Punjab Assembly passes resolution against rural employment scheme

Chandigarh, Dec 30 (IANS) The Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution moved by Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond, decrying the initiative by the government of India (GoI) for replacing of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the new law, Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin).

The new scheme takes away the right to guaranteed wages and employment from poor labourers, women and lakhs of job card-holding families of the state and imposes an additional financial burden on the States.

The minister pointed out that the National Rural Development Guarantee Act was passed by the government of India in September 2005, and it was implemented in all districts of Punjab in 2008-09.

The scheme was subsequently renamed on October 2, 2009, by the government of India as MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).

The objective of the MGNREGA scheme is to enhance livelihood security by mandatorily providing guaranteed wage employment of at least 100 days in a financial year to the adult members of every household in rural areas who are willing to do unskilled manual work.

Minister Sond further divulged that the MGNREGA is a landmark and globally recognised law within India’s framework for social welfare and rural economic security, which has established employment as a legal right for the poor, landless and marginalised communities, including SC/ST individuals and women in rural India.

This Act is demand-driven, under which if a worker demands work under the MGNREGA scheme, it is the legal responsibility of the state and the government of India to provide him/her with work within a specified time or to provide unemployment allowance.

On the contrary, although the VB-G RAM G Act (Viksit Bharat- Guarantee for Rozgar And Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act) 2025 mentions 125 days, this guarantee is actually tied to the normative budget and limited financial arrangements, due to which this guarantee remains only on paper.

In this framework, the availability of employment will no longer rely on the labourer’s demand but will depend on the allocations made by the government of India according to pre-determined plans and budget limits.

The Minister said that the VIKSIT BHARAT – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act discusses paying wages in a 60:40 ratio and mandates weekly payments, but in practice, these changes will actually increase the financial burden on state governments rather than alleviate it.

The government of India will set a budget limit for the entire financial year in advance; however, it is important to note that under the MGNREGA scheme, workers have the legal right to demand work, which will be impacted by this budget limitation.

In this situation, if work is not provided within the stipulated time, then the state government has to bear the entire responsibility of unemployment allowance. Along with this, if the limit of the Central budget allocation is reached, providing work to the workers becomes not only administratively challenging but also financially unfeasible.

Meanwhile, Minister Sond, while interacting with the media, said that in a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, headed by a Lok Sabha MP from Congress, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, nobody from the Congress opposed the VB G RAM G scheme. But in Vidhan Sabha, they are shedding crocodile tears, added the minister.

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