Bhubaneswar: Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala stated on Saturday that the Modi government has distanced itself from its responsibility to provide employment.
While speaking to reporters in Bhubaneswar, he said under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the Central government earlier bore the entire budget for wages. Under the new law, the Centre will now contribute only 60% of the budget, while the remaining 40% will have to be provided by the State governments.
He went on to say that after the implementation of GST and the collection of nearly Rs5 lakh crore annually through central cesses, States are left with very limited funds. As a result, neither will the states be able to contribute their share, nor will millions of workers receive employment. Without the bamboo, the flute can’t be played, Surjewala said in a series of posts on X.
According to him, the MGNREGA law guarantees the right to 100 days of employment. This guarantee reflects Articles 39(a) and 41 of the Indian Constitution.
However, as stated in Section 3 of the new law, the existing framework is reduced to nothing more than a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. This effectively ends the guaranteed right to employment, he noted, while criticising the Modi government.
He pointed out: “Under MGNREGA, there was neither any eligibility restriction nor a time limit for demanding work. Employment had to be provided whenever work was sought. The new law introduces a provision that appears designed to create a divide between farmers and workers. It states that no wages will be paid for up to 60 days during the sowing and harvesting periods. But in a country like India, don’t different crops in different states have different sowing and harvesting schedules?”
