VB-G RAM G’s first month shows sharp fall in rural jobs: Jairam Ramesh

"The first month of the Modi government's VB-G RAM G scheme is already bringing to light the cost of dismantling MGNREGA," Ramesh said.

He said the figures vindicated concerns raised by the Congress and other Opposition parties when the government replaced MGNREGA with the new legislation.

Ramesh said MGNREGA provided rural workers with a legal guarantee of employment and gave gram panchayats a central role in implementing the programme.

"The core spirit of MGNREGA was to free workers from dependence on the whims and mercy of the government of the day," he said.

Drawing a contrast with VB-G RAM G, Ramesh alleged that the new scheme had centralised implementation, placed a greater financial burden on state governments and made access to employment increasingly dependent on technology and biometric authentication.

He further alleged that the new framework had removed the employment guarantee and made it more difficult for rural workers to claim their entitlements.

Ramesh said the nearly 50 per cent decline in workdays generated under the new scheme during its first month showed the impact of the changes.

"This is exactly the situation that the Congress and the entire Opposition had warned about when the Modi government bulldozed MGNREGA," he said.

Calling the new scheme "outright employment theft", Ramesh alleged that the government's policy was weakening a legal safeguard that had provided rural households with access to employment during periods of economic distress.