The Congress on Tuesday accused the Modi government of dismantling MGNREGA, calling it the “lifeline” of the country’s poor, and alleged that the new rural employment law was aimed at taking away the employment guarantee provided to workers.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared a media report on X claiming that job card holders in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia district were becoming disillusioned with the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), with departmental data reflecting the trend.
"The Modi government has destroyed the lifeline of the country's poor, MGNREGA, in the name of 'VB G RAM G'. The BJP made grand speeches in Parliament, but on the ground, all those claims are proving to be empty hot air," Ramesh said in his post in Hindi on X.
Ramesh said the concerns raised by the Congress when the scheme was replaced were now becoming evident. He alleged that the government had deliberately sought to end MGNREGA, a key poverty alleviation programme, through the new legislation.
"This was not just a matter of changing the name; it was a calculated conspiracy to snatch away the employment guarantee of the poor," Ramesh alleged.
Citing Ballia figures, he said that against a target of 1.76 lakh man-days of work, only 10,669 days of employment were provided over two months. He claimed similar trends were being witnessed across districts.
"In this back-breaking era of inflation, snatching the last morsel of bread from the poor to fill the coffers of crony capitalists is the real policy of the anti-poor Modi government," Ramesh said.
The Congress has demanded the repeal of the VB-G RAM G Act and restoration of a strengthened MGNREGA, arguing that wages under the new law are unjustifiably low.
The opposition party has also called for a higher minimum wage for rural workers based on the 2019 recommendation of the expert committee headed by economist Anoop Satpathy, adjusted for subsequent price increases.
The VB-G RAM G Act came into force nationwide on July 1, replacing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which was introduced under the Congress-led UPA government.
