Centre 'using' digitalisation to suppress demand for MGNREGA: Jairam Ramesh

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh hit back on Centre by posting on X that the Modi government at the Centre is using various methods like digitalisation to suppress demand for MGNREGA employment generation works. Congress has been accusing the Centre of presiding over a 'planned euthanasia' of MGNREGA.

New Delhi : Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Saturday alleged that the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre has used digitalisation as a tool to reduce demand for MGNREGA among those who genuinely need the scheme. In the name of transparency, the Modi government has forced digitalisation in MGNREGA, he said.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Jairam Ramesh said that on the one hand, 48% of all vehicle sales in India during April-Sept 2023 were of SUVs while on the other hand, the Rs. 60,000 crore budgeted under MGNREGA for the year 2023-24 has been exhausted in the first 6 months of this financial year itself. This not only clearly indicates the deepening rural distress and rising inequality across the country, but also demonstrates the Modi government’s priorities which is indirectly suppressing demand for MGNREGA work by inordinately delaying wage payments, he said.

The Congress leader further said that the Modi government made matters worse by forcing digitalisation in the name of transparency and then using it as a tool to discourage demand for MGNREGA among those who genuinely need the programme.

Jairam Ramesh hit back at the government after a media report claimed that MGNREGA has run out of funds in the first six months of the financial year. "This not only clearly indicates the deepening rural distress and rising inequality across the country, but also demonstrates the Modi government's priorities which is indirectly suppressing demand for MGNREGA work by inordinately delaying wage payments," Ramesh said. The Congress has been mounting its offensive accusing the Centre of carrying out a planned euthanasia of MGNREGA.