WITHOUT THE MAHATMA & THE RIGHT TO WORK

THE repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and its replacement with another tongue-twister, the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G Ram G) Act, was bulldozed through both houses of Parliament on Thursday.

- GURBIR SINGH

It left most wondering what was so urgent in replacing a 'right to work' scheme that had, despite all its problems, a good track record.Amid protests by the Opposition, Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, denied the dropping of 'Mahatma Gandhi' in the name of the Act was a slight to the father of the nation since it was not part of the original 2005 law. Chouhan also argued NREGA was a 'wasteful' proposition as it doled out huge amounts in wages without creating any meaningful social assets.

Kicking off a national debate, leader of the opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi accused the government of demolishing 20 years of work guarantee to the poor in one day. "It demolishes the rights-based, demand-driven guarantee and turns it into a rationed scheme which is controlled from Delhi. It is anti-state and anti-village by design," he said.

NREGA had become an important safety net, especially for the rural poor -- the worst hit at the time of drought or other crisis. It may be fair to say that the grant of the 'right to work' was a major plank on which the Congress' won its second term victory in 2009.

MGNREGA performed well

Passed by Parliament in 2005, NREGA guarantees at least 100 days of wage employment in each financial year to every household that is willing to do unskilled manual labour. The then Manmohan Singh government was possibly inspired by the Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme (MEGS), 1972, which was the first to recognize the right to work.