The North News
Chandigarh, December 31
The Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution opposing the Union Government’s proposal to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with a new law titled Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin). Moving the resolution, Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond said the proposed legislation would dilute the legal right to guaranteed employment for rural workers and impose an additional financial burden on states.
He told the House that MGNREGA, enacted in 2005 and implemented across Punjab from 2008–09, guarantees at least 100 days of wage employment each year to adult members of rural households willing to undertake unskilled manual work. The scheme was renamed in 2009 to honour Mahatma Gandhi.
Sond described MGNREGA as a landmark, globally recognised social welfare law that made employment a legal right for the poor, landless and marginalised, including women and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. Under the demand-driven scheme, he said, authorities are legally bound to provide work within a stipulated period or pay unemployment allowance.
By contrast, he argued, the proposed Viksit Bharat law—despite referring to 125 days of work—would link employment to pre-approved budgets and plans, effectively removing workers’ right to demand jobs. “The guarantee remains on paper,” he said, adding that once central budget limits are reached, providing work would become both administratively difficult and financially unviable for states.
The minister also raised concerns over provisions related to wage payments and cost-sharing, warning that they could increase states’ financial liabilities rather than reduce them. He said that if work is denied due to exhausted central allocations, the responsibility of paying unemployment allowance would fall entirely on state governments.
During the debate, Sond accused the Congress of taking contradictory positions, claiming that no objections were raised to the new scheme during a Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting chaired by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, while party leaders opposed it in the Punjab Assembly.
Prominent among others who also spoke on the occasion include Finance Ministers Harpal Singh Cheema, Aman Arora, Lal Chand Kataruchak, Dr. Balbir Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, MLA Adampur Sukhwinder Singh Kotli, MLA Nihal Singh Wala Manjit Singh Bilaspur, MLA Jaito Amolak Singh, MLA Kulwant Singh Pandori, Rupinder Singh Happy
MLA Fatehgarh Sahib, MLA Dakha Manpreet Singh Ayali, MLA Bhadaur Labh Singh Ugoke, MLA Payal Manwinder Singh Giaspura, MLA Pathankot Ashwani Sharma, MLA Fazilka Narinderpal
Singh Savna, MLA (Gill) Jeewan Singh Sanghewal, MLA Jalalabad Jagdeep Singh Goldi Kamboj, MLA Nakodar Inderjeet Kaur Mann, Barindermeet Singh Pahra MLA Gurdaspur, MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh and MLA Rana Inder Pratap Singh.
