Congress accuses Modi govt of weakening MGNREGA, questions rollout of new rural job scheme

The Congress on Tuesday accused the Modi government of weakening the rural employment guarantee scheme and alleged that the implementation of the new Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act had left workers without adequate employment opportunities.

Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh made the allegations in a post on X, sharing a media report about job card holders in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district.

Ramesh claimed that workers in Ballia were becoming disillusioned with the new scheme and cited departmental figures to support his criticism.

"The Modi government has destroyed the lifeline of the country's poor, MGNREGA, in the name of 'VB G RAM G'," Ramesh said in Hindi.

According to the figures cited by Ramesh, against a target of 1.76 lakh man-days of work in Ballia, only 10,669 days of employment were provided over a two-month period. He claimed similar conditions were being seen in other districts.

Ramesh alleged that the government had effectively ended the right to employment that was guaranteed under MGNREGA and had used the new legislation to replace the rural employment programme introduced under the Congress-led UPA government.

He said the change was not merely a renaming of the scheme but would reduce the employment guarantee available to rural workers.

The Congress had opposed the replacement of MGNREGA when the VB-G RAM G Act was introduced. The party has demanded that the new law be repealed and that a strengthened version of MGNREGA be brought back.

The opposition party has also criticised wage levels under the new scheme and called for minimum wages to be aligned with the recommendations of the expert committee headed by economist Anoop Satpathy in 2019, along with adjustments for subsequent inflation.

The VB-G RAM G Act, which came into force across the country on July 1, replaced the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, or MGNREGA, which had been in operation for more than two decades.

Ramesh also accused the government of prioritising the interests of large businesses at the expense of rural workers, alleging that the new policy would make it harder for poor households to access guaranteed employment.

The Congress has continued to make the rural employment scheme a point of political attack against the BJP-led government, particularly over employment availability and wages under the new framework.