In New Delhi, Sonia Gandhi, who is the head of the Congress Parliamentary Party and a member of the Rajya Sabha, spoke on Tuesday about the need to increase pay and workdays for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). She accused the government of hurting this important program by not increasing its budget.
During her speech in the Upper House, Sonia said that the right to employment, which was created by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in 2005, has been very helpful for many poor rural families. She pointed out that the current BJP government is harming this program. The budget has stayed stagnant at ₹86,000 crore, which is the lowest it has been in 10 years compared to the country’s total income (GDP).
Sonia also mentioned that when you consider inflation, the budget feels even smaller, decreasing by ₹4,000 crore. She highlighted that nearly 20% of the funds set aside will go to paying off old debts from previous years. Furthermore, there are many problems with the program, like delays in payments, payment methods that leave some people out, and wage rates that are not keeping up with rising costs.
In 2005, the UPA government launched MGNREGA, promising 100 days of paid work for at least one member of every rural household in a year. Sonia is advocating for better conditions by saying that minimum wages should go up to ₹400 a day, payments should be made on time, and guaranteed workdays should increase from 100 to 150 days per year.
This was Sonia’s second speech in the House recently. In February, she raised concerns about many eligible people being denied food security benefits due to outdated data. She mentioned that around 14 crore eligible Indians are missing out on their right to food benefits because of this issue
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