NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill amid sustained opposition protests, leading to repeated disruptions and the adjournment of the House after a ruckus.The Bill, which replaces the 20-year-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, seeks to 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.Moving the Bill for consideration and passage, Union rural development minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the legislation would ensure employment and help fulfil Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of self-reliant villages.
He said the VB-G RAM G Bill would ensure all-round development of villages, make them poverty-free and fuel their growth journey.Opposition parties, however, mounted a sharp attack on the government over the repeal and renaming of MGNREGA. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra accused the government of undermining Gandhi’s legacy. She said the Bill was destroying the idea of Ram Rajya both in letter and spirit by repealing MGNREGA and renaming the scheme.
Moitra also accused the government of “dishonouring” Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore by removing Gandhi’s name from the landmark rural employment law. Taking a swipe at the ruling dispensation, she said the Bill showed that the government believed in “Na kisi ka saath, na kisi ka vikas, na Rahim ka, na Ram ka”.Opposing the Bill, she said the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 had revolutionised rural India’s concept of livelihood security.Congress MP Jai Prakash said removing the name of the Father of the Nation from the legislation was “the biggest crime”. He claimed the proposed law would create fresh financial liabilities for states and deprive grassroots institutions such as gram sabhas of their right to decide on works under the scheme. He termed the Bill “anti-poor” and “anti-Dalit”, alleging it reflected a pro-rich approach.Speaker Om Birla had earlier said the debate on the Bill would take place on Wednesday, with the minister replying on Thursday before it was taken up for passage.Defending the legislation, BJP MP Brijmohan Agarwal said the previous Congress government had reduced MNREGA to a “dig the pit and cover the pit” scheme. He alleged it failed to strengthen the rural economy and led to large-scale corruption. Agarwal said the inclusion of “Ram” in the new law would deter corruption.According to the Bill, states will be required to frame schemes consistent with the new law within six months of the Act coming into force.
