CITU General Secretary Tapan Sen (left) addressing a media conference as part of CITU All India Conference in Visakhapatnam on January 1, 2026. CITU General Secretary Ch. Narasinga Rao (right) is also seen. | Photo credit: V. Raju
The 18th All India Conference of the Center of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) passed a resolution demanding the repeal of the Viksit Bharat Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Guarantee Act, called the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025, and urged the restoration and strengthening of the Mahatma Gandhi, along with an improved Rural Employment Act and the Rural Labor Guarantee (NMG) Centre.
Addressing the media here on Thursday (January 1, 2026) to announce the resolution and proceedings on the second day of the conference, CITU General Secretary Tapan Sen said that the VB-G RAM G Act was a retrograde enactment by the Center which had the effect of repealing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee and (2000tnihally, mutated) statutory right of rural households to employment guarantee and unemployment allowance’, leave it at mercy and discretion of governments.
“It changed the statutory right and entitlement to a discretionary system along with imposing a financial and administrative burden on state governments, undermining the federal structure of the Constitution,” Mr. Sen said.
Putting the burden of 40% of the cost on the state governments would weaken the scheme as the state governments might not have enough revenue to pay their share, he said. MGNREGA was functioning smoothly since 2005 and the new law was against the federal structure of the country, he said.
Moreover, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Center brought in labor codes that were “nothing but an attack on workers’ rights”, Mr Sen said.
The Visakhapatnam steel plant was not privatized only because of workers’ agitations in the last five years, he said. “The Center brought the Labor Code to suppress the workers and the Center does not want any trade unions to exist. The working class should continue to agitate against the policies of the government,” Mr Sen said.
CITU passed another resolution condemning the Sustainable Use and Development of Nuclear Energy to Transform India (SHANTI) Act 2025, which was rushed through Parliament and repealed the Atomic Energy Act 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010.
“The law is a dangerous, anti-human and anti-sovereign law that opens up India’s most dangerous and strategic energy sector to private and foreign corporate interests. It erodes safety, accountability, democratic oversight and workers’ rights. This conference calls for the immediate repeal of the law in its entirety,” the CITU resolution said.
Published – 1 Jan 2026 22:15 IST
