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Rollback of MGNREGA scheme: Kang writes to PM
In the letter, Kang strongly objected to the move to drop Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the scheme and to shift 40 per cent of the financial burden to states.
Kang noted that MGNREGA, launched during the Congress-led UPA government under former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, was not a charity but a legal ‘Right to Work’ that gave dignity and security to millions of rural labourers. (File)
Senior Congress leader and former Punjab minister Jagmohan Singh Kang said on Monday that in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he criticised the replacement of the MGNREGA scheme with the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025, as “highly unfortunate and anti-poor” and demanded the rollback of the 2005 scheme.
In the letter, Kang strongly objected to the move to drop Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the scheme and to shift 40 per cent of the financial burden to states.
Calling the decision unjustified and deeply regrettable, Kang said, “Removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name is a regressive attempt to erase the legacy of the Father of the Nation, and imposing a higher financial burden on states was a grave injustice to debt-ridden states like Punjab.”
Kang noted that MGNREGA, launched during the Congress-led UPA government under former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, was not a charity but a legal ‘Right to Work’ that gave dignity and security to millions of rural labourers. “This historic scheme symbolised self-respect and constitutional entitlement, which is now being systematically weakened,” he alleged.
Criticising the proposal to increase workdays while shifting costs to states, Kang said Punjab is already facing a severe financial crisis. He also expressed concern over the abolition of unemployment allowance and centralisation of powers of gram panchayats, calling it “a blow to grassroots democracy”.
On mandatory digitisation and app-based attendance, the Congress leader warned, “Technical glitches are denying poor and illiterate workers their rights.”
Asserting that a developed India can “only be achieved by strengthening welfare delivery, not by renaming schemes,” Kang urged the Prime Minister to “immediately review the decision in public interest”.
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