Representational photo
New Delhi: Announcing that protests against the move to end MGNREGA will start this week, civil society groups said Modi govt cannot use mere parliamentary majority to end a rural livelihood programme that resulted from extensive consultations across the board and forging of a national consensus that included BJP.Founding members of MGNREGA, intellectuals and advocacy groups associated with the scheme came together to slam the “VB-G RAM G” bill, arguing that provisions in the proposed legislation will mark the end of job guarantee and hurt the socially vulnerable groups that depend on it for sustenance.NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, comprising economists Jean Dreze, who was part of the Sonia Gandhi-headed NAC that played a key role in drafting the job scheme, Prabhat Patnaik and Jayati Ghosh, Annie Raja, Yogendra Yadav, B Venkat of All India Agricultural Workers Union, Mukesh Nirvasit, several NGOs and activists, addressed a press conference to express their concerns, while warning they will this week start nationwide protests against the abolition of MGNREGA. They said the shifting of financial burden to states has made the new programme uncertain as the states are cash-strapped.Patnaik said mere parliamentary majority cannot undo the national consensus that resulted in the enactment of MGNREGA, and the Modi govt needs to bring an “alternative consensus” to repeal MGNREGA. The new Bill takes away the “right-based approach” and makes the scheme a “gift” from the govt, Ghosh said. “We have seen the pattern …Right to food is a right, but now we have ration bags coming with the PM’s photo on it,” she said.Venkat said govt is trying to create a conflict between farmers and agricultural workers. “This provision to pause the scheme during peak agricultural seasons has been brought in just to please those who control the land.”Dreze said, “The Union govt would now have full power to decide when and where to implement the scheme, while the obligation is on the states. It is like saying I give a work guarantee, but don’t guarantee that the guarantee will be in place.”
