Mumbai, Dec 21 (PTI) Senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Sunday said the Union government has “practically ended” the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act by replacing it with Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill.
Not only has the name been changed, the entire scheme itself has been altered, the senior advocate said while talking to PTI at Latur.
The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill was passed by Parliament in the recently concluded Winter session amid strong protests by the Opposition over the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name and the financial burden being put on states.
“MGNREGA was a right-driven scheme, where every rural family had the fundamental right to work for at least 100 days at minimum wages and would receive money from the government. But now the Union government has removed that. The government has said it will now be budget-driven,” Bhushan said.
“Now the government says they will decide what percentage they will provide and what percentage the state will provide. So, they have effectively ended the scheme,” he added.
He asserted that earlier too, the government had imposed restrictions on it in various ways.
“Like in (West) Bengal, they didn’t provide money for MGNREGA for several years. So, they wanted to end it, and now, in a legal sense, they have practically ended the scheme,” the senior lawyer claimed.
He also raised alarm over the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act and the sedition provision under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, saying that “many limitations are being imposed” through such moves.
“And even otherwise, we are seeing that people who speak against the government are being implicated under UAPA, PMLA, or in some way or another. They (Union government) are trying their best to end freedom of speech, but they haven’t fully succeeded yet,” he asserted. PTI AVI BNM
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