Union minister Shekhawat attacks Opposition over G RAM G criticism

Jodhpur, Jan 11 (PTI) Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Sunday launched a sharp attack on the Opposition for protesting against VB G-RAM-G, alleging that decades of corruption under previous regimes had hollowed out the earlier rural employment programme, MGNREGA.

Shekhawat said the Congress and its allies had treated MGNREGA as a cash cow for corruption for years and asserted that the new scheme will mark an end to middlemen.

The Congress on Saturday launched its 45-day nationwide campaign -- MGNREGA Bachao Sangram -- against the repeal of the UPA-era rural employment law by holding press conferences at every district.

The opposition party's agitation demanding the withdrawal of the VB-G RAM G Act and restoration of MGNREGA as a rights-based law in its original form, the right to work, and the authority of panchayats, will continue till February 25.

The transparency-driven reforms introduced by the Narendra Modi government had unsettled those who benefitted from the earlier system, he said at a press briefing at Circuit House in Jodhpur.

The Union minister pointed out what he called the Opposition's contradictory stand, noting that senior leaders from their own parties had acknowledged the scheme's failures.

He recalled that when Sharad Pawar served as Union agriculture minister for a decade, he had repeatedly raised concerns in Parliament and public forums that MGNREGA had become an impediment to the agricultural sector and had sought corrective measures.

Shekhawat also cited Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who, he said, had admitted in Lok Sabha that MGNREGA had been reduced to digging and refilling pits, with no real asset creation.

Taking aim at former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, Shekhawat said that when the 14th Finance Commission increased the states' share from 32 per cent to 42 per cent (in the divisible pool of central taxes), he himself was a stakeholder in that demand.

Shekhawat alleged that the additional share granted to states was meant for rural development, but the Gehlot government diverted the funds towards appeasement politics and freebie culture.

The minister also took a swipe at Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, saying both had, on multiple occasions, raised questions about corruption in MGNREGA and acknowledged that the scheme had become a source of loot in several states.

"Today, when we are introducing technology and transparency through G-RAM-G, they claim to find faults in it," he said.

Claiming to have received 11 lakh complaints pending with the central government, Shekhawat further alleged that in many states, machines were used in place of labour under MGNREGA, and that Opposition-ruled states had turned the programme into a means of financing their political workers.

Citing figures, the minister said that during the UPA's 10-year tenure, spending under MGNREGA stood at around Rs 1 lakh crore, whereas the Modi government has invested over Rs 4 lakh crore in the last 11 years.

Mentioning the revisions in the new scheme, like an increase in employment guarantee from 100 to 125 days, penalty on delayed payments and mandatory compensation, Shekhawat said the renewed focus of the programme would be on water conservation projects such as Amrit Sarovar, rural infrastructure, livelihood enhancement and natural disaster mitigation. PTI COR AMJ AMJ