NEW DELHI: Union Minister G Kishan Reddy on Monday charged the Telangana Congress with misleading the public by allegedly spreading “false information” regarding the recently approved revamp of the rural employment guarantee scheme, which has now been renamed the VB GRAM G Act.
Responding to the criticism, Reddy maintained that the revamped scheme is “highly beneficial for farmers and agricultural labourers,” and said it is designed to strengthen rural livelihoods by enhancing budgetary allocations and ensuring the direct transfer of wages into the bank accounts of workers.
“The Telangana Congress government is deliberately misleading the people by circulating incorrect claims about the programme. The scheme has been introduced by the Central Government and is intended to benefit farmers and agricultural labourers. Additional funds are being allocated, and wage payments are being directly credited to beneficiaries’ bank accounts,” Reddy said. He further appealed to the state government to work in coordination with the Centre to ensure that the scheme delivers maximum benefits to the public.
Reddy’s comments came just hours after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge once again reiterated his party’s opposition to the changes introduced in the national rural employment guarantee programme, earlier known as MGNREGA. Addressing a gathering in Bengaluru, Kharge alleged that the Centre was attempting to cut funding for the scheme and divert its focus away from the poor in order to favour corporate interests.
“MNREGA was introduced to guarantee the right to work. The law brought in by Manmohan Singh was meant to ensure food security for the poor. Now they are trying to strike at a law that provides support to the poor,” Kharge said.
The Congress has announced a nationwide agitation titled ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’, scheduled to be held from January 10 to February 25, to protest against the VB GRAM G Act. Kharge claimed that the new rules place an additional financial burden on state governments and indicate the Centre’s intention to weaken welfare schemes that are meant to support the poor.
Under the revised legislation, the guaranteed employment has been increased to 125 days of wage employment per rural household, up from the earlier limit of 100 days, for adult members who are willing to undertake unskilled manual work.
According to Section 22 of the Act, the cost-sharing pattern between the Central Government and the state governments will be in the ratio of 60:40. For the North Eastern states, Himalayan states and certain Union Territories—Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir—the funding ratio will be 90:10.
The changes to the scheme have therefore triggered a sharp political confrontation, with the Centre projecting the overhaul as an expansion of benefits, while the Congress argues that it dilutes and undermines the original spirit of the rural employment guarantee programme.
