Demolition of MGNREGA to have catastrophic consequences: Sonia Gandhi

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday said the demolition of the historic Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act MGNREGA will have catastrophic consequences for crores of people across rural India and called upon all to unite and safeguard the rights that protect everyone reported news agency PTIIn an editorial in a leading daily titled The bulldozed demolition of MGNREGA the former Congress chief said the death of MGNREGA is a collective failureThis comes a day after President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Gramin VBG RAM G Bill which replaces the MGNREGA and has a provision for 125 days of wage employment for rural workersMGNREGA realised the Mahatmas vision of Sarvodaya welfare of all and enacted the constitutional right to work Gandhi said reported PTIIt is imperative now more than ever to unite and safeguard the rights that protect us all she added reported PTIGandhi said the employment guarantee scheme to deal with rural distress has now been bulldozed and demolishedMGNREGA was a rightsbased legislation inspired by Article 41 of the Constitution of India which calls upon the government to secure citizens right to work she saidOver the past few days the Narendra Modi government worked to bulldoze MGNREGAs abolition without any discussion consultation or respect for parliamentary processes or CentreState relations The removal of the Mahatmas name was only the tip of the iceberg The very structure of MGNREGA so integral to its impact has been annihilated she said reported PTIShe described VBG RAM G as nothing but a set of bureaucratic provisionsThe Modi governments new Bill has restricted the ambit of the scheme to rural areas as notified by the Union at its discretion Gandhi saidAgainst uncapped central allocation there is now a predetermined budgetary allocation that caps the number of days of employment provided in each state The number of workdays provided are therefore left to the Centres priorities rather than the peoples needs she said adding that the allyear guarantee of employment has been finished off reported PTIGandhi said one of the greatest impacts of MGNREGA was increased bargaining power of the landless poor in rural India which elevated agricultural wagesBargaining power will definitely be eroded under the new law Sonia GandhiThis bargaining power will definitely be eroded under the new law The Modi government is attempting to suppress wage growth and that too at a time when the proportion of employment in agriculture has risen for the first time since Independence contrary to what should have been the case she noted reported PTIShe also said by transferring a significant portion of the expense onto the states the Modi government is discouraging them from providing work under the scheme The finances of states already under severe stress and strain will be further devastated the Congress leader said reported PTIUnder the VBG RAM G Bill the costsharing pattern is 6040 between the Centre and states 9010 for northeastern and Himalayan states and 100 per cent central funding for Union territories without legislaturesGandhi further said that aside from demolishing the demandbased nature of the programme the Modi government has ended the decentralised nature of the schemeThe Modi government is resorting to fraudulent claims that it has enhanced the employment guarantee from 100 days under MGNREGA to 125 days For all the reasons outlined above that will certainly not be the case Indeed the real nature of the Modi governments intentions can be understood from its decadelong track record of throttling MGNREGA It began with the Prime Ministers infamous mocking of the scheme on the floor of the House and proceeded apace through a death by a thousand cuts strategy through for instance stagnant budgets the use of disenfranchising technology and delayed payments to workers she said in the article reported PTIGandhi said the demolition of the right to work must not be seen in isolation but as part of the long assault by the ruling establishment on the Constitution and its rightbased vision for the countryThe most fundamental right to vote is under unprecedented assault The Right to Information has been desecrated with legislative changes that weaken the autonomy of Information Commissioners and by wholesale exemptions from the Act for illdefined personal information data she said reported PTIThe Right to Education has been undermined and The Forest Rights Act 2006 was markedly weakened by the Forest Conservation Rules 2022 which removed the gram sabha from any role in permitting the diversion of forest land the Congress leader said adding that The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 has been significantly dilutedThrough the three black farm laws the government attempted to deny farmers the right to a minimum support price The National Food Security Act 2013 may very well be next on the chopping block Gandhi said reported PTIWith inputs from PTI