West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced the renaming of the West Bengal government's rural employment program 'Karmashree' after Mahatma Gandhi. This comes after the Union government mandated the change of the name of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme/Act (MGNREGS/MGNREGA) to VB-G RAM G.
MGNREGA to VB-G RAM G
The Lok Sabha passed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill on Thursday, replacing the two-decade-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The threshold of days of work for each rural household has been mandated to be 125 days in one financial year, where they would be willing to provide their services through unskilled manual labour.
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Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said that the new bill would benefit villages by ensuring employment, fulfilling Mahatma Gandhi's vision of self-reliant villages. The change of name was met with severe opposition. While Trinamool Congress's Mahua Moitra said that the move was detrimental to the idea of 'Ram Rajya,' and accused the union government of being disrespectful to Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, Congress's Jairam Ramesh said that the removal of the Mahatma's name was "the biggest crime," reported The Times of India.
Mamata announces counter-name change
On Thursday, the Chief Minister was present at the Dhana Dhanyo Auditorium for an industry and commerce conference. Mamata Banerjee protested against the Union government's decision to change the name of the MGNREGA project from that stage. She said, "They are forgetting the name of the Father of the Nation. We had announced the Karmashree project on behalf of the state government. That project will be named 'Mahatmaji Project.' If you cannot honour Gandhiji, then we will. We know how to honour all freedom fighters - from Netaji to Gandhiji, everyone."
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Mamata Banerjee's announcement to change the name of the 'Karmashree' project is considered to be extremely significant in the current context. On this day, Mamata Banerjee said, "We don't know what will happen in the future. Perhaps a new history will be written from Bengal."
