New Delhi : Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday lashed out at the Centre for planning to bring a Bill to replace the existing Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Rahul Gandhi’s reaction came as the government is planning to repeal the rural jobs scheme under MGNREGA, which provides a legal guarantee of 100 days of wage employment to rural households every year.
Rahul Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a “deep dislike” for two things – the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and the rights of the poor. “MGNREGA is the living embodiment of Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Gram Swaraj. It has been a lifeline for millions of rural Indians and proved to be a crucial economic safety net during the Covid-19 pandemic,” the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said.
“MGNREGA is the living embodiment of Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Gram Swaraj. It has been a lifeline for millions of rural Indians and proved to be a crucial economic safety net during the Covid-19 pandemic,” the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said. He claimed that the NDA government was “systematically” trying to weaken the MGNREGA, saying that PM Modi had been “unsettled” by the rural employment guarantee scheme.
Now, Modi ji wants to transform MGNREGA into a tool of centralised control – budgets, schemes, and rules will be dictated by the Centre, states will be forced to bear 40 per cent of the costs, and once funds run out, or during harvest season, workers will be denied employment for months,” he said. Rahul Gandhi said the Opposition will protest against the “anti-people Bill” from roads to Parliament.
The Centre plans to replace MGNREGA with the new ‘Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Gramin’ (VB-G RAM G) bill. The proposed scheme promises 125 days of wage employment with a 60:40 Centre-State funding split, and will repeal the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005, if the Bill is passed.
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