Bettiah (Bihar) [India], December 21 : Following the passage of the VB-G RAM G Bill (Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin)) in the Parliament and the opposition accusing the Centre of "bulldozing" MGNREGA, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sanjay Jaiswal defended the move, saying the new law expands employment days, integrates livelihood schemes, and balances farmers' labour needs.
Speaking to ANI, Jaiswal said, "For the first time, all workers are getting the opportunity for 125 days of employment instead of 100. Secondly, the Livelihood Mission has been integrated into the scheme. This will create employment opportunities in many new areas," he said.
Highlighting another key provision, the BJP MP noted that the scheme provides flexibility during critical agricultural periods. "The third significant benefit is that the scheme has been suspended for 1 to 2 months because farmers have been unable to find labourers during the harvesting or sowing seasons. These three changes are very positive... This law is in the best interest of those who need employment," Jaiswal added.
Earlier, Congress Party's Parliamentary Chairperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sonia Gandhi on Saturday accused the Centre of 'bulldozing' the MGNREGA, which proved to be a lifeline for the poor during the COVID times.
"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.
"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," she added.
Reflecting on the passage of the Act, introduced in 2005 and enacted in 2006, Gandhi highlighted how the "revolutionary step" benefited crores of rural families and provided livelihoods for the "deprived, exploited, poor, and the poorest of the poor."
"I still remember vividly, 20 years ago, when Dr Manmohan Singh ji was the Prime Minister, the MGNREGA Act was passed in Parliament by consensus. It was such a revolutionary step, the benefits of which reached crores of rural families. Especially, it became a means of livelihood for the deprived, exploited, poor, and the poorest of the poor," the Congress leader said.
Gandhi said that the implementation of MGNREGA was "never a party-specific matter" and the scheme always looked towards the interests of the people.
Meanwhile, the Congress is set to hold a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting next week, on December 27, to decide on its plan of opposing the VB G RAM G Bill nationwide.
During the recently concluded winter session, the Parliament passed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB--G RAM G) Bill, with the Rajya Sabha approving the legislation hours after the Lok Sabha passed it.
The Bill guarantees 125 days of wage employment per rural household, up from the existing 100 days, for adult members willing to undertake unskilled manual work.
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.
Section 6 of the Bill allows the state governments to notify in advance, a period aggregating to sixty days in a financial year, covering the peak agricultural seasons of sowing and harvesting.