New Delhi, 30 June (H.S.): Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday sought answers from the Central Government over pending payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the newly introduced Viksit Bharat–Grameen Rozgar Aur Aajeevika Mission Guarantee (VB-G-RAM-G) scheme, and issues concerning rural employment. He alleged that the government has weakened MGNREGA by withholding dues to states and introducing a new scheme that places an additional financial burden on them.

In a post on social media platform X, Kharge cited a reply given in the Lok Sabha stating that as of March this year, pending MGNREGA dues to 34 states and Union Territories stood at Rs 17,144.13 crore. Of this, Rs 7,846.25 crore was pending towards wage liabilities. He questioned why workers had still not received payments that were rightfully due to them.

The Congress president said that despite the VB-G-RAM-G scheme coming into effect from July 1, several states have yet to receive their pending MGNREGA payments. He claimed that Karnataka is awaiting nearly Rs 700 crore, Jharkhand around Rs 900 crore, while payments to states such as Telangana and Tamil Nadu also remain pending.

Kharge alleged that during the Congress-led government, the Centre bore the entire wage expenditure under MGNREGA, whereas under the new scheme, states will be required to contribute 40 percent of the total expenditure. He said several state governments have sought a review of this financial arrangement and urged the Centre to address their concerns.

He also questioned the provision in the new scheme that allows work to remain suspended for up to 60 days. According to Kharge, several states have opposed the provision, arguing that it could adversely affect farmers and rural labourers. He further claimed that achieving the target of providing 125 days of employment would impose an additional financial burden of thousands of crores of rupees on states such as Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

Raising the issue of wages, Kharge said at least five states have demanded an increase in the daily wage rate. He noted that the Congress has long been advocating a minimum daily wage of Rs 400 under MGNREGA and alleged that the Central Government is not serious about ensuring fair remuneration for rural workers.

Referring to the ongoing monsoon season and the agricultural situation, Kharge said rainfall in June had remained below normal and kharif sowing had also been affected. He argued that weakening rural employment programmes at such a time would adversely impact labourers, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and economically weaker sections. He called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to respond to all these concerns.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar