Guwahati, Dec 23: Left parties staged protest programmes across the State today opposing the repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, by the Modi-led Central government and the passage of a new law titled the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Employment and Livelihood Mission (Rural) in Parliament on December 18.
Responding to a nationwide call, joint protest actions including sit-ins, demonstrations and rallies were organized in Guwahati and several other parts of the State under the initiative of CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) and the Forward Bloc.
The Left parties alleged that the repeal of MGNREGA amounts to an attack on the legal right to work of poor rural labourers, which had been secured after sustained mass movements during the first UPA government. They said the new law has diluted a rights-based legislation into a budget-dependent scheme, under which employment would no longer be guaranteed once allocated funds are exhausted.
They also expressed concern over the revised 60:40 expenditure-sharing ratio between the Centre and States, stating that it would make implementation extremely difficult in economically weaker States like Assam.
Criticizing the new law further, the Left parties said the role of panchayats, local bodies and State governments in planning and decision-making has been severely curtailed, replacing decentralization with excessive centralization and weakening the federal structure.
At a protest held near Meghdoot Bhawan in Guwahati, over 200 activists participated.
Addressing the gathering, CPI(M) state secretary Suprakash Talukdar said the repeal of MGNREGA would lead to a sharp rise in rural unemployment and force more youth from Assam to migrate to other States in search of work. He alleged that the move was aimed at benefiting large corporate interests at the cost of the rural poor.
CPI(M) Central Committee member Ishfaqur Rahman described the new law as a declaration of class war against poor rural workers and said it undermines the right to food, life and dignity of labour.
He demanded restoration of MGNREGA, an increase in guaranteed workdays to 200, a minimum daily wage of Rs 600, removal of deficiencies in the earlier law and expansion of the employment guarantee to urban areas.
They also objected to the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the Act, terming it an attempt to erase Gandhian values such as social justice, dignity of labour and rural self-reliance.
The claim of increasing annual workdays from 100 to 125 was dismissed as misleading, with leaders asserting that reduced funding and the withdrawal of legal guarantees would actually lead to fewer workdays.
Forward Bloc leader Tapan Debnath also addressed the protest, calling for a united movement against what he described as the anti-people policies of the Central government.
Similar protest programmes were organised in other parts of Assam, including Nagaon and Karimganj.