The Congress Party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit has stepped up its efforts to safeguard the MGNREGA Bachao Sangram in Jammu on Friday, officials said.
The Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) is supporting a nationwide 45-day agitation against the Centre’s dilution and proposed reforms of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
During a gathering, the AICC general secretary in charge of Jammu and Kashmir affairs, Sayeed Naseer Hussain, criticised the Centre’s decision and accused the Modi-led BJP government of weakening landmark rights-based legislation introduced during the Congress rule.
He said community-oriented rights and laws such as the Right to Education, Forest Rights Act, Right to Food, RTI and MGNREGA were envisioned to protect the rights of underprivileged communities of society.
Hussain mentioned how MGNREGA provides a legal guarantee of 100 days of employment to rural households and has helped the poor sections of society throughout these years, and especially during Covid-19 when millions of people lost jobs.
He also said the scheme helped sustain rural economies in the country when rest of the world was struggling to recover from the economic crisis casued by the Covid pandemic.
He alleged that while the BJP failed to secure a mandate to amend the Constitution, it was instead diluting statutory rights through clever policy changes.
Meanwhile, Pradesh Congress Chief Tariq Hameed Karra said the party would take the agitation to the grassroots and link it with the party’s ongoing statehood campaign, ‘HamariRiyasatHamara Haq’.
Besides the top leaders, other senior leaders from the Jammu and Kashmir Congress unit were also present at the programme.
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