The Kerala Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed a resolution urging the Centre to withdraw the VB-G RAM G Act and restore the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), aligning with three other non-BJP-ruled southern states opposing the new rural employment framework.
The resolution, moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister M B Rajesh, was adopted amid disruptions by the Congress-led UDF over the Sabarimala gold loss issue. Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu have earlier passed similar resolutions seeking the rollback of the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin).
Rajesh argued that unlike MGNREGA, which was fully funded by the Centre, the new Act requires states to shoulder 40 per cent of the expenditure, placing a
substantial financial burden on state governments. He said the law lacked the rights-based guarantees that formed the core of MGNREGA.
Also read: 3.02 lakh MGNREGA workers in Madurai allege unpaid wages
He further noted that the Act mandates categorisation of grama panchayats into A, B and C classes, with employment limited to areas notified by the Centre. This, he said, could exclude several panchayats in Kerala, which are relatively more developed and may be placed in higher categories.
According to the minister, rural employment workers have opposed the new scheme, contending that it undermines their statutory right to work and weakens poverty alleviation efforts.
“Therefore, the House is demanding that the new scheme, which is detrimental to poverty alleviation and fixes the burden of providing employment on the states, be withdrawn and the earlier MGNREGA be reinstated,” Rajesh said while moving the resolution.
The Karnataka Assembly adopted a similar resolution on Wednesday, while Telangana and Tamil Nadu passed theirs last month, signalling growing resistance among southern states to the Centre’s restructuring of the rural employment programme.
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