The Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee on Tuesday stepped up its opposition to the renaming and restructuring of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), alleging that the move dilutes the constitutional right to work and weakens the federal structure.
The decision was taken at a meeting of board and corporation office-bearers, frontal organisation leaders and departmental heads held at the Congress Bhavan here under the chairmanship state Congress president Keshav Mahato Kamlesh. Economist and National Advisory Council member Jean Drèze, who played a key role in drafting MGNREGA, was present at the meeting.
Addressing the gathering, Kamlesh said the Congress would organise press conferences at all district headquarters across the state on January 3, 2026. This will be followed by a padyatra on January 5 from Bapu Vatika at Morabadi to Lok Bhavan in Ranchi, culminating in a public meeting.
He alleged that removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the scheme and altering the funding pattern would shift a larger financial burden onto states, adversely impacting development works and timely wage payments to rural workers. Kamlesh said the Congress would oppose any attempt to dilute MGNREGA on all democratic platforms.
Speaking on the occasion, Jean Drèze said the Centre was centralising financial and administrative powers, calling it an attack on the federal framework. He claimed the decision was taken without proper Cabinet deliberation and warned that weakening MGNREGA would directly affect employment security for the rural poor.