New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi on Thursday said villages across the country were facing distress and accused the Union government of putting labourers in a “bad situation” by ending the rural employment guarantee scheme MGNREGA.
Participating in a discussion on the working of the Ministry of Rural Development in Rajya Sabha, Pratapgarhi said villages once symbolised harmony but the situation has deteriorated.
“Villages were about love earlier. Today, the environment of villages has been vitiated and people cannot even sit together…” he said.
“Workers are in a bad situation. Instead of promoting MGNREGA, you are ending it by putting the burden on states… You think you can hide behind a name change,” he said.
The Viksit Bharat- Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Act (VB-G RAM G) is set to replace the two decade old UPA-era rural employment scheme – the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
Pratapgarhi said road conditions in villages were so poor that “if a pregnant woman has to be taken to a hospital, perhaps she may not even reach the hospital”.
He also alleged that houses built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) were being demolished by state authorities in some places and questioned the government’s vision for villages.
“We dreamt of ending migration, but villages are even deprived of basic facilities, so people are running to cities,” he said.
BJP MP Baburam Nishad, however, said government schemes have brought visible changes in villages and that housing and sanitation initiatives were benefiting the poor.
“Earlier only rich people’s houses were built in villages, but now homes are being built for the poor,” he said, while also highlighting the impact of the Swachh Bharat Mission in curbing open defecation in rural areas.
Another BJP MP, Seema Dwivedi, said the government has expanded rural road connectivity across the country.
“Roads have been provided to every village. There would hardly be any village left without a road,” she said during the debate.
The debate in the Upper House has concluded, and Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is likely to give a reply on Monday.
The MGNREGA provided for 100 days of wage labour, the VB-G RAM G has provision for providing 125 days of work, which, as per the government, enhances the “guarantee” for work.
While under the old Act, the centre bore 100 per cent of the wage cost, and 75 percent of the material cost, the VB-G RAM G provides for a cost-sharing pattern of 60:40 between the Centre and States, 90:10 for North Eastern and Himalayan States, and 100 per cent central funding for Union Territories without legislatures.
Activists and opposition leaders have said this weakens the Act, puts additional burden on states, and will eventually lead to people not getting work. The government has however said the allocations would be sufficient under the scheme for employment to be provided. PTI AO SKY SKY
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