5 months ago
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Chief Minister M.K. Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi connected Thursday signaling the objection of the Government of Tamil Nadu to the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025.
Expressing heavy interest and beardown objection of the Government of Tamil Nadu to the (VB-G RAM G) Bill introduced successful the Lok Sabha that sought to repeal and regenerate the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA). Mr. Stalin besides listed immoderate of the cardinal concerns of the Tamil Nadu authorities successful the Bill.
The MGNREGA has been a cornerstone of agrarian livelihood information successful India, providing a rights-based, demand-driven warrant of employment to millions of agrarian households, Mr. Stalin said successful his missive and pointed retired that successful Tamil Nadu, the strategy has been implemented efficaciously since 2006, generating connected mean 30 crore person-days of employment annually and disbursing wages of astir ₹12,000 crore per year. “From 2021-22 to 2024-25, we provided an mean of 30 crore person-days, and successful 2023-24 alone, 40.87 crore person-days were generated, with wages amounting to ₹13,400 crore paid to workers,” helium said. This has been important for the agrarian poor, particularly economically weaker sections, including SC/ST communities, successful a State with longer non-rainy periods, deficiency of perennial rivers for irrigation, and precocious dependency connected specified wage employment, helium added.
While the projected Bill increases the guaranteed employment to 125 days per twelvemonth – a invited measurement that could payment agrarian workers – the different provisions fundamentally undermine the scheme’s halfway principles, enforce terrible fiscal burdens connected States, and erode federalism. These changes would adversely impact States’ finances and the livelihoods of millions of mediocre agrarian labourers crossed the country, Mr. Stalin said.
The displacement from demand-driven to supply-driven allocation, was 1 of the concerns helium flagged. "The Bill empowers the Union authorities to hole State-wise normative allocations based connected parameters prescribed centrally. This caps expenditure and requires States to carnivore immoderate excess costs, departing from MGNREGA’s demand-driven nature. In Tamil Nadu, wherever request is precocious owed to climatic and geographical factors, specified fixation (potentially based connected colonisation without considering section needs) volition trim person-days and wages, causing hardship to agrarian workers, helium contended.
Under MGNREGA, the Union Government bears 100% of unskilled wage costs and administrative expenses, with 75:25 sharing for materials but the Bill introduces caller 60:40 backing signifier (wages, materials, and administration), helium pointed retired and contended that it volition enforce a tremendous further load connected States, galore of which are already facing fiscal constraints. "Pause during highest cultivation seasons: Mandating nary works for up to 60 days district-wise whitethorn disrupt continuous livelihood support, particularly successful regions wherever cultivation cycles vary," helium argued.
There was excessive centralisation successful the Bill and said that provisions allowing the Centre to notify implementation areas and integrate plans with nationalist stacks trim decentralised readying by Gram Panchayats and undermine grassroots democracy. The removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s sanction successful the programme was 1 of the concerns, helium flagged. "Renaming the strategy erases the nexus to Gandhiji’s imaginativeness of Gram Swaraj and decentralisation, which MGNREGA embodied. These changes change the cardinal rights-based quality of MGNREGA, making it a centrally controlled, budget-capped programme, helium said.
The projected authorities volition jeopardise the livelihoods of crores of agrarian poor, peculiarly successful performing States similar Tamil Nadu, and strain inter-governmental relations, helium said urging the Union Government not to instrumentality the VB-G RAM G Bill, 2025. Instead, clasp and fortify MGNREGA by incorporating the summation to 125 days done amendments, aft wide consultations with States, helium demanded.
