BENGALURU: Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has denied the Congress’ claim that the Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) scheme would snatch the employment rights of the rural population.
“This is a complete falsehood, as no law is required to implement any Central or Centrally-sponsored scheme,” Joshi told reporters in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Joshi said that the scheme does not take away the right to work and that the number of guaranteed workdays has been increased to 125 days. “Even when MGNREGA existed under Congress rule, the average employment provided by various state governments was only about 50 days, and there are numerous examples of work being done using JCB machines,” he said.
“When the rural job scheme was conceptualised 20 years ago, there was no vision of a Viksit Bharat or long-term asset creation. At that time, the country and its people were facing severe economic hardship. The scheme carries an important vision, if villages are not developed with basic infrastructure and long-term assets, large-scale migration from rural areas will take place. Necessary changes have been introduced in the scheme from time to time,” he defended.
Further, Joshi said that this system had begun to siphon off Central funds earlier and there was no accountability. “Action used to be taken against officials who failed to meet targets. Though wages are now paid directly, there was no effective monitoring mechanism earlier. In the wake of this, a comprehensive monitoring system with centralised payments has now been introduced to eliminate confusion and corruption,” he said, adding that the Congress was now opposing the scheme because it wants to continue with scams.
Joshi said village panchayats will prepare development plans and include them under the Viksit Bharat Rural Infrastructure framework. Priority will be given to quality and volume of work, whereas earlier only the quantity was considered, he said.
“It is not a ‘build and forget’ approach. If irrigation works, roads, or school buildings are constructed, there will be clear instructions on maintenance for a specified number of years. What is your problem with this, Siddaramaiah?” he asked.