Rahul Gandhi : on G RAM:”The Modi government destroyed twenty years of MGNREGA in a single day.” G. Bill
Rahul Gandhi: a Congress leader and Lok Sabha LoP, attacked the Modi government on Friday after the Parliament approved a bill to replace the UPA government’s flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA) with the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Employment and Livelihood Mission Gramin (VB-G RAM G).
The senior Congress leader referred to the new plan as anti-state and anti-village, claiming that while MGNREGA had been strengthening rural infrastructure, the government had reduced the bargaining leverage of rural workers.
“The Modi administration destroyed 20 years of MGNREGA in a single day last night. VB-G RAM G is not an MGNREGA “revamp.” It dismantles the rights-based, demand-driven guarantee and transforms it into a Delhi-controlled rationed system. By design, it is anti-village and anti-state. Rural workers gained negotiating power because to MGNREGA. Real alternatives led to a decrease in exploitation and distressed migration, an increase in earnings, an improvement in working conditions, and the development and revitalization of rural infrastructure. Rahul Gandhi wrote on X, “This administration intends to break that leverage.
The leaders of the Congress emphasized the importance of MGNREGA during the Covid epidemic, claiming that the program had prevented millions of people from going hungry or accruing debt. He claimed that women and members of the OBC, Dalit, and Adivasi groups have benefited from the program.
By restricting employment and creating additional barriers to it, VB-G RAM G erodes the only tool available to the rural poor. During COVID, we saw what MGNREGA meant. It prevented crores of people from going hungry and incurring debt when the economy crashed and livelihoods fell apart. Women benefited the most from it; year after year, they have contributed over half of the person-days. Women, Dalits, Adivasis, landless laborers, and the poorest OBC groups are the first to be displaced when a jobs program is rationed, he added.
The Lok Sabha LoP said that the Opposition’s request to refer the Bill to a Standing Committee was turned down and that the Bill was hurried through Parliament without any examination. He said that by doing this, PM Modi was “weakening” labor.
Furthermore, this measure was rushed through Parliament without enough review. The opposition’s request to refer the measure to a Standing Committee was turned down. The LoP went on to say, “PM Modi’s goals are clear: centralize power, weaken labor, and then sell slogans as’reform.'” This is particularly true for Dalits, OBCs, and Adivasis in rural India.
The G RAM G Bill is approved by Parliament.
By a voice vote at midnight, the Rajya Sabha approved the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Employment and Livelihood Mission Gramin (VB-G RAM G) Bill. Despite protests and a walkout by the opposition, the measure was approved by the Lok Sabha on Thursday afternoon.