The Opposition has criticised the bill for changing the scheme’s name and removing Mahatma Gandhi’s reference from it. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with other Opposition MPs, has already held a protest at the Parliament.
Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday termed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill or the VB-G RAM-G Bill, which is slated to replace MGNREGA, an “insult to the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi.” Launching a scathing attack at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the nation’s flagship rural job scheme, Rahul Gandhi alleged the Centre initially weakened the programme and is now wiping it out.
Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X: “Modi ji has a deep hatred for two things – the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and the rights of the poor. MGNREGA is a living embodiment of Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of village self-rule – it is a lifeline for millions of rural lives, which also proved to be their economic safety shield during the COVID era. However, Prime Minister Modi has always been irritated by this scheme, and for the past ten years, he has been trying to weaken it. Today, he is determined to wipe out MGNREGA completely.”
Gandhi further slammed the Centre for the 60:40 fund sharing arrangement between the central and state governments and ‘no work’ provided under the bill during the peak agricultural season. “The foundation of MGNREGA was based on three core ideas. 1. Right to employment – whoever demands work will get it, 2. Freedom for villages to decide their own development works, 3. The central government will bear the full cost of wages and 75 per cent of the material costs. Now, Prime Minister Modi wants to change this very MGNREGA to concentrate all power solely in his own hands -1. The centre will decide the budget, schemes, and rules 2. States will be forced to bear 40 per cent of the expenses. 3. As soon as the budget is exhausted or during the crop harvest season, no one will get work for two months,” the Congress MP said. He added that his party will oppose the bill on the streets and in the Parliament.
The Opposition has criticised the bill for changing the scheme’s name and removing Mahatma Gandhi’s reference from it. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with other Opposition MPs, has already held a protest at the Parliament. The bill introduced by the Agriculture Minister in the Lok Sabha proposes 125 days of wage employment per rural household, up from the existing 100 days, for adult members willing to undertake unskilled manual work. As per the bill, the fund-sharing pattern between the Centre and the state governments will be 60:40, except for northeastern states, Himalayan states, and Jammu and Kashmir.
(With inputs from news agency ANI).
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