Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Credit: PTI Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing concerns over the Centre's decision to replace MGNREGA with new legislation.
A day after Parliament passed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, which seeks to replace the 20-year-old MGNREGA, the chief minister, in his letter, explained that several provisions in the proposed law are highly concerning and could adversely affect the limited financial capacities of the states.
The chief minister's letter states that the bill violates Gandhian principles of decentralisation, paves the way for bureaucratic control, contradicts the decentralisation envisaged in the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, and urges the central government to refrain from implementing it.
A CMO release said on Friday that in the letter Vijayan noted that under the existing Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the entire wage component is borne by the central government, whereas the new bill reduces the central share of wages to 60 per cent.
According to him, such a change in the current system would be completely disastrous.
"Preliminary estimates indicate that this change alone would result in an annual financial loss of approximately Rs 3,500 crore for Kerala," the Chief Minister said in the letter.
Vijayan said the rural employment scheme was conceived at a time when the country's rural economy was facing a severe crisis.
In today's circumstances, where unemployment and inequality are on the rise, a scheme that provides employment as needed is an inseparable component of the nation's welfare.
Noting that Kerala has always been at the forefront in implementing the employment guarantee scheme efficiently, he said any change that transforms the scheme into a centralised model would adversely affect states like Kerala and undermine the very objectives of the programme.
The release said the chief minister's letter emphasises that the Kerala government strongly believes that the name of Mahatma Gandhi, who spent his entire life trying to wipe away every tear, must continue to be associated with such a scheme.