Lok Sabha passes rural jobs bill replacing MGNREGA amid Opposition protests

New Delhi, Dec 18: The Lok Sabha, on Thursday, passed a bill that seeks to replace the 20-year-old MGNREGA with a new initiative that guarantees rural jobs for 125 days every year amid vociferous protests by the Opposition.

Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan responded to the eight-hour discussion on the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, asserting that the Modi government was ensuring that the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi were upheld through various initiatives taken by it.

"Congress killed ideals of Bapu, NDA ensured Bapu lives through pucca houses built under the PM Awas Yojana, Ujjwala yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission, Ayushman Bharat," Chouhan said listing out government schemes for welfare of the poor.

Opposition members trooped to the well of the House raising slogans against the government from dropping Mahatma Gandhi's name from the rural jobs initiative and tearing copies of the G RAM G Bill and flinging it towards the chair.

The Lok Sabha passed the G RAM G Bill by a voice vote amid uproar by the opposition. The speaker adjourned the Lok Sabha for the day after the bill was passed.

Soon after the Lower House passed the bill, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, while strongly opposed the bill, said that the proposed legislation will finish off the rural employment guarantee scheme completely.

The Congress general secretary also asserted that the opposition is united on the issue and will strongly oppose the government move.

"We will strongly oppose this bill. All parties are unanimously opposed to it. This bill will finish off MGNREGA. From whatever perspective you look at the bill, the increasing of work days from 100 days to 125 is their deceit. Anyone who reads the bill carefully would know that this scheme will be finished off in the next few days,” she told the press.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said her government would rename its rural job guarantee programme after Mahatma Gandhi. Speaking at a business and industry conclave in Kolkata, Banerjee said if some political parties "failed to show respect to our national icons, we will do it", without directly naming the BJP.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin also accused the BJP-led Union government of undermining the livelihoods of the poor through the proposed changes to the rural employment guarantee scheme.

In a social media post, Stalin alleged that the BJP government was "hitting the stomachs of the poor," while Palaniswami "echoed" its stance instead of standing up for the people.

Earlier in the day, several opposition MPs took out a protest march inside the Parliament House complex against the G RAM G bill and demanded its withdrawal, as Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge vowed to fight the government's move in Parliament and in the streets.

Behind a huge banner of “Mahatma Gandhi NREGA”, they marched from the Gandhi statue at Prerna Sthal to Makar Dwar, raising slogans against the government.

Congress president Kharge, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, DMK's K Kanhimozhi, TR Ballu, A Raja, IUML's ET Mohammed Basheer, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Arvind Sawant and RSP's N K Premchandran, among others, participated in the protest.

PTI