As Chouhan moves rural job scheme Bill, Opp hits out at Govt: ‘Biggest crime’

At the outset, Speaker Om Birla said while the debate will take place on Wednesday, the minister will reply on Thursday before the Bill comes up for passage.

Opening the debate, Congress member Jai Prakash slammed the NDA government for removing the name of Mahatma Gandhi from the rural job guarantee scheme. He termed the move as “the biggest crime”. He said the legislation is “anti-poor” and “anti-Dalit” as it has been drafted by the government, which is “pro-rich”.

Criticising the government over the Bill, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra said it is destroying Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of Ram Rajya both in letter and spirit by repealing MGNREGA and renaming the scheme.

“There was a historic consensus among all parties when they passed the Bill and everyone shouted ‘rozgar guarantee zindabad’. This was the history of the original Bill… On October 2, 2009, Gandhi Jayanti, in keeping with the vision of the Father of the Nation’s vision for rural self reliance in India, the name was changed to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,” she said, discussing the evolution of the MGNREGA.

Moitra said that 16 years later with no consultation with any stakeholder, the government has introduced a Bill to repeal MGNREGA. “This is not an amendment, you are replacing it with a VB — G RAM G Bill,” she said.

Moitra said that it was Tagore, who popularised the name Mahatma, meaning the “great soul”, for Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. “What has this government done today, you’ve changed the name, you are dishonouring both the Mahatma and Gurudev. Is it any wonder that Bengal and Bengalis call you ‘Bangla virodhi’,” Moitra said.

She pointed out that before the suspension of fund releases in 2022, West Bengal was among the top performers of MGNREGA nationwide. “As of today the Centre has outstanding MGNREGA dues of Rs 52,000 crore,” she said. “When we went to meet the minister we were dragged by police.”

“This govt has used guarantee 92 times (in the new Bill). New Bill provides no guarantee at all,” she said.

She said the provision of 60:40 basis of Centre-state expenditure-sharing would prove to be the “death knell” of the scheme.

DMK member Kanimozhi Karunanidhi said the proposed Bill fails to protect the legal right of people to work. Referring to the name of the Bill, she criticised the government for imposing Hindi and Sanskrit over the South India. “Why don’t you name a Bill in South Indian language,” she asked the government.

Congress member Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka said the question is why did the government bring this Bill. “Have you brought this Bill in view of the Supreme Court’s order regarding MGNREGA in West Bengal?… I think this Bill is for Bengal elections and they want to subvert the Supreme Court decision,” he said.

Highlighting the provisions of the Bill, BJP’s P P Chaudhary said the UPA government could not spend the MGNEGS budget. “Gandhi ji never thought they would name a scheme in his name and loot the money,” Chaudhary said, targeting the Congress. He alleged that the UPA government also weakened the MGNREGA, by reducing its allocation.

Opposing the Bill, Samajwadi Party’s Harendra Singh Malik took a dig at the government, saying, “Aisa kaam na karo, Ram ka naam badnaam na karo (don’t sully the name of Ram by wrongdoing).”

National Conference’s Mian Altaf Ahmad said, “There is no justification for changing the MGNREGA or changing its name. It was named after Mahatma Gandhi…” He urged the government to withdraw the Bill.

Criticising the Bill, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer of AAP alleged that the government wants to snatch employment from poor labourers.

SAD member Harsimrat Kaur Badal also opposed the Bill, saying that the MGNREGA was a shield for the poor, which the government has taken away.

CPI (ML)’s Raja Ram Singh said the proposed legislation should provide for 200 days of guaranteed wage employment instead of 125 days.