Make to Media: Mallika Singh: Rajasthan: Monday, December 01, 2025.
On 26 November 2025, India’s 76th Constitution Day, a day marking the state’s transition to a sovereign, democratic republic, Jaipur witnessed the culmination of a 16-day Jawabdehi Pad Yatra (Accountability March) which commenced in Beawar on 11 November 2025. Organised by the Soochna Evam Rozgar Adhikar Abhiyan Rajasthan (Right to Information and Employment Campaign Rajasthan), the Yatra brought together farmers, daily wage workers, female domestic workers, nomadic tribe members, and other marginalised rural community members, after over two weeks on foot, to the state capital. Their central demand is straightforward: urgent passage and implementation of the long-pending Rajasthan Transparency and Social Accountability Bill (RTSA) 2020.
Rural Rajasthan’s rightful asks around labour welfare, silicosis relief, pensions, and food security remain consistently unanswered, not because laws are missing, but because there is no political or administrative accountability to enforce them at the ground level. The first and 100-day-long Jawabdehi Yatra between 2015 and 2016 recorded over ten thousand grievances, with no legitimate follow-ups, and likewise for the second and third Yatra in 2021 and 2022. This time, between Beawar and Jaipur, the Yatra marched through 200–300 villages and witnessed widespread systemic failures once again, from pending complaints on the Rajasthan Sampark Portal established under the Rajasthan Right to Hearing Act, 2012, to unlawful deletion of lakhs of names from voter lists under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision.
There was also a sharp focus on labor welfare, demanding immediate implementation of the Minimum Guaranteed Income Act, along with a rise in the monthly pension from ₹1000 to ₹1500, a 15% annual increment as promised, and timely disbursal on a fixed date with due compensation for any delay. They also seek guaranteed employment of 125 days for shehri (urban) workers and 25 days for grameen (rural) workers each year under MNREGA, alongside an increase in minimum wages to at least ₹800. Female domestic workers called for the establishment of a dedicated board for them under the state legislature, with formal recognition as laborers by adopting the ILO Convention 189, to ensure dignity, workplace protection, and other basic labour rights for this otherwise largely invisible workforce.
The majority of the protestors happen to be long-standing campaigners of the Right to Information Act (RTI), 2005, and demand the immediate withdrawal of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA), 2023, as it grants public authorities sweeping discretion to withhold information by labelling it “personal.” Details about assets and liabilities of public servants, contract awards, welfare-beneficiary lists, or government expenditures, all of which RTI had previously routinely exposed, could now be withheld even when disclosure serves public interest
Furthermore, the yatra demands urgent enforcement of the Rajasthan Silicosis Policy, 2019, a landmark framework for detection, prevention, and rehabilitation, promising monthly pensions for affected workers and widows. Despite Rajasthan being an epicentre of silicosis, the policy remains largely absent on the ground. Labourers made repeated accounts of deaths persisting around stone-crushing zones. Immediate expansion of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) coverage was also brought to light, noting that thirteen years without a new census has left thousands excluded from food and ration entitlements, making the identification and inclusion of new eligible households an urgent priority.
The Yatra’s arrival in Jaipur on a day the state remembers its fundamental democratic values under the Indian Constitution exposes a long-standing tension in Rajasthan’s governance: constitutional rights exist, yet the systems meant to guarantee them falter repeatedly. And if these voices can only be heard after such a journey, how many must remain unheard altogether?
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