Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has called on critics of the G-RAM-G jobs guarantee scheme to stand together and push back against the Bharatiya Janata Party's latest big-ticket legislation, which has replaced the 20-year-old Congress-era Mahatma Gandhi-labelled employment programme.
Gandhi - slammed by the ruling party for not being present in Parliament last month, when the bill was tabled amid fierce opposition protests - also declared himself unfamiliar with the new law's name.
"I don't know what "G-RAM-G is!" he said at an event spotlighting its predecessor, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Congress boss Mallikarjun Kharge made similar remarks.
The BJP responded swiftly.
Gandhi was slammed for being 'against Lord Ram' - a criticism that many saw as inadvertently underlining one reason the opposition is unhappy with the G-RAM-G bill, i.e., it invokes a religious figure, Lord Ram, over that of Mahatma Gandhi.
The BJP also said Gandhi's comments had 'exposed the Congress' anti-Hindu' mindset.
Earlier, at the conference in Delhi's Jawahar Bhavan, Gandhi said, "MNREGA gave every poor person the right to employment... which (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi wants to abolish."
Gandhi also referred to the 'black farm laws' that cleared Parliament amid controversies and ferocious protests by farmers nationwide in September 2020 before being rolled back.
"A while ago, farmers pressured the government into withdrawing the draconian farm laws... (now) if we stand together these people are cowards (and) Modi ji will back down and MNREGA will be restarted."
Kharge, meanwhile, called it an attempt by the BJP to remove Mahatma Gandhi's name from public memory and said the Congress will raise the issue in Parliament, again, during the Budget session.
The remarks by Rahul Gandhi and Kharge come as the opposition looks to builds pressure on the BJP. At least two states - Karnataka, where the Congress is in power, and Tamil Nadu, where INDIA member DMK is in power - have both signalled intentions to pass resolutions supporting MNREGA.
On that note, there was ruckus in the Karnataka Assembly this morning after Governor Thawaarchand Gehlot refused to read out a state government-prepared speech that, he said, contained criticism about the G-RAM-G scheme. Meanwhile Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said his government - which has already seen Governor RN Ravi walk out in a huff - will also move such a resolution.
G RAM G explained
The main points (at least the ones most discussed by lawmakers) of the new legislation are the guaranteed workdays, the funding structure, and increased federal control over fund allocation, which the government described as "normative" rather than "demand-based", i.e., the centre will determine how much each state gets every year based on "objective parameters".
Guaranteed workdays: G RAM G offers an increased minimum number – 125 over 100 by MNREGA – but there are conditions, including notification of a 'rural area' by the centre.
READ | "Swear By My Mother, This Isn't Good For The Poor": M Kharge On G-RAM-G
That is, employment guarantees under G RAM G will not extend to areas not listed as 'rural' by the central government. This point is carried over from MNREGA. In practice, though, employment then was offered across all rural districts, making it a pan-India scheme.
Funding logic: Under the MNREGA the centre paid around 90 per cent of all expenses, including wages and raw materials. That changes under G RAM G, with states required to pay 40 per cent of that amount, although hill states and those from the northeast need pay only 10 per cent.
Union territories will continue to receive 100 per cent funding in this regard.
The change in the financing architecture, the government has argued, will encourage each state to take up financial ownership of the scheme in its territories. The opposition, though, argued this would further stress already fragile state-level finances, effectively reducing the scope of the scheme by limiting the amount of work available; the Congress called G RAM G "anti-poor".
The government has stressed this will not "impose an undue financial burden" and that the funding structure has been calibrated according to each state's fiscal capabilities.
The funding architecture is a flashpoint because it constrains – based on the centre's "normative allocation" – the amount of work each state can offer under the programme. It also means the centre can, if it chooses to, suspend funds "where serious irregularities are detected, and direct corrective or remedial measures to address deficiencies".
Work basket and who assigns it: At the ground level nothing changes. Work will continue to offered by the panchayat and/or programme officer at the grassroots.
What does change, however, is that under G RAM G the centre will set the standards, which includes regulating, in the case of construction work, for example, materials and designs, and limiting the nature of work 'approved' for payout from the allocated finances.
Also, the G RAM G scheme divides work into four categories – water security, core rural infrastructure, livelihood-related assets, and climate resilience. Critics said this curtails the scope of the work, which was earlier decided by panchayats according to local needs.
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