New Delhi: The Congress on Monday attacked the government over the reported deletion of nearly 27 lakh workers’ names from the MGNREGA database between October 10 and November 14 this year, saying this is not an isolated act but a “systematic attempt to end” the rural jobs scheme.
The Opposition party also reiterated its demands, including a minimum MGNREGA wage of Rs 400 per day and an immediate halt to the mandatory adoption of exclusionary technology like Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS), National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS), and e-KYC.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, shared on X a media report which claimed that nearly 27 lakh workers’ names were deleted from the database of MGNREGA between October 10 and November 14 this year, far exceeding the 10.5 lakh additions during the same period.
“Another day, another attempt to deny India’s rural poor their legislative right to employment. In the last one month -- between October 10th and November 14th -- the Modi Government has deleted 27 lakh names from the database of MGNREGA beneficiaries. Six lakh of these beneficiaries were active workers,” Ramesh said on X.
This mass deletion of beneficiaries coincides with the introduction of the ‘e-KYC’ process for workers, he said.
“As we have repeatedly raised, this is not an isolated act but a systematic attempt to end the MGNREGA through the introduction of Aadhar-based digital processes brought in under the guise of transparency,” Ramesh said.
“The Modi govt’s crimes against this landmark legislation include the introduction of the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) app and the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS), which have prevented an estimated 2 crore workers from securing their legal right to work and payment,” he said.