Rural Employment Battle: Bajwa Criticizes VB-G RAM G Bill

Partap Singh Bajwa criticizes a bill intended to replace MGNREGA, saying it gives the Centre power to discriminate against Opposition-ruled states. Bajwa, a leader in the Punjab Assembly, argues the bill undermines a crucial social security scheme, weakens rural employment rights, and disproportionately harms marginalized communities.

In a vehement critique, Punjab Assembly's Leader of the Opposition, Partap Singh Bajwa, slammed the Centre's VB-G RAM G Bill, describing it as a discriminatory tool against Opposition-led states through arbitrary fund cuts.

Bajwa condemned the BJP-led government's move to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as ideologically motivated, aimed at dismantling a pivotal social security structure. He labeled the change as a direct attack on Gandhi's legacy and a shift that undermines cooperative federalism in India.

The proposed restructuring from complete central funding to a 60:40 cost-sharing model, according to Bajwa, would further strain already financially stressed states, disproportionately affecting marginalized rural workers and landless laborers, thereby eroding social justice advances recognized globally.