NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Several opposition Members of Parliament on Thursday staged a protest march inside the Parliament House complex, demanding withdrawal of the government’s G RAM G Bill, which seeks to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
Carrying photographs of Mahatma Gandhi and marching behind a large banner reading “Mahatma Gandhi NREGA,” the MPs walked from the Gandhi statue at Prerna Sthal to Makar Dwar, raising slogans against the Centre. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, DMK leaders K Kanhimozhi, T R Ballu and A Raja, IUML’s E T Mohammed Basheer, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Arvind Sawant and RSP’s N K Premchandran were among those who participated.
Addressing reporters, Venugopal alleged that Parliament was witnessing a “murder of democracy,” claiming that removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name from NREGA amounted to an attack on democratic values and the ideology of the Father of the Nation.
Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi also joined the protesting MPs and participated in the demonstration at Makar Dwar.
The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) [VB-G RAM G] Bill, which aims to replace the UPA-era MGNREGA, is currently under debate in Parliament. The Opposition has strongly objected to the Bill, accusing the government of insulting Mahatma Gandhi and weakening the provisions of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005.
As per the proposed legislation, the Bill provides a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work. It also mandates that states frame schemes consistent with the new law within six months of the Act’s commencement. (Agencies)
