Rana KP slams MGNREGA repeal, calls it attack on poor

Senior Congress leader and former Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana KP Singh today criticised the BJP government at the Centre for repealing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), claiming it takes away the right to work of the rural poor and also centralises power over gram panchayats.

Addressing a press conference in Mohali today, the senior Congress leader said the repeal of the Act is an ideological fight against sectarian and divisive forces who want to divide society in the name of religion, caste, and language. Congress, on the other hand, gives primacy to the Constitution.

He said MGNREGA feeds 20 lakh beneficiaries among Punjab’s rural poor and landless as a right to work, as they could demand work as a matter of right, which the government had to provide at any cost. Now, he added, this will not be the case as there will be no constitutional guarantee for minimum workdays to the rural poor.

The former Speaker noted that earlier the central government would allocate 90 per cent of funds and states had to provide only 10 per cent; under the new law, states will have to contribute 40 per cent against 60 per cent by the Centre.