Repeal of MGNREGA 'high-handedness', 'injustice' to poor: Warring

Chandigarh, Dec 20 (PTI) Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring on Saturday hit out at the Centre for replacing the rural employment gurarantee scheme MGNREGA with VB-G RAM G Bill, calling it "high-handedness" and "injustice" to the poor.

Addressing mediapersons here, Warring, along with the chairperson of AICC's department of social media and digital platforms, Supriya Shrinate, said the move was a "systematic attack" on the poor, dalits, tribals, backward communities and women.

Warring alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a "deep aversion" towards MGNREGA from day one of assuming power and that he had often referred to it scornfully.

Highlighting the increase in state's share in the new rural employment scheme, the Congress leader asked how the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab could contribute 40 per cent share when it has failed to implement the scheme effectively even when the state share was 10 per cent under the MGNREGA.

Referring to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's decision to convene a special session of Punjab Assembly on the issue, Warring said he hoped that Mann would come up with a positive and constructive proposal to counter the Central government.

"How will you (the AAP government) contribute 40 per cent share and how will you fight with the Centre?" he asked.

Meanwhile, Shrinate described the repeal of MGNREGA as an "attack" by the prime minister on the marginalised sections of the society, including the dalits, tribals and backward communities and also women, who got maximum work under the scheme.

MGNREGA was a demand-based right where every person could demand 100 days of work as a right, she pointed out, adding that it had transformed the rural economy, helped in reducing rural poverty by 26 per cent and bolstered rural employment.

The scheme had served as a lifeline for the country's rural poor during the Covid-19 pandemic when the BJP government completely failed everyone, Shrinate said.

Stating that women used to get about 50 per cent of work under the MGNREGA, she said they will be hit the worst by its repeal.

Shrinate asserted that Modi government has committed a "great sin" by removing Mahatma Gandhi's name from the Act. Gandhi's name was not only on the Act, but also in the soul of India, she said.

She also took strong exception to the government trying to "reduce the name of Lord Ram to an acronym for three different words". This proves the hypocrisy of those who are exploiting religion for their own benefit, she said.

The senior Congress leader said that while the MGNREGA was passed unanimously in Parliament in 2005 with the support of all political parties including the BJP, it was "scrapped" without taking the opposition parties or other stakeholders into confidence.

Like the three "black farm laws", the new VB-G RAM G Bill was also brought in without any consultations, she said.

Stating that the new law will lead to over-centralisation, Shrinate said it will also put extra financial burden on states as they will now have to provide 40 per cent share instead of the 10 per cent under MGNREGA.

She also ridiculed the BJP government's claim that the new law guarantees 125 days of work instead of 100, when the average workdays it provided were only 42 days per year. PTI CHS RUK RUK