In Punjab today, the Kisan-Mazdoor Morcha will hold demonstrations in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s offices to burn effigies of the Central Government. The Morcha is expressing this protest against the implementation of the VB-GRAMG by ending the MGNREGA. The farmer leaders stated that the Central Government has directly infringed upon the rights of labourers by terminating the MGNREGA.
The farmer leaders said that in the online meeting of the leaders on December 24, the Punjab chapter of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) had announced a program to burn effigies in front of the DC offices across Punjab on December 29 against the termination of the MGNREGA scheme by the Central Government, for which the farmers are fully prepared and action will be taken in all the districts.
The farmer leaders stated that the Central Government has not only weakened the scheme by cutting the MGNREGA budget by 40 per cent, but has also made changes to its working methods. He said that crores of people across the country are dependent on MGNREGA. In Punjab alone, there are about 20 lakh job cards, but only about 11 lakh people are getting work, due to which employment is being taken away from the workers.
The leaders said that the central government has attacked the basic principles of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 and an attempt is being made to change the entire thinking of the MGNREGA scheme with the new VB-GRAMJI.
Earlier, on December 21, the Kisan-Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee Punjab had organised protests against the central government across the state regarding MGNREGA, in which a large number of farmers and workers participated, who raised slogans against the weakening of the MGNREGA scheme and the huge cuts made in the budget.