Rajya Sabha proceedings during the budget session in Parliament in New Delhi on March 10, 2026. Photo: Sansad TV/ANI Video Grab
Opposition MPs hit out at the Union government over dwindling funds for the rural sector and its failure to address rural issues during a debate on the work of the Union Ministry of Rural Development in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday (March 10, 2026). BJP members opposed the attack saying that the Narendra Modi government believes in building strong villages.
Inaugurating the debate, BJP MP K. Laxman said the Center has uplifted rural life. He said the allocation to the rural sector has increased over the years since 2014 and the increase over the last budget was 4%. “The Modi government has increased the allocation to the rural employment scheme by 40% compared to the UPA scheme,” he said, adding that the new VB-G-RAMG scheme is a transparent scheme than MGNREGS.
10 March 2026 Parliament Budget Session Update
Congress MP Rajani Patil said the statistics look good in newspapers and the actual reality in the villages is different. “Unemployment is rising. Farmers are in distress,” she said, adding that the government’s “historic step” of stopping MGNREGS did not take into account the ground reality. “This ministry is connected to millions of rural lives. If the ministry’s plans are not strong, the people will not benefit,” she said.
“Attack on Federalism”
Trinamool Congress MP Mohammed Nadimul Haque said the Union government was taking a “paternal” attitude towards West Bengal and asked the Center to explain the reasons for withholding funds meant for various rural programmes. He said the Center has withheld dues worth ₹52,000 crore to West Bengal towards MGNREGS, adding that about 59 lakh workers have been deprived of the benefits of the scheme since March 2022. He said the VB-G RAM G Bill is a “rushed piece of legislation” and an “attack on our federalism” and “on the protection of our federalism”.
Nominated MP Sudha Murty said the government is doing a good job in upskilling people from villages. “However, it is imperative that apart from their technical skills, it is equally important to improve their self-confidence by providing them with personality development and language courses,” Ms. Murty said.
CPI (M) MP John Brittas said there is a rural emergency in the country and the Center is not addressing it. “As I say this, there is a huge migration that is happening from many other states. I was just checking the migrant job map. Three million people migrated from Uttar Pradesh alone. 2.5 million people migrated from Bihar,” he said.
Published – 10 March 2026 22:23 IST
