Send G RAM G Bill to parliamentary committee, say Opposition MPs

New Delhi, Dec 18 (PTI) Opposition MPs on Thursday demanded that the VB-G RAM G Bill be sent to a parliamentary committee for further scrutiny, as they slammed the government over the Bill.

Participating in the debate on the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, Congress MP Digvijaya Singh said he could not understand why the name of the Act was being changed.

"Their ideology is behind this. Their ideology is against Gandhi. They are against the idea of Gram Swaraj," he said.

He took a swipe at Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and said, "How will you face the workers? Is this a conspiracy against him (Chouhan) that the first Bill that he is tabling is an anti-worker Bill," he said.

He said he has moved an amendment to name the Bill after Mahatma Gandhi. Singh also criticised the Bill for having a "top-down" approach in planning. "This is against gram swaraj," he said.

He demanded that the Bill should be sent to a select committee.

"It's an important Bill which will impact the villages, there should be more extensive consultation," he said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi called it an "anti-poor and anti-worker legislation", and accused the government of trying to pass it in the "darkness of the night".

"They are using the name of Lord Ram," she said. "Was Lord Ram anti-poor? They're using the name of Ram to hide their misdeeds. There can't be a bigger sin," she said.

She said states are already reeling under debts and won't be able to bear the burden of paying 40 per cent of the scheme's budget.

"Right-based employment guarantee programme is being finished," she said, demanding that the Bill be sent to a select committee.

Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said MGNREGA was the biggest scheme for employment in the world. "The biggest scheme for labourers is being bulldozed by the present day government on the basis of majority," he said.

"This is not just about changing the name, the conditions are such that MNREGA would be finished," he said.

He said the right-based approach has been changed to being a supply-driven scheme. He said the name of Lord Ram has not been included in the scheme, but the name of Mahatma Gandhi has been removed. "They want to finish Gandhi," he said.

He also said that when the Congress comes back to power, they will bring the scheme back, as he urged the government to send Bill to a panel.

Ramji of the BSP said that instead of changing the name of old schemes, the government should change its style of working. He said the provision to stop work during the peak agricultural season was intended at providing cheap labour to the rich.

He said people from the villages would be forced to migrate to cities for employment. He also said the 60:40 sharing of financial liability between the Centre and states would lead to "failure" of the scheme.

Haris Beeran of the IUML said the Bill is a political choice and not a governance necessity. He slammed the provision for stopping work during peak agricultural season, and said it is for the first time in history that Parliament is being asked to permit a statutory shutdown of livelihood.

"Hunger cannot be suspended. Survival cannot be paused..." he said.

Ramilaben Becharbhai of BJP, meanwhile, said the Bill was needed as corruption was rampant in MGNREGA. She called the G RAM G Bill a "visionary legislation". PTI AO MNK MNK