The Aryavarth Express:
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], January 13:
Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday criticised the Centre for replacing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the VB G-RAM-G scheme and demanded that Mahatma Gandhi’s name and the original framework of the Act be restored.
Chennithala made the remarks while participating in a protest organised by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee against the new legislation. He said the move has adversely affected poor, marginalised, and vulnerable sections of society who depend on the employment guarantee scheme for their livelihood.
In Thiruvananthapuram, Chennithala said, “The present government has finished this programme. The poor, downtrodden, and marginalised sections have been pushed into distress as this scheme was their primary source of income. Through an act of the Government of India, this programme has been completely dismantled.”
“We demand that Mahatma Gandhi’s name be restored and the earlier structure of the Act brought back. That is why we are protesting,” he added.
Congress General Secretary and MP K C Venugopal also criticised the new Act, alleging it was an ideological move to undermine the concept of Gram Swaraj. He said MGNREGA was the largest employment-generating programme in the world and that the new amendments dilute the right to employment.
“Under the earlier law, the Centre bore 100 per cent of the wage component. As per the new amendment, the Centre will bear only 60 per cent, while states must bear the remaining 40 per cent. For a small state like Kerala, this will impose an additional financial burden of around ₹2,000 crore,” Venugopal said. He alleged the move was not merely about removing Gandhi’s name but about erasing his ideology.
The VB G-RAM-G Act provides a guarantee of 125 days of wage employment per rural household, an increase from the earlier 100 days, for adult members willing to undertake unskilled manual work. Under Section 22 of the Act, the fund-sharing ratio between the Centre and states is fixed at 60:40. For North Eastern states, Himalayan states, and Union Territories such as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir, the ratio will be 90:10.
The Congress has announced a nationwide ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’ from January 10 to February 25 in protest against the VB G-RAM-G Act.
On Monday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also urged people to protest against the repeal of MGNREGA, accusing the Modi government of depriving farmers and the poor of their rights. Addressing a gathering in Kalaburagi, Kharge alleged that the government was weakening local self-governance and undermining constitutional principles, and called on people to unite against the Centre’s decision.
