Congresss senior leader Chinta Mohan has opposed the ‘drastic cut’ in the allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the Union Budget 2023-24.
Addressing the media on February 4 (Saturday), he said it was unfortunate that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had brought down the allocation by over 32% from the revised estimate for the scheme in the current fiscal.
It was the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre, which had introduced the MGNREGS to provide a safety net to the rural population, he said, adding that the NDA government had been ‘slashing the allocation’ for the pro-poor scheme year after year.
describing the Union Budget as ‘anti-poor’, the former Union Minister said, “The ‘corporate-friendly ₹45 lakh crore budget had less than 5% allocation for the poor.”
Mr. Chinta Mohan opined that the ongoing tussle between the Judiciary and the Executive was not good for the country. “It seems to be guided more by a will to impose one wing of democracy over the other, not to further the common good,” said the Congress Working Committee Special Invitee.
Courts should be more accessible to the poor, he said and made mention of Justice P. N. Bhagavati who had pioneered judicial activism by treating post card as public interest litigation and ensuring justice for the poor. He also referred to the landmark judgements delivered by Justice Balakrishnan, the one making the mid-day meal scheme in schools statutory and another upholding 27% reservation for the Other Backward Classes.
Dubbing the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) as a ‘sinking ship’, Mr. Chinta Mohan said that the infighting within the ruling party in Nellore signalled the downfall of the ‘anti-people‘ government.
“The pro-poor Congress will come to power both at the Centre and in the State in 2024 as the people have realised that old is gold,” he said, after explaining the party agenda for the polls to the common people in Nellore Urban, Nellore Rural and Kovur Assembly constituencies.
