Slamming the BJP government and PM Narendra Modi, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, on Saturday claimed that the Central government has attacked crores of farmers, labourers and landless across the country. She alleged that the government bulldozed MGNREGA and went far beyond removing Mahatma Gandhi's name – it also changed scheme's structure without consultation.
In a video address, Sonia Gandi said, “In the last 11 years, the Modi government has ignored the interests of the unemployed, the poor, and the deprived in rural areas, making every effort to weaken MGNREGA, even though during the COVID times, it proved to be a lifeline for the poor.” Sonia Gandhi said lakhs of Congress workers are ready to fight this ‘black law’.
"Through MGNREGA, a concrete step was taken towards realising the dream of an India based on Mahatma Gandhi's vision of Gram Swaraj," she said.
“But it is a matter of great regret that just recently, the government ran a bulldozer over MGNREGA. Not only was Mahatma Gandhi's name removed, but the form and structure of MGNREGA was changed arbitrarily without any deliberation, without consulting anyone, without taking the opposition into confidence,” the Congress leader alleged.
On Thursday, the Union government passed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill 2025 in the Lok Sabha – which seeks to replace the MGNREGA Act; the scheme named after it – MGNREGS, and guarantee 125 days of rural wage employment every year.
Unlike the MGNREG Scheme (MGNREGS), which was primarily funded by the Centre, the new Bill proposes joint funding between the Centre and the state, among other major changes.
What are the changes in the new Bill?
– The VB-G RAM G Bill proposes to raise the number of guaranteed wage employment days in a financial year from 100 to 125.
– As per Section 22 of the Bill, the fund-sharing pattern between the Central Government and the State Governments will be 60:40, while for the North Eastern States, Himalayan States, and Union Territories (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir), it will be 90:10.
– The Bill proposes a 60-day pause in the scheme during the peak agricultural seasons of sowing and harvesting, a move said to be aimed at ensuring farm labour availability.
– All works under the new scheme shall be originated from the Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans consolidated at the Block, District and State levels and further aggregated into the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack
– Section 27 of the new Bill proposes a steeper penalty for violations of its provisions, raising the fine from the previous amount of ₹1,000 to ₹10,000.
Hitting out at the Modi government on Saturday, Sonia Gandhi, in her video message – claimed that the implementation of MGNREGA was "never a party-specific matter" and the scheme always focused on the interests of the people.
According to a report by ANI, the Congress is set to hold a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting next week, on 27 December, to decide on its plan of opposing the VB G RAM G Bill nationwide.
