New Delhi [India], December 19 (ANI): Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday met with Leaders of political parties and Members of Parliament in his chamber at Parliament House on the conclusion of the Winter Session of Parliament 2025.
Meanwhile, amid Opposition protests over the passage of the VB-G RAM G Bill, Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die by Speaker Om Birla after Vande Mataram was played in the House. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who returned from a three-nation visit yesterday, was present in the House.
Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President C.P. Radhakrishnan adjourned the Upper House of Parliament shortly after it resumed at 11 am today. Prior to its adjournment, statements and reports were laid on the table of the House.
While adjourning the Rajya Sabha sine die, Radhakrishnan said, “The conduct of members during the Minister’s reply yesterday, which included protesting and tearing of papers, was unbecoming of the House.”
In addition, the Opposition continued its vocal protest against the passage of the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill. On Friday, a united Opposition staged a protest outside Parliament, while members of the Trinamool Congress continued their demonstration on the steps at the entry to the House.
Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who is currently in Germany, joined the chorus of criticism against the Bill and termed it “anti-state” and “anti-village” by design.
“Last night, the Modi government demolished twenty years of MGNREGA in one day. VB-G RAM G isn’t a ‘revamp’ of MGNREGA. It demolishes the rights-based, demand-driven guarantee and turns it into a rationed scheme which is controlled from Delhi. It is anti-state and anti-village by design,” Rahul Gandhi wrote in a post on X.
He said that the earlier scheme empowered rural workers and strengthened rural livelihoods.
“MGNREGA gave the rural worker bargaining power. With real options, exploitation and distress migration fell, wages increased, working conditions improved, all while building and reviving rural infrastructure. That leverage is precisely what this government wants to break. By capping work and building in more ways to deny it, VB-G RAM G weakens the one instrument which the rural poor had,” he added.
Highlighting the role of MGNREGA during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Congress leader further said:
“We saw what MGNREGA meant during COVID. When the economy shut down and livelihoods collapsed, it kept crores from falling into hunger and debt. And it helped women the most – year after year, women have contributed more than half the person-days.” (ANI)
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