Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 20: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Salman Khurshid today said that recent changes to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) would place an additional financial burden on states and dilute grassroots decision-making by shifting powers from villages to officials.
Addressing a press conference here, Khurshid, flanked by JKPCC president Tariq Hameed Karra, said the revised funding pattern would require states to bear 40 per cent of the scheme’s expenditure, while the Centre would contribute only 60 per cent.
He questioned how financially constrained states would manage the additional burden and warned that the move could “adversely affect implementation” of the rural employment programme.
He said the changes also undermined the spirit of decentralisation envisaged under MGNREGA, as decisions on works would now be taken by officers instead of Gram Sabhas.
“Earlier, villages decided what work was needed. Now officers will decide, which defeats the very purpose of the scheme,” he said.
Notably, apart from other changes, the Government has also renamed the scheme as the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), or VB-G RAM G.
Khurshid said the scheme, rooted in Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of ensuring support for the poorest sections of society, was aimed at economic empowerment through guaranteed employment.
He termed the alterations “unfortunate” and said the BJP-led Government diluted a programme that had played a key role in sustaining rural livelihoods.
He further claimed that around 12 crore workers would be affected by the changes, adding that man days were no longer being treated as a guaranteed right but left to administrative discretion.
The senior Congress leader also touched upon the National Herald case, alleging that it was being used as a political witch-hunt against Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.
He claimed investigative agencies were being misused after earlier efforts failed, and said courts had raised serious questions over the charges filed in the case.
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