APCC President YS Sharmila. | Photo credit: File Photo
Responding to the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) call, nationwide protests will be organized with allied parties and people’s organizations to support the demand for immediate restoration of MGNREGA, APCC president YS Sharmila said on Wednesday.
In a post on X, Ms. Sharmila argued that Andhra Pradesh was the birthplace of MGNREGA, with the scheme taking shape and achieving outstanding success under former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy (YSR).
“The Employment Guarantee Scheme, which was launched in the state in 2006, has become a national model for drought relief, rural development, livelihood security, migration prevention and rural purchasing power,” she said, adding that “in the last 20 years, Andhra Pradesh is said to have received nearly ₹1,000,000 crore, providing employment to about 1 billion people, which the Congress has attributed to the Act annually, NREGA”.
Ms. Sharmila slammed the BJP-led NDA government for “diluting and undermining” MGNREGA through policy changes and a new framework dubbed the VBG RAMJI Act.
“The original law guaranteed 100 days of employment as a legal right, with gram sabhas deciding on work and the center fully funding wages, while the new system centralizes decisions, restricts work to selected areas, reduces employment to 60 days, shifts 40% of the financial burden to states and promotes contractor-driven projects,” she said.
Describing the new framework as “anti-poor and destructive of Gram Swaraj”, she demanded immediate withdrawal of the new framework and reinstatement of the original MGNREGA.
Published – 31 Dec 2025 19:11 IST
