Bengaluru: Uncertainty surrounding the Centre’s new Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgaar and Ajeevika Mission-Gramin (VB-G Ram G) Act and Karnataka govt’s decision to explore legal options against it has led to a sharp fall in rural employment generation in the state.Law minister HK Patil said the issue will be discussed at the next cabinet meeting scheduled for May 23. “The cabinet had decided to pursue legal recourse, but since dates have been announced to implement VB-G Ram G, we will discuss it again,” Patil said.On Tuesday, the Centre said the new Act would come into force from July 1, replacing Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). While most BJP and NDA-ruled states have accepted the new rural employment scheme, the Congress govt in Karnataka has opposed it from the outset.Patil said the state had urged the Centre to approve action plans prepared under MGNREGA and later align them with other central schemes. “But the Centre did not consider any action plan for the states, and for the first time since the inception of MGNREGA we could not generate employment for rural parts of the state,” he said.Karnataka has so far generated work for only 3.8 lakh individuals this fiscal, compared with an average of nearly 50 lakh people during the same period over the previous five years. Similarly, the average number of employment days per household has dropped to 11 this fiscal from an average of 42 days over the last five years.Priyank Kharge, rural development and panchayat raj minister, said the Centre had announced only the launch date of the new Act without releasing operational guidelines.“Had the Centre notified the operational part of the VB-G Ram G, then at least Karnataka could have considered the pros and cons of the new act,” Priyank said. “But what the Union govt has done is only release the date and just continued empty promises of guaranteeing 125 days of employment a year with no action plan.”
