SAS Nagar, December 23
Senior Congress leader and former Health Minister of Punjab Balbir Singh Sidhu today strongly condemned the Modi government’s move to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the “G RAM G Act,” terming it a direct assault on the economic security and constitutional rights of rural India.
Sidhu said that MGNREGA is not merely a welfare scheme but a landmark rights-based legislation enacted by the UPA government to guarantee 100 days of wage employment to rural households. “MGNREGA empowered the poorest of the poor, strengthened rural infrastructure, reduced distress migration, and provided dignity of labour. Diluting or replacing it reflects the BJP’s anti-poor mindset,” he asserted.
The former minister pointed out that instead of strengthening MGNREGA by ensuring timely wage payments and increasing workdays, the Modi government systematically weakened the scheme through budgetary cuts, delayed payments, and arbitrary use of technology. “Now, by replacing it with the G RAM G Act, the Centre wants to dismantle a legal entitlement and convert it into a discretionary scheme, fully controlled by the government,” he said.
Sidhu warned that removing the statutory guarantee of employment would leave millions of rural families at the mercy of bureaucratic decisions and political whims. “This move undermines the spirit of social justice enshrined in our Constitution and betrays the interests of farmers, labourers, Dalits, and marginalised communities,” he added.
Sidhu further stated that at a time when rural distress, unemployment and inflation are rising, weakening MGNREGA is both insensitive and irresponsible.
