Tampering with soul of MGNREGA unacceptable: Hemant

Ranchi: Chief minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday said that Jharkhand is unlikely to accept Centre’s VB-G-Ram-G, a new job guarantee act introduced by the Centre to repeal the existing MGNREGA, calling it an attempt to interfere with the ‘soul of MGNREGA’.Soren made the remark after meeting economist and one of the architects of MGNREGA, Jean Dreze, and James Herenj, convenor of Jharkhand MGNREGA Watch.He said, “Tampering with the soul of MGNREGA will never be acceptable. There will be no compromise on wages, work guarantee and states' rights. I made it clear during today’s meeting with Dreze and others that changes in the MGNREGA scheme/framework by the central govt are a direct attack on the rights of rural poor.” State finance minister Radha Krishana Kishore, on the other hand, anticipated that once the new Act is rolled out, it will put an additional fiscal burden of about Rs 5,640 crore per year on Jharkhand.He said, “Under VB-GRAM G, the Centre and the state will have to share expense on 60:40 ratio. Under existing MGNREGA, the central govt had 100% share in wage head, while the state had to bear only 25% in material head. In Jharkhand, the number of active registered MGNREGA workers is approximately 40 lakh. So at Rs 282 per day for 125 days, approximately Rs 14,100 crore would be required under wage head, of which Jharkhand would have to bear 40%, which will come down to Rs 5,640 crore. Such additional burden is unwanted for economically backward state like us.”Kishore also questioned the Centre's budgetary provisions. “India has 12.16 crore registered MGNREGA workers. At an average wage rate of Rs 250 per day for 125 days, approximately Rs 3.80 lakh crore per year would be required under the wage head. Ironically, for 2025-26 fiscal year, the Centre has only allocated Rs 86,000 crore for MGNREGA. This raises the question whether the central govt would provide budget approval of such large scale in 2026-27 fiscal?”State rural development minister Deepika Pandey Singh, under whose jurisdiction MNREGA falls, said that she has already directed her officials to prepare action plan to further strengthen and expand MGNREGA within the next six months.“Jharkhand has a large number of landless labourers. VB-G-Ram-G will increase the risk of migration, starvation and social insecurity due to its impractical clauses and provisions. It will also affect agriculture and horticulture-based schemes currently operating under MGNREGA in the state," she said.