INDIA bloc parties say the bill will ‘kill’ the rural employment programme; several members of the opposition staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha during the passage of the bill after demanding its withdrawal and raising slogans against the government. They also tore pages of the bill
TMC MPs and other opposition leaders sit in protest at the Parliament House complex on Friday. Pic/PTI
The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha with a voice vote, hours after the Lok Sabha cleared it on Thursday, amid strong protests by the opposition over the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the existing rural employment guarantee scheme MGNREGA, who accused the government of putting the financial burden on states.
Several INDIA bloc parties said the bill will “kill” the rural employment programme.
Several members of the opposition staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha during the passage of the bill after demanding its withdrawal and raising slogans against the government. They also tore pages of the bill.
Overnight dharna
The opposition parties sat on a dharna outside the Samvidhan Sadan in the Parliament complex against the bill and claiming that they would launch a country-wide agitation alleging that the bill is “anti-labourer”, “regressive” and brought with a feudal mindset, the opposition parties said many states, already reeling under debt, will find it very difficult to fund the scheme.
They said under the new bill, 40 per cent of the total cost will shift to the states, while MGNREGA is fully funded by the Centre. Trinamool Congress MPs held an overnight dharna in the Parliament complex against the passage of the bill, which they said was “bulldozed” through both Houses without any discussion.
TMC MPs spent the night at the gate of the Samvidhan Sadan, with banners and portraits of Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, slamming the government. TMC leader Sagarika Ghose said, “The Modi government has assassinated Mahatma Gandhi for the second time and it has also insulted Rabindranath Tagore.” A banner at the protest read “Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. Gurudev gave the title Mahatma Tagore is known to have given the title of ‘Mahatma’ to Gandhi”.
‘Bill anti village’
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the Modi government of demolishing 20 years of MGNREGA in a single day, and dubbed the new VB-G RAM G legislation as “anti village”. Noting that the VB-G RAM G Bill is not a “revamp” of MGNREGA. “It demolishes the rights-based, demand-driven guarantee and turns it into a rationed scheme which is controlled from Delhi. It is anti-state and anti-village by design,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Secular Progressive Alliance led by the ruling DMK, has announced a state-wide protest on December 24 against the Centre’s newly passed legislation.
Thur
Day LS and RS cleared the bill
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