The Jharkhand unit of the Congress Party on Monday took out a march from Bapu Vatika to Lok Bhawan in protest against the new rural job guarantee law, the Developed India Guarantee for Employment and Livelihood Mission (Gramin) (VB-GRAMG) and launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the central government over the move.
State party president Keshav Mahato Kamlesh led the march, in which state Congress in-charge K. Raju and co-in-charges Siribela Prasad, Bhupendra Maravi and Pranav Jha were also present.
Opposing the law, Raju said that, unlike the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or MNREGA, which provided economic security to poor families and was considered a strong foundation for rural development, rural workers do not have the right to demand work under the new law.
Raju said, “In the new law, the central government will decide the schemes and locations, workers do not have the right to demand work and the new law includes a provision to get the work done through contractors, which was not there in MNREGA.”
State Congress President Keshav Mahato Kamlesh expressed concern over reducing the budget of Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. “During the UPA government, the MNREGA budget kept increasing every year, while the BJP government has been cutting the MNREGA budget. Under the UPA government, the MNREGA scheme had a contribution ratio of 90:10 between the central and state governments, which prevented the states from facing a huge financial burden. The present government has set the ratio at 60:40, which will cripple the finances of many states,” Mahato said.
Kamlesh said that non-BJP ruled states will be most affected by the new rural job guarantee law.
He said, “Laborers can demand work at any time under MNREGA, but the current law imposed by the central government restricts work to two months of the year. The growth rate in rural areas of non-BJP ruled states will decline significantly and these states will be completely neglected due to their dependence on the central government for the selection of schemes.”
Congress Legislature Party President Pradeep Yadav alleged that the central government is changing all the welfare laws brought for the people.
Yadav said, “The central government is trying to change all the welfare laws brought for the people; an attempt was made to change the Food Security Act also. If the three controversial farm laws had not been repealed, the Food Security Act would have also been abolished. The way the BJP is snatching away all rights, one day it will also snatch away the right to vote. (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi wants to abolish the right to vote through the Aadhaar system, which is the means to keep democracy alive.”
Congress Legislature Party deputy leader Rajesh Kachhap said that the coming generation of the country will not forgive the Prime Minister for his divisive politics.
“Narendra Modi lacks decision-making ability. He takes short-sighted decisions every time and then changes them after Congress protests. Congress passed MNREGA law to strengthen the backbone of the rural economy. Modi government is working to change every law given by Congress, which is a blow to the country’s economy. Revocation of agricultural laws and announcement of caste census after protests is the contribution of Congress, because Congress is associated with the public issues. Narendra Modi is the future generations of the country. Will not forgive Modi for this attempt.” Break and divide the country,” Kachhapa said.
MP Sukhdev Bhagat expressed concern over the change in the law made in the name of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi. He alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was misusing the name of Lord Ram and warned the party of dire consequences.
Bhagat said, “BJP has strategically raised the name of Lord Ram; BJP has a habit of misusing the name of Lord Ram and it will have to pay the price for it.”
State Finance Minister Radhakrishna Kishore said the budget provided by the central government’s new rural job guarantee scheme does not match its requirements.
“This is not a coincidence but a name discovered through research by BJP researchers. This scheme is a conspiracy to weaken the states where BJP is not in power. There are 12 crore registered laborers all over India. If they are given 125 days of employment, the total amount will be 3.80 lakh crore. MNREGA is the budget of the Government of India. 80,000 crores. Modi ji should tell from where he will get the remaining amount. This new scheme will fail in the North-Eastern states, smaller states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Ladakh,” Kishore said.
State Health Minister Irfan Ansari said that before bringing any law, the Modi government should take into confidence the community for which this law is being brought.
Ansari said, “Forcibly imposing laws will lead to their withdrawal, as happened with the farm bills. The BJP has crushed every community. During the BJP rule, daughters were raped in Manipur and farmers were crushed by the BJP minister’s son, but not a single word of sympathy came out of Modi ji’s mouth. MNREGA has led to the economic upliftment of village laborers and reduced migration. The Modi government is marginalizing rural areas.” “Preparing to push.”
Rural Development Minister Deepika Pandey Singh said that many schemes in the state including watershed management, Birsa Harit Gram Yojana and Abua Awas are related to MNREGA.
He said, “For the last 11 years, people in the country have got an average of 45 to 50 days of work under MNREGA; the promise of 125 days of work is just a deception. The attack on MNREGA is like kicking the poor in the stomach and we will fight against it.”
Agriculture Minister Shilpi Neha Tirkey said that changes in the Rural Job Guarantee Act will lead to a rapid increase in migration.
“The basic objective of MNREGA was to stop migration, provide employment to villagers in their own villages, increase income and strengthen the rural economy. This is not just a matter of changing the name, but completely dismantling the system through a change in the law, which will definitely impact the villages and lead to a sharp increase in migration. When the budget of MNREGA has been reduced, on what basis is Modi ji guaranteeing 125 days of work?” Tirkey said.
Jean Dreze, member of the National Advisory Council, was present as the special guest. Those who addressed the gathering included MP Kalicharan Munda and former Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, among others.
Responding to the allegations, BJP state president and leader of opposition Babulal Marandi criticized the Congress party for opposing the new scheme.
Marandi said, “Under the new scheme, every rural family will now be guaranteed 125 days of employment every year instead of 100 days. There is also a provision for unemployment allowance in case of not getting work, but Congress does not like schemes that benefit the poor.”
He said that the Modi government has spent the most on MNREGA which the Congress party is talking about. “As yet, Rs 11.74 lakh crore has been spent on MNREGA in the country, out of which the Modi government has spent 8.53 lakh crore,” Marandi said.
On changing the names of the laws, Marandi said that this is not the first time that this has happened and at the time of its formulation, the Rural Job Guarantee Act was not named after Mahatma Gandhi. He said that during the Manmohan Singh government, this law was named after Mahatma Gandhi, after which Rajiv Gandhi named it after Jawaharlal Nehru.
Marandi said, “The name of the scheme about which the Congress party is creating ruckus was not originally named after Mahatma Gandhi. In 1980, Indira Gandhi combined all the old employment schemes and named it National Rural Employment Programme. Later Rajiv Gandhi changed its name to Jawahar Rozgar Yojana. Manmohan Singh’s government named it NREGA in 2004 and MNREGA in 2005.”
Marandi said it was the Congress that started the culture of changing laws according to preferred names.
He said, “Similarly, the Congress renamed the Rural Housing Scheme as Indira Awas Yojana. They renamed the Rural Electrification Scheme as Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Scheme. In Jharkhand, the Congress-backed government renamed Atal Clinic, which was named after Mother Teresa, after Jharkhand architect Atal Bihari Vajpayee.”
He said, “The Congress party named around 600 institutions, schemes and awards after the Gandhi family. They celebrated national holidays on the birth anniversaries of family members. They created sports awards in the names of people who had no connection with sports. They treated patriotic leaders like Sardar Patel, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Lal Bahadur Shastri as second-class citizens.”
Marandi said that Prime Minister Modi did not name any scheme after himself or his family.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not named any scheme after himself or his family, but has linked the names to services,” Marandi said.
