Himachal Pradesh : Congress protests renaming of MGNREGA

The Congress on Tuesday held protests in Shimla and other district headquarters of the state against the renaming of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the alleged dilution of the scheme by the Centre.

In Shimla, Congress leaders staged a sit-in in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue to register their protest.

Naresh Chauhan, Principal Advisor (Media) to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, said the demonstration was part of the nationwide MGNREGA Bachao campaign launched by the party. He alleged that the BJP-led Central government had not only renamed the scheme but had also weakened its core principles.

Inderjit Singh, president of the District Congress Committee, said the revised version of the scheme no longer provided employment guarantees as envisaged under the original Act. “We will take this issue to the people and expose how the BJP-led government has undermined the scheme,” he said.

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