Punjab Assembly passes resolution against G RAM G; demands restoration of MGNREGA

The Punjab Vidhan Sabha Tuesday passed a resolution against the VB-G RAM G Act, accusing the BJP-led Centre of “taking away the right to guaranteed employment” from poor labourers, women and lakhs of job card–holding families, and recommended that the state government seek from the Centre to immediately restore the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to its original form. Barring the two BJP members, who were not in the House, the resolution was passed unanimously.

Tabling the resolution for discussion, Cabinet Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond, said that Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act (VB-G RAM G) will severely impact below-poverty-line families, Scheduled Caste (SC) communities and rural labourers who depend on the MGNREGA for survival. Alleging that the Centre wanted to “finish” the MGNREGA, Sond demanded its restoration.

Terming the introduction of the new job law as “deliberate and dangerous conspiracy”, the resolution said, “The BJP-led central government has not only dismantled MGNREGA but it has also taken away the livelihood of Dalit labourers. This House believes that the BJP-led central government has not only destroyed a government scheme but it has also destroyed the right to survival of the Dalit labourers of the country,” it claimed.

It said that the MGNREGA was a system that allowed Dalit labourers and the poor to stay in their villages, earn their livelihood through hard work, send their children to school and live with dignity. “Abolishing MGNREGA is not a decision to implement the scheme but a declaration of thought from an anti-Dalit perspective. By scrapping MGNREGA, the central BJP government has taken away jobs from Dalit labourers, deprived Dalit children of education and extinguished the kitchen stoves of Dalit families,” it said.

“A government that extinguishes the kitchen stoves of the Dalits forfeits its moral right to seek votes from the Dalit community. This House clearly states that the policies of the BJP central government are anti-Dalit. The decisions of the BJP’s central government repeatedly prove that the BJP hates Dalits and wants to marginalise them,” according to the resolution.

Attacking MGNREGA is actually an attack on the dignity and existence of Dalits, the resolution said.

“This House also says that the government which does not provide jobs to Dalits in villages pushes them to urban slums. Today, the central BJP government has taken away the moral right of Dalit workers and poor Dalit families to seek votes. A government that does not care about the livelihood of Dalits has no moral demand for Dalit votes,” it said.

The House also took note that the SAD maintained silence on this entire issue. “This silence is because they hope to reestablish their alliance with the BJP in 2027, even if the Dalits have to pay the price for it. Keeping silent on the verdicts against Dalits is also a crime,” read the resolution.

The House recommended that the state government demand from the central government to immediately withdraw the decision to scrap MGNREGA, fully restore MGNREGA to its original right-based form and ensure guaranteed work and wages for Dalit labourers and poor families across the country.

Participating in the discussion on the resolution, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said if the BJP-led Centre failed to resume the MGNREGA in toto, the people of Punjab will not allow the party leaders to enter the villages. The new law, he said, is “anti-poor, anti-dalit, anti-farmers, anti-labourers, and anti-women and capable of dousing the kitchen fire of the poor, who were dependent on the wages to eke out a living.”

Mann also mocked at the new job law’s name asking what would the people do with it when their kitchen fire will not burn. “There will be scams in the scheme soon. I want to ask Ashwani Sharma (BJP member) as to what will happen then? Everyone will say there is a scam in G RAM G scheme. Would you like to tarnish Lord’s name?” he asked.

He said the farmers were seeking MSP as a legal right but instead of granting it, Centre has snatched the legal guarantee of a job from the poor.

Participating in the debate, BJP’s Ashwani Sharma said that Punajb government was running away from its responsibilities by spreading lies and confusion.“The guarantee (under MGNREGA) was to provide 100 days of employment. But in the current year, an average of 26 days of employment has been provided. While in the last three years, an average of 38 days of employment was provided.

According to the MGNREGA law, the state government is required to provide work within 15 days when a worker seeks work. In case of failure, unemployment allowance has to be given. Under Section 25 of MGNREGA, action should be taken against the responsible officers in such a situation,” he said, asking the CM to present data on action taken in 23 districts till date.

He alleged the AAP government is not even conducting the mandatory social audit to hide the corruption and fraud happening in MGNREGA. Social audits were not conducted in 6,095 Gram Panchayats in 2024-25 and 7,389 Gram Panchayats in 2025-26. The Punjab government has not yet issued an action taken report on 3,986 cases of corruption detected by the Special Audit Unit, clearly indicating that corrupt individuals are being protected. “What is wrong in providing 125 days of employment under MGNREGA instead of 100 days?” he asked.

Cabinet Minister Aman Arora, however, challenged the very foundation of the scheme. He said, “They talk about an ‘average’ of 26 days of employment in Punjab. Even if we accept this dubious average, my question is, what was the purpose of increasing the days from 100 to 125? This is nothing but making fools of the people. If an MGNREGA labourer knows he won’t get wages for six to eight months, will he show up for work? Even if panchayats want to start projects, how will they pay for materials if funds are not released from the top? The Centre has single-handedly killed this scheme,” he said.

He said, the earlier scheme was demand-driven. “Now it has been made supply-driven. Punjab has 30.20 lakh MGNREGA job card holders. If all of them are given 125 days of employment, the central government will have to allocate a budget of Rs 13,062 crore,” he said, adding the AAP government has recovered Rs 2 crore and taken action against 42 people.

Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema read a letter from a woman MGNREGA worker, Charanjit Kaur, which highlighted the fears of thousands of rural labourers. Charanjit Kaur’s letter expressed the anxiety that changing rules and centralised village lists would deprive children of education and the elderly of medicine.

Cheema emphasised that by centralising the scheme and moving to complex mobile-based attendance, the Union government is snatching away the ‘guarantee’ of work that was once the backbone of rural survival.

He said, “The BJP is working against the spirit of the Constitution authored by Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar.”

Congress’ Pargat Singh asked the government if convening a special session on MGNREGA and merely passing a resolution of condemnation was enough. He urged Mann and the AAP government to go to Delhi and directly confront the Central government to prevent further harm to Punjab’s interests. “We will accompany the government to Delhi if needed,” he said, while also demanding that the ‘AAP’ government should convene a regular session rather than symbolic one-day special sessions.