Sonia Gandhi in Video Message: Modi Govt Replacing MGNREGA With VB-G RAM G 'Attack on
Sonia Gandhi in Video Message: Modi Govt Replacing MGNREGA With VB-G RAM G 'Attack on Farmers, Labourers'
M.U.H
20/12/202532
New Delhi: Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi in a video message on Saturday took on the Centre over the newly passed VB-G RAM G bill that will replace MGNREGA, calling it a "black law". She alleged that the Modi government has attacked the interests of crores of farmers, labourers, and landless across the country by weakening MGNREGA.
In a statement, Sonia Gandhi said, "Lakhs of Congress workers ready to fight this black law. By weakening MGNREGA, Modi govt has attacked interests of crores of farmers, labourers, and landless across country."
The government bulldozed MGNREGA, removed not only Mahatma Gandhi's name, but also changed scheme's structure without consultation, she said in another remark.
In last 11 years, the Modi government ignored interests of rural poor to weaken MGNREGA, the Congress chairperson said in a video message.
Replacing MGNREGA Will Prove Very Harmful, Says Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
On Friday, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the new VB-G RAM G law, replacing the MGNREGA, will prove to be "very harmful" for the poor of the country as the scheme to provide rural employment opportunities to them will die after states will be unable to make financial allocations to it.
For 20 years, she said, MGNREGA has been one of the good schemes that has run and helped poor people, especially those who have nothing.
"This Bill is going to be very very harmful for the poorest of the poor because the original MGNREGA scheme, the way it was structured - where the Centre paid 90 per cent of the funds - was the backbone of the rural economy and the greatest support for people who are very poor and had difficulty getting employment," she told reporters outside the Parliament.
What is VB-G RAM G?
VB-G Ram G is set to replace the 20-year-old MGNREGA and guarantees 125 days of guaranteed wage employment every year for rural workers. The Bill guarantees 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 Section 22 of the Bill, the fund-sharing pattern between the Central Government and the State Governments will be 60:40, while for the North Eastern States, Himalayan States, and Union Territories (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir), it will be 90:10.
Section 6 of the Bill allows the state governments to notify in advance, a period aggregating to sixty days in a financial year, covering the peak agricultural seasons of sowing and harvesting.
What is MGNREGA?
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, better known as MGNREGA, aims at enhancing the livelihood security of households in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. It was enacted in 2005.
