MGNREGA Bachao Sangram to begin on Jan 12 with one-day fasts: Congress

Jammu: The Congress on Friday announced that its MGNREGA Bachao Sangram agitation to defend the right to work and restore the rural employment guarantee scheme in its original form would begin with one-day fasts in all districts on January 12.

AICC General Secretary in charge of Jammu and Kashmir affairs, Dr Sayeed Naseer Hussain, alleged that the Centre's proposed VB-GRAM-G Act seeks to replace Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and dilute its core features, including the legal guarantee of employment.

"The Congress has devised a 45-day-long MGNREGA Bachao Sangram to defend the right to work and restore MGNREGA in its original form," Hussain told reporters here.

He said the agitation would begin with one-day fasts in all districts on January 12, followed by panchayat-level outreach programmes from January 12 to 29, and peaceful sit-ins at blocks and wards on January 30.

This will be followed by MGNREGA Bachao dharnas and state-level Assembly gheraos from February 7 to 15, he added.

Hussain accused the Modi government of attempting to weaken the country's largest rural employment guarantee scheme.

"MGNREGA provided a legal guarantee of jobs to every rural household within 15 days of demand, failing which an unemployment allowance was payable. The new VB-GRAM-G Act removes this fundamental guarantee," he said.

He further alleged that the proposed law centralises decision-making, weakens gram sabhas and panchayats, and increases the states' share of funding to 40 per cent from the earlier 10 per cent. "This is bound to fail a scheme that provides employment to 5–6 crore rural households annually,” he said.

Flanked by Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra and AICC secretary Divya Maderna, Hussain said the new framework also includes budget caps, restrictions on work during peak agricultural seasons and dilution of wage safeguards.

"These changes will lead to reduced employment, suppressed wages and increased rural distress," he added.

Describing MGNREGA as a cornerstone of rural livelihood security, Hussain said it has helped reduce distress migration, raised rural wages and created durable assets.

"Its demand-driven design and direct bank payments have especially benefited women, Dalits, Adivasis and marginalised sections, with women accounting for nearly 60 per cent of total workdays," he said.

Hussain said the Congress would raise the issue in the forthcoming Parliament session. He also linked the agitation with the party's ongoing statehood movement in Jammu and Kashmir, 'Hamari Riyasat Hamara Haq,' alleging that the Centre has no intention of restoring statehood to the Union territory.

Karra said the party would undertake a detailed schedule of peaceful agitations to save MGNREGA while simultaneously intensifying the demand for early restoration of statehood. "Till statehood is restored, the people of Jammu and Kashmir will remain deprived of their democratic rights," he said.