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.

(With inputs from agencies.)