Congress raises alarm over weakening of rural employment rights under G RAM G

Raipur: Chhattisgarh Congress on Thursday announced a statewide awareness campaign across all gram panchayats to highlight the alleged adverse impact of amendments to the MGNREGA law on rural workers. The party accused the BJP-led Union govt of misleading people through gram sabhas on the issue.The move comes in response to the Centre's plan to hold gram sabhas in every village to explain the "Viksit Bharat- G RAM G Bill 2025" Act, which has replaced MGNREGA. The Congress has claimed that these meetings are being used to project the new law as pro-poor, while in reality, it weakens the guaranteed right to employment that rural India enjoyed under the earlier MGNREGA framework.Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) President Deepak Baij said the party would actively participate in the gram sabhas to "expose the BJP's claims" and present the facts to villagers. He alleged that the BJP govt has systematically diluted the demand-driven nature of rural employment, removed the legal guarantee of work, and shifted accountability to discretionary allocations and executive decisions. "This is a direct attack on the livelihood of crores of rural labourers and an attempt to weaken one of independent India's most important social security mechanisms," Baij said.Baij stated that instructions have been issued to district, city, block, and municipal Congress committee presidents, along with frontal organisations and departmental heads, to mobilise party workers, elected representatives, and affiliated organisations to actively participate in upcoming gram sabhas.