The Hindu : National : Job guarantee programme a dilution: CPI(M)

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 22, 2004

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National

Job guarantee programme a dilution: CPI(M)

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 21. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) disagreed with the form in which the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill was introduced in Parliament today and suggested it be referred to a Joint Select Committee for detailed scrutiny.

The Bill was a dilution of what was promised by the United Progressive Alliance in the National Common Minimum Programme on three counts. Now, the burden of implementing the scheme was on the States; the scheme was an extension of the existing Rural Development programmes; and its application was limited to rural areas. This was not what was originally envisaged, the CPI(M) Parliamentary party leader, Basudeb Acharia, said at a press conference.

He said the scheme as envisaged in the Bill was not a separate one but was linked to one of the rural development schemes for employment generation. "It should not be an extension of the Swarnjayanti Swarojgar Yojna."

The party also took exception that the Government was leaving the implementation to the States, which were already facing a financial crunch. In such a case, most State Governments would not be able to implement the scheme.

The Centre should fund the scheme and implement it through the Panchayati Raj institutions. In any case, he said, the scheme was a policy of the UPA Government and not of the States as was now being made out.

He said the scheme should also be extended to the urban poor who were below the poverty line and sought separate entry for women.

He said that "some people" in the Government did not want to implement the scheme on the ground of paucity of funds.

For them, the NCMP was not for implementation but just a document that needed to be drafted in the run-up to the formation of government. However, Mr. Acharia emphasised that the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, was sincere in his approach.

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