Ranchi: The Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) on Monday organised a protest march in Ranchi against the new law enacted to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), alleging that the move would weaken rural employment security.
The march, led by State Congress President Keshav Mahto Kamlesh, began at Bapu Vatika in Morabadi and culminated at Lok Bhavan in Ranchi.
Before the start of the march, Congress leaders and workers paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi’s statue and resolved to continue their agitation against the changes to the MGNREGA framework.
Addressing the gathering, State Congress in-charge K. Raju said the UPA government had conferred a legal right to 100 days of employment on the rural poor through MGNREGA, with the authority to select works vested in Gram Panchayats.
He said this decentralised approach strengthened grassroots development and provided economic security to millions of poor households.
Raju noted that during the Covid-19 pandemic, when large numbers of migrant labourers returned to their villages, MGNREGA served as a lifeline.
He alleged that under the new law, the Centre would take over the selection of schemes, which will curtail the rights of labourers, and a contract-based system would be promoted, which he said was contrary to the spirit of MGNREGA.
State Congress President Keshav Mahto Kamlesh alleged that while the MGNREGA budget was consistently increased during the UPA regime, it has been reduced under the BJP-led government. He further claimed that the Centre-state funding ratio has been changed which will increase the financial burden on states.
He also criticised the proposed restriction on work for two months in a year, warning that it would adversely impact the rural economy and will amount to discrimination against non-BJP-ruled states.
Legislature party leader Pradeep Yadav accused the Centre of systematically weakening pro-people legislations, while deputy leader Rajesh Kachhap said the Congress had enacted MGNREGA to strengthen the rural economy and prevent distress migration.
MP Sukhdev Bhagat described the change in the name and structure of MGNREGA as an attack on Gandhian ideology. Finance Minister Radha Krishna Kishore said that with over 12 crore registered MGNREGA workers nationwide, a substantially higher budget would be required to ensure 125 days of employment, adding that the current allocation was inadequate.
Health Minister Irfan Ansari, Rural Development Minister Deepika Pandey Singh, and Agriculture Minister Shilpi Neha Tirkey also opposed the changes, calling MGNREGA a vital scheme for rural development and for curbing migration.
The programme was conducted by JPCC working president Shahzada Anwar, while the vote of thanks was delivered by Mahila Congress president Rama Khalkho. A large number of Congress workers and MGNREGA labourers participated in the march.
(IANS)
