Tearing into the Modi government, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi accused it of dismantling the MGNREGA. She warned that this move would have catastrophic consequences for millions of rural Indians.
Sonia Gandhi said that the UPA’s flagship MGNREGA scheme, created in 2005 as a rights-based law. It ensure the right to work dismantled without discussion, consultation, or respect for parliamentary processes.
Sonia Gandhi hit BJP
“The removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name is only the tip of the iceberg,” she wrote, calling it a symbol of a deeper destruction of the world’s largest social security program.
She charged that the process to weaken MGNREGA had been developing for a long time. The ruling BJP used a strategy of “death by a thousand cuts” to undermine the scheme through stagnant budgets, delayed payments, and technology.
Her sharp remarks came days after Parliament passed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Employment and Livelihood Mission (Rural) Bill. It is called as G RAM G, within two chaotic days amid protests.
Why government replaces MGNREGA with new bill?
Sonia Gandhi claimed that the new law replaces a legal employment guarantee with discretionary program. It change the character of MGNREGA. “Demand-driven, uncapped employment replaced by fixed budget limits set by the Union government,” she wrote. She also pointed out that the new provisions end year-round work, introduce up to 60 “no-work” days during the peak agricultural season, and increase the states’ financial burden from 10 % to 40 %.
Read also: Army Lieutenant Colonel Arrested in Rs 2.3 Crore Bribery Case