Scrapping MGNREGA is severe blow to rural poor: Himachal CM

The leaders sat in silent protest, holding placards, to register their opposition to the changes in the rural employment guarantee programme

Himachal Pradesh Congress leaders, led by chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, on Monday held a protest near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at The historic Ridge in Shimla, against what they termed as the Union government’s move to scrapping the MGNREGA scheme.

Himachal chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu along with other Congress leaders during protest on The Ridge on Monday. (Deepak Sansta/HT)

The leaders sat in silent protest, holding placards, to register their opposition to the changes in the rural employment guarantee programme.

Addressing the gathering, the CM said that scrapping MGNREGA is a severe blow to the rural poor. “Earlier, the scheme was demand-driven. Works were planned on the basis of demands raised by panchayats, panchayat representatives, gram sabhas and local people. Now that system has been terminated,” he added.

Sukhu alleged that MGNREGA had been converted into an allocation-driven scheme. “Now the central government will decide and notify which works will be taken up. Panchayats, BDC members and women workers no longer have a say in deciding village works. This has weakened decentralisation and panchayat powers,” he said.

He said, “Earlier development works under MGNREGA were planned and implemented on the basis of demands of gram panchayats and gram sabhas. However, under the new system, panchayat pradhans will no longer prepare plans. Instead, funds will be allocated by the central government and development works will be notified centrally for specific areas”. He said Congress will hold protests at district and block levels to make people aware of this “anti-people” decision.

The CM said that this decision is especially painful for Himachal Pradesh. Earlier, 100% of the wages under MGNREGA were paid by the central government and the state government additionally contributed ₹80 per day to workers. Under the new provisions, the Centre will bear only 90% of the wages, while the state will have to bear 10%. He demanded that the scheme should continue based on Panchayat demands and local development needs.

Terming MGNREGA as the largest employment guarantee scheme in the world, deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri said, “For the last two decades, it has run very successfully and money reached directly to villages. That was the spirit of the scheme, and it strengthened rural livelihoods.”

State Congress President Vinay Kumar has stated that the party will hold protests in districts and blocks across the state starting January 5 to protest the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from MGNREGA and the weakening of its original purpose.

Congress’s protest on MGNREGA is politics of blatant lies: BJP

On the other hand, BJP called Congress’s protest as an attempt to mislead lead people by spreading lies.

BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Harsh Mahajan, calling the protest a political drama, said, “It has become a habit of Congress that whenever any concrete reform is made in the interest of the poor, farmers, and rural people, they take to the streets by creating a false narrative of its abolition.”

Mahajan added that the new system will directly benefit the panchayats and accelerate development work. Mahajan said that Congress is also misleading the public regarding the funding pattern. The 60:40 model is in line with the spirit of cooperative federalism, where the state government’s participation will enhance the monitoring and effectiveness of the schemes.

Former BJP state president and MLA Satpal Singh Satti termed the protest, as “an unsuccessful attempt to divert attention from the state government’s failures, financial mismanagement, and false promises”.

Satti said, “When Congress doesn’t know how to govern, it distorts facts and resorts to protests to mislead the public”.