‘If others won’t respect national icons, we will’: West Bengal to rename job scheme Karmashree after Mahatma Gandhi

KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee govt will be introducing a bill in the assembly to rename its job-guarantee scheme, Karmashree, after Mahatma Gandhi. CM Banerjee announced this at the Bengal Business and Industry Conclave, held at Dhana Dhanya auditorium on Thursday, days after the Centre's decision to remove Gandhi's name from the national job-guarantee scheme and rename it "Viksit Bharat - Guarantee For Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G)".If some political parties "fail to show respect to our national icons, we will do it", she said, without naming BJP. "I feel ashamed that they have decided to remove Mahatma Gandhi's name from NREGA programme because I, too, belong to this country. We are now forgetting even the Father of the Nation," she added.Banerjee then took to X, saying the removal of Gandhiji's name "fills me with deep shame". "We have, therefore, decided to rename our Karmashree scheme after Mahatma Gandhi.

We seek nothing except respect. And, if some do not know how to honour him, we will demonstrate what true respect means," she added. 'Not beggars, we will ensure all have work' We have already created lots of workdays under Karmashree, which we are running with our own funds. We will ensure people have work even if central funds are stopped. We are not beggars," she told the business conclave audience earlier.Centre has stopped releasing NREGA scheme funds to Bengal.

More than 58 lakh labourers - who had already worked under the scheme - were not paid their wages, with the total pending amount being Rs 6,919 crore.Karmashree, rolled out by the state in 2024, has provided 101.5 crore person-days of work to more than 90 lakh job card holders. This programme guarantees a minimum of 50 days of work per annum to rural households and is entirely funded by the state. The state has also disbursed pending wagesfrom its own resources.