Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 21-day lockdown on India has severely affected daily wage labourers across the country, including those covered by the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act MGNREGA. Despite signing up under the scheme, work is not a possibility during the lockdown, leaving many desperate for essentials to feed themselves and their families.

In a frustrated plea for help, MGNREGA workers in Patiala protested by banging pots and pans on building roofs in the area on 26 March (video above). On the same day, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said a door-to-door initiative to provide food to daily wage workers and the unorganised sector would begin from 27 March (video below).

However, The Quint reported that a day after these workers protested by banging their plates, the village headman stated that no arrangements for rations or milk had reached them.

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