SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) on Monday strongly criticised the BJP-led Union Government, accusing it of dismantling the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and replacing it with a discretionary scheme that, it claimed, undermines the legal right to work for rural households.
Marking 20 years of the enactment of MGNREGA, the MPCC said the landmark law, which once guaranteed employment to rural citizens, has been “abandoned” and substituted with a centrally controlled and capped programme, identified by the party as the VB-GRAMG scheme. According to the Congress, this shift represents a dilution of the original intent of MGNREGA rather than a reform.
In a press statement issued here, the party stated that MGNREGA was not merely a policy but a lifeline for rural families, providing wages during periods of distress, reducing forced migration, keeping children in school, and enabling women to earn close to home with dignity.
“For nearly two decades, despite implementation challenges, MGNREGA carried a clear assurance — citizens had the right to demand work, and the state had the obligation to provide it,” the MPCC said, adding that this assurance has now been withdrawn under the new framework,” the release stated.
The Congress further alleged that the replacement scheme is dependent on approvals and fund availability, eroding the safety net that protected vulnerable communities from hunger and economic insecurity. The party claimed that the biggest loss is not just income, but dignity, particularly for rural workers who depended on the scheme during periods of unemployment.
Condemning the repeal of MGNREGA, the MPCC demanded the immediate restoration of a universal, demand-driven and legally enforceable right to work. It said the Congress stands with rural workers, women, Adivasis, Dalits, persons with disabilities and other marginalised groups whose livelihoods, it claimed, were closely tied to the Act.
