Use MGNREGS to help people, Sonia asks central govt

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi that in 2014, (soon after becoming PM) he derided the rural job guarantee scheme launched by the Congress-led UPA as “a living monument of your failure” -- and that the Modi government has come “full circle”, falling back “on the UPA’s flagship rural-relief programme” against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and its fallout.

Her comments, made in a news article, came against the backdrop of reports that in May, 21.9 million households demanded work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the most in eight years. The demand comes even as both the urban and local economy has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown imposed to slow its spread.

Urging the government “not to play politics”, Gandhi said this was not a “Bharatiya Janata Party versus Congress issue”. “You have a powerful mechanism at hand (MGNREGS), please use it to help the people of India in their time of need.”

“Covid-19 has demonstrated the unmatched value of a peoplecentric scheme like MGNREGA with a humbled Modi government being constrained to commit an additional ~40,000 crore to it,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said in a video conference on Monday.

BJP spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal said, “MGNREGA has seen three important changes over the years, first is asset creation with work now compulsory, secondly DBT has plugged all leakages, eliminating corruption. Thirdly increased fund allocation.”

Gandhi added that the Modi government “has not paid heed to demands to increase the number of workdays to 200.” The scheme offers 100 days of employment.

GANDHI ADDED THAT THE MODI GOVERNMENT “HAS NOT PAID HEED TO DEMANDS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF WORKDAYS TO 200