Pramod Tiwari Criticises Modi Government Over MNREGA, Extends Birthday Wishes to Priyanka Gandhi.

Senior Congress leader, Rajya Sabha MP, and Deputy Leader of the Opposition Pramod Tiwari extended greetings and best wishes to Congress General Secretary and MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on her birthday. Addressing the media, Tiwari also strongly objected to what he described as changes made by the Modi government to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). He said the scheme, which once had the protection of a statutory guarantee, has been altered in a manner that undermines its original intent.

“After 1947, no one could have imagined that a government would come to power that would remove the name of the Father of the Nation from the world’s largest employment guarantee scheme,” Tiwari said.Tiwari alleged that the most impractical change is the removal of the employment guarantee, arguing that MNREGA has now been reduced to a regular welfare scheme with no assured work. He further claimed that earlier, work planning decisions were taken jointly at the gram panchayat, block, and district levels, whereas now decisions are being taken centrally.

He also pointed out that the scheme, which earlier functioned throughout the year, has now been restricted to 10 months, with a two-month break. Additionally, he raised concerns over the revised funding pattern. He further alleged that earlier Mahatma Gandhi’s statue was shifted from the main entrance of Parliament, and now the government has removed his name from what he called the largest employment guarantee programme in the world, calling it a “black chapter” in Indian democracy.