12 crore people will lose right to guaranteed work under G RAM G: Congress

Nagpur, Dec 23 (PTI) Congress spokesperson Abhishek Dutt on Tuesday claimed that some 12 crore people living in rural areas will not get guaranteed work under the new VB-G RAM G Act, as the allocation of works would be decided by the Centre and not at the local level.

Holding a press conference here, he said the BJP-led Union government not only renamed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, but also changed the entire policy and took away the right to guaranteed employment.

The MGNREGA provided 100 days' employment on demand to one person from a family within five km of his or her village, said the Congress leader.

"But they have changed this scheme and now the Centre will decide the allocation of work...it will not be decided at the local level. The centre will decide which state will get work," he said, adding that gram panchayats and zilla parishads will be bypassed in the process.

Earlier, the Centre used to provide funds for 90 percent of a work under the MGNREGA, but now the Centre would provide only 60 percent of the funds and state government will provide the balance, Dutt said, and accused the Narendra Modi government of not allocating enough funds for the scheme in the Budget.

He also expressed concern over the provision that no work will be provided under the scheme during 60 days of the farming season. This will result in reduction of bargaining power of labourers during this period, the Congress spokesperson said.

The new Act provides for 125 days of employment instead of 100 days, but between 2019 and 2024 the Union government could not provide employment for more than 42 days on average, he claimed. PTI CLS KRK