Ranchi: The state rural development department on Monday rolled out a statewide campaign to mark two decades of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and provide guaranteed 100 person days of work to the beneficiaries registered under the scheme.The programme was rolled out even as the Centre is gearing up to roll out the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Grameen (VB-G Ram G) Act from the next financial year. The Union govt faced criticism from non-BJP governed states for replacing the MGNREGA with the new law.State rural development minister Deepika Pandey Singh said, “MGNREGA has been the lifeline for rural India which has given dignity to scores of poor, labourers and deprived families the right to live a dignified life by guaranteeing employment over the past two decades. But it is sad that the Union govt, led by PM Narendra Modi, is continuously taking steps towards weakening it.”Singh said the department aims to provide 100 days of work to the families covered under the MGNREGA. “Additionally, maximum rural families will be identified and provided with Aadhaar-linked e-KYC enabled job cards, so that the benefits of schemes can reach the right beneficiaries with complete transparency. It will also be ensured that willing families are provided employment within 15 days as per their demand. The whole objective is to strengthen MGNREGA, which is still in force,” she further said.On Monday, hundreds of MGNREGA workers from various districts and activists took part in a rally in Namkum under the banner of ‘MGNREGA Bachao Morcha’ and ‘NREGA Watch’ to unanimously and demanded the reimplementation of MGNREGA.Jharkhand NREGA Watch coordinator James Herenz said, “Rather than repealing MGNREGA and replacing it with a new one, the Union govt should have strengthened it further by plugging the gaps which existed.” Siraj Datta, an activist from Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha added, “Under the new law, central govt will decide what work will happen in one’s village or whether work will happen at all as workers will be allotted works under the centrally approved work-lists.”
