Chandigarh: Amid the opposition’s protests against the replacement of 20-year-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab on Friday announced it would convene a special session of Punjab assembly on the issue in the second week of January.
Chief minister Bhagwant Mann said in a post on X: “The BJP-led central government is attempting to undermine the livelihoods of the poor and laborers by altering the “MGNREGA” scheme, thereby trying to extinguish the hearths in the homes of the poor.. To raise the voice of Punjabis against this high-handedness, a special session of the Punjab Legislative Assembly will be convened in the second week of January’’.
Also, the AAP MP Malvinder Singh Kang opposed the Centre’s proposed ‘VB-G RAM G’ Bill during the Winter Session of Parliament on Tuesday, terming it a dangerous and regressive step aimed at weakening and effectively dismantling MGNREGA, the country’s largest social security programme for rural labourers.
Pertinently, the Parliament had on Thursday passed the VB-G RAM G Bill which seeks to replace MGNREGA and guarantee 125 days of rural wage employment every year.
It may be recalled that the special session of the Punjab assembly held in November was prorogued by the Governor on December 17, last.
Meanwhile, several labour and farm labour unions have started holding protests across the state against the said replacement of the scheme. On Friday, such protests were held in Bathinda, Moga, Muktsar, Faridkot and Sangrur districts.
