Cong top brass pushes for ‘Save MGNREGA’ campaign, start Punjab tour

Amritsar: Expecting that the ‘Save MGNREGA' campaign will yield significant political dividends, the Congress party's top leadership has embarked on a nationwide outreach with a two-fold objective – gathering first-hand feedback from the grassroots on the campaign to protect the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and to strategically guide the state and district leadership on strengthening the campaign narrative.As part of a nationwide tour, Arathi Krishna, secretary in charge, All India Congress Committee (AICC), on Sunday began her Punjab tour from Amritsar.Addressing a group of rural unskilled labourers, Arathi highlighted the key features and benefits of MGNREGA. She claimed that MGNREGA provided assured, demand-driven employment and livelihood security to rural households.The Congress leader said the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) could lead to significant gaps in coverage and entitlements, and might weaken the existing framework of rural employment support.Giving an example, Arathi said that under MGNREGA, the Union govt paid 100% of the workers' wages, so the state govts were able to provide work without difficulty. However, under the VB – G RAM G, the states will now have to pay 40% of their wages to save costs, so there are possibilities that state govts may not provide the work at all, she added.Arathi also held a meeting with the senior state Congress leadership to provide further guidance on the party's ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram'.After the meeting, she said the state Congress leadership was focused on effectively propagating that MGNREGA remained a more robust, rights-based employment framework compared to the VB G RAM G.Arathi, who is also the vice-chairperson of the Indian Overseas Congress, said she held a meeting with the IOC presidents, during which several leaders expressed their reservations about the VB G RAM G."Since many of them hail from a rural background, and a significant proportion of MGNREGA beneficiaries themselves come from the rural areas, they are concerned about losing the legal guarantee to work, among other apprehensions," she said.MSID:: 126463371 413 |