Lucknow,

07 Jan (HS): Akhilesh Yadav, president of the Samajwadi Party, accused the

Centre on Wednesday of systematically lowering funds for the MNREGA rural

employment initiative, and said that altering the scheme's name was part of a

larger strategy to wind it down. The BJP's goal is not just to rename MGNREGA,

but to say simply 'Ram Ram' to the program (bid adieu to MGNREGA), he claimed,

adding that the ruling party cannot accept anybody else earning a living. Opposition

parties, including the Congress, have attacked the Centre over the recently

adopted Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G

RAM G), 2025, which has replaced the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment

Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

In

an X post, Yadav asked, What will be achieved by changing the name of

MGNREGA?

In

actuality, this is the BJP's covert plan to gradually end MGNREGA.The former

Uttar Pradesh chief minister said that the Centre was gradually lowering funds

for the rural employment plan while putting financial pressure on states. On

the one hand, the BJP administration is reducing the MGNREGA funding to the

absolute minimum. On the other hand, it has put so much pressure on states to

spend their own resources that, owing to non-receipt of monies from the Centre

under the GST system, governments already dealing with empty treasuries would

be unable to organize new budgets, Yadav added. He said that this would push

governments to work toward terminating the program.

Yadav

further claimed that the BJP-led government delivered yet another blow to

MGNREGA by categorising hundreds of gram sabhas as urban, resulting in the loss

of MGNREGA-related financial support. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath slammed

the Congress and the INDIA group on Tuesday for opposing the VB G RAM G bill,

claiming that people who looted the country's resources for decades and forced

the poor to go hungry were now challenging a transparent reform aimed at

rebuilding rural India. The VB-G RAM G Act will be a watershed moment for

India's workers, farmers, and rural development, and the Uttar Pradesh

government fully supports and is dedicated to its successful implementation, he

stated.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi