Mohali :
Senior Congress leader and former Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu today strongly criticised the Modi government’s proposal to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the proposed “GRAM G Act,” calling it an anti-poor move and a direct attack on the economic security and constitutional rights of rural India.
Sidhu said MGNREGA is not merely a welfare scheme but a landmark rights-based legislation enacted by the UPA government to guarantee 100 days of wage employment to rural households. He said the scheme empowered the poorest sections, strengthened rural infrastructure, reduced distress migration and upheld the dignity of labour.
He alleged that instead of strengthening MGNREGA through timely wage payments and increasing workdays, the Centre systematically weakened the scheme through budget cuts, delayed payments and excessive reliance on technology. According to Sidhu, replacing it with the GRAM G Act would dismantle a statutory entitlement and turn it into a discretionary scheme fully controlled by the government.
Warning that removing the legal guarantee of employment would leave millions of rural families vulnerable to bureaucratic decisions and political considerations, Sidhu said the move undermines social justice and adversely affects farmers, labourers, Dalits and other marginalised communities.
The Congress leader said MGNREGA had acted as a lifeline during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, including in Punjab. He added that weakening the scheme at a time of rising rural distress, unemployment and inflation was both insensitive and irresponsible.
Sidhu demanded the immediate withdrawal of the proposal, restoration of adequate funding for MGNREGA, clearance of pending wage dues and consultations with states and stakeholders. He also accused the Modi government of attempting to mislead people by associating the proposed law with the name of Lord Ram while replacing Mahatma Gandhi, and said the Congress would oppose any such move both on the streets and in Parliament.
