Karnataka: Congress, Opposition gear up for MGNREGA debate in session

Bengaluru: The ruling Congress and the opposition NDA led by the BJP are bracing up for a fierce showdown over the repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the final three days of the legislature session called to deliberate on the issue. 

DH has accessed documents prepared by the state government and the BJP on their respective arguments.

The government is expected to attack the BJP on the change in the funding structure (90:10 centre-state ratio to 60:40) in the new Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act - VB-G RAM (G) Act, the removal of the right of panchayats to decide the order of priority of different projects, removal of the 60-day pause clause, the “unilateral authority” of the Union government to “switch off” and “switch on” and scrapping of statutory minimum wages.

As per a PowerPoint presentation given to the state Cabinet by the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department, the MGNREGA permitted “no contractors,” while the VB — G RAM (G) Act includes contractors in cases where components of a work are financed under other schemes. 

“This allows for two different standards of work within a single work. The wages paid to the labour brought by contractors would be different from the wages paid to workers VB — G RAM (G), creating an anomaly,” it states. 

In his letter to the prime minister, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had also mentioned that the “objective parameters” based on which the state-wise allocations would be made wasn’t mentioned in the Act.

BJP’s counter 

The BJP’s defence is expected to feature its arguments in favour of VB — G RAM (G) and its claims on greater achievements under MGNREGA from 2014-25 than the UPA’s performance from 2006-14. 

According to a BJP document which DH has accessed, the saffron party’s arguments will include the legal guarantee of 125 days of unskilled wage employment per rural household instead of the 100 days mentioned in MGNREGA, “strong whole-of-Government convergence across Central, State and Local Government schemes,” and the “objective parameters” for state-wise allocations would ensure “equity (samata), fairness (nyaysangata) and balanced regional development, while addressing inter-state and intra-state disparities.”

The BJP is also expected to claim that it released Rs 8.53 lakh crore for MGNREGA from 2014-25 as opposed to Rs 2.13 lakh crore by the UPA governments from 2006-14. The saffron party also claims that 862 lakh works were completed (2014-25) as against 153 lakh works (2006-14).

RDPR minister, Priyank Kharge is expected to lead the government’s charge. Speaking to DH, Priyank explained that the Congress had a separate seminar on the issue, where all MLAs were briefed. In the BJP camp, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R Ashoka and his Legislative Council counterpart Chalavadi Narayanaswamy may lead the defence.