The Congress will launch a nationwide agitation, the MGNREGA Bachao Sangram, from January 10 to February 25 to demand the withdrawal of the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (VB-G RAM G) Act, it announced on Saturday.
The party is pressing for restoration of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in its original, rights-based form.
“MGNREGA is not charity. It is a legal guarantee. Crores of poorest people got work in their own villages; MGNREGA reduced hunger and distress migration, raised rural wages, and strengthened women’s economic dignity.VB GRAM G is designed to dismantle this right,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X.
Addressing a joint press conference with fellow Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, K.C. Venugopal alleged that the new law fundamentally alters the nature of rural employment by removing the legal guarantee to work and centralising powers that were earlier vested with States and panchayats. He declared that the party would challenge the Act in court.
“The new legislation strikes at the federal structure of the country. No consultations were held with State governments, even though their finances and administrative authority will be directly affected,” Mr. Venugopal said.
He added that under the new Act, employment would no longer be a legal right, unlike under MGNREGA, and the authority of Panchayati Raj institutions would be weakened.
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