New Delhi | A Bill replacing the 20-year-old MNREGA and seeking to guarantee rural jobs for 125 days every year came up for discussion in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, with Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan asserting that the measure will not only ensure employment but also fulfil Mahatma Gandhi's dream of making villages self-reliant.
Moving the Bill for consideration and passage, Chouhan, the Union Rural Development Minister, said the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill will ensure all-around development of villages and make them poverty-free, fuelling their growth journey.
Participating in the debate, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on the government over the VB-G RAM G Bill, saying it is destroying Mahatma Gandhi's idea of Ram Rajya both in letter and spirit by repealing MGNREGA and renaming the scheme.
She also accused the government of "dishonouring" both Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, who gave the title of Mahatma to the Father of the Nation, by renaming MGNREGA.
Participating in the debate, Moitra took a swipe at the government and said this Bill has shown that the government believes in "Na kisi ka saath, na kisi ka vikas, na Rahim ka, na Ram ka".
Opposing the renaming and the replacement of the MGNREGA by the VB-G RAM G bill, she said the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA) revolutionised rural India's idea of livelihood security.
At the outset, Speaker Om Birla said while the debate will take place on Wednesday, the minister will reply on Thursday before the Bill comes up for passage.
Initiating the debate, Jai Prakash (Congress) lamented that the name of Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, was removed from the Bill, which was "the biggest crime".
He said the proposed law will create fresh financial abilities for the states and deprive grassroots-level bodies like the gram sabhas of their rights to decide on work to be undertaken under the draft law.
The Hisar MP said the proposed law is "anti-poor" and "anti-Dalit" as it has been drafted by the government which is "pro-rich".
Introducing the Bill in the Lower House on Tuesday, Chouhan said the government not only believes in Mahatma Gandhi but also follows his principles.
According to the Bill, it will provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work.
Within six months from the date of commencement of the VB-G RAM G Act, states will have to make a scheme consistent with the provisions of the new law.
Brijmohan Agarwal, the first one to speak from the BJP, said the previous Congress government had turned MNREGA into a "dig the pit and cover the pit" scheme.
He claimed that while the scheme had not helped strengthen the rural economy, it led to large-scale corruption.
Agarwal said with the proposed law having "Ram" in it, people will be wary of indulging in corruption.
New Delhi | Several parties of the opposition INDIA bloc will stage a protest against the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, which seeks to replace MGNREGA, in the Parliament complex on Thursday morning.
Sources said the protest will be organised near the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex at 10.15 am and MPs of various opposition parties will raise slogans to oppose the government's move.
The decision to hold the protest was taken at a meeting of opposition parties in the chamber of Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.
Leaders of Congress, DMK, Samajwadi Party, CPI, CPI-M, IUML, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP-SCP, JMM and RJD, among others, were present at the meeting, while the Trinamool Congress stayed away.
The opposition parties alleged that the VB-G RAM G Bill seeks to remove the name of Mahatma Gandhi from the rural employment law MGNREGA and end it.
They also alleged that renaming the scheme is an insult to Mahatma Gandhi and by doing so, the ruling BJP is displaying its "hatred" towards him.
The VB-G RAM G Bill, 2025, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
It provides for 125 days of wage employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work and talks about establishing a rural development framework aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.
