The VB-G RAM G Bill is in the country’s interest and will hurt only those who indulged in corruption and stole wages under the erstwhile Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Friday.
The new legislation will benefit farmers and the youth by increasing employment opportunities, he told reporters here.
Responding to opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the Narendra Modi government over the passage of the bill, Scindia took a dig at Gandhi’s absence from Parliament.
“If he is the leader of the opposition, he should at least be in the House,” Scindia said, referring to Gandhi’s foreign trips.
“When the Congress introduced the MNREGA scheme, not even Rs 10,000 crore was allocated under it, whereas the VB-G RAM G Bill provides for more than Rs 1 lakh crore. This will increase employment opportunities for rural people,” he said.
In a veiled attack on the previous Congress-led government, the BJP MP alleged that some people had embezzled funds allocated for MNREGA schemes and stolen wages of beneficiaries by submitting fake bills.
After the new bill was passed by Parliament, only such people are feeling uncomfortable, Scindia added.
"The country is continuously progressing, but these people want to chain the country. The people of the country have repeatedly responded to their negative thinking (by rejecting them)," the minister added.
The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha with a voice vote, hours after the Lok Sabha cleared it on Thursday, amid strong protests by the opposition over the removal of Mahatma Gandhi's name from the existing rural employment guarantee scheme, MGNREGA, and accusing the government of putting the financial burden on states.
