’ body broadened its criticism to other recent legislation as well. It said the Insurance Bill 2025 opens the sector to 100 per cent foreign direct investment, while the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill 2025 allows large-scale private and foreign participation — moves the SKM claimed were tailored to the interests of big corporates and multinational companies rather than workers or farmers.

“These attacks are part of a continuing pattern,” the SKM said, linking the new laws to what it called “anti-people” measures such as free trade agreements signed under pressure from the United States, as well as the proposed Seeds and Electricity Bills and the four Labour Codes. Each step, it argued, had further alienated working people from the NDA government.

The SKM — an umbrella platform that spearheaded the massive 2020–21 farmers’ agitation against the now-repealed farm laws — emphasised the need for renewed worker-farmer unity to resist what it described as a systematic rollback of rights and protections.

“The National Coordination Committee of the SKM has decided to observe January 16, 2026, as All India Resistance Day,” the statement said, calling for coordinated protests across states.

As part of the mobilisation, the SKM appealed to farmers and rural workers to convene village-level mahapanchayats and take a New Year pledge to join the struggle against the VB-G RAM G Act, the Seeds Bill 2025, the Electricity Bill 2025 and the Labour Codes. It also reiterated demands for a comprehensive loan waiver to curb farmer suicides and distress-driven migration from rural to urban areas.

Farmer leaders said the SKM’s national council would meet in Delhi on 11 January to finalise the next phase of the agitation and decide on the scale and form of protests.

The VB-G RAM G law, which formally replaces MGNREGA enacted in 2005, was cleared by Parliament in a post-midnight session last week amid noisy Opposition protests, and received presidential assent on Sunday — setting the stage for a renewed political and social confrontation over rural employment and agrarian policy.

With PTI inputs