New Delhi:
On Monday, Congress asked the government to expand the reach of MGNREGA to meet the growing labor demand of 8 crores of migrants who are expected to relocate to villages due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Calling on the Prime Minister not to consider “the Centre’s dependence on MGNREGA as the victory of the regime or of political opponents of the BJP”, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said the government should examine the magnitude of the benefits the regime will offer to migrants.
He said COVID-19 has demonstrated the “unsurpassed value of a people-centered program like Mahatma Gandhi’s National Rural Job Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with a humble Modi government forced to spend it additional 40,000 crore rupees “.
“MGNREGA must be expanded and opened to meet massively increased demand,” he said at a virtual press conference.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi in an article published in The Indian Express on Monday also said it was not the BJP against Congress, but that MGNREGA should be used to help the Indian people.
“The Modi government came reluctantly about the importance of the program. My plea to the government is, this is a time of national crisis, not a time to play politics. This is not a question of the BJP against Congress. You have a powerful mechanism at your fingertips, please use it to help the Indian people when needed, “she said in the article.
Singhvi said the scheme was a brainchild of Congress and has proven to be the largest social protection scheme in the world and “clearly the most effective government scheme”.
“Please forget that your remarks, Prime Minister will come back to haunt you. Please forget about political adversity. Please forget that your current dependence on MGNREGA is the regime’s biggest victory and, therefore, indirectly the victory of some of your political opponents. Please consider how you can do a lot of good for the nation through this scheme. So don’t take our words in an adversarial spirit. MGNREGA is a reality, this is an agreement reached and you must inspire you, “he said.
He said that since Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “forced to fall back on a UPA plan”, it is only right that Congress should provide him with additional advice for the next steps.
“Our basic requirement is that MGNREGA in its content, its scope, must be massively intensified, because it has proven to be the closest glove which adapts to the hand which is the hand of Covid distress”, a he added.
The head of the Congress said that the government had rightly given Rs 40,000 additional crore, but he must remember that the scale of the COVID-19 disaster will require its expansion.
In May 2020, he said, 2.19 million households benefited from the program, which was the highest in May in the past eight years.
Mr. Singhvi said that up to 12 crore people, as of March 31, 2020, have cumulatively benefited from this program since its inception.
While 8 million migrants are expected to move due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the President of Congress has urged the government to increase the number of guaranteed work days to 200, down from the current 100 days under the program.
He said it would help provide employment opportunities for displaced migrants near their homes and asked the government to make panchayats the hub, in terms of deconcentrating funds and identifying potential projects.
The nature of the work should be left to the gram sabhas, he said, adding that local officials understand the realities on the ground, the influx of workers and their needs.
“How many additional job cards (to cope with an increase in the number of new migrants and existing rural job seekers) have already been issued and how many have gotten jobs,” he asked.
The head of the Congress alleged that residents of the village adopted by the Prime Minister of Domari in Varanasi would have difficulty obtaining rations and jobs.
“Have all the arrears of the past financial year been cleared? The increase to Rs. 1.01,000 crores is actually only 84,000 crores due to the current commitments carried over from the last financial year. Reduced expenses will they be sufficient to meet the incoming demand, “he asked.