The Hindu remains the only publication where the voices of the leftover leaders of the Communist parties are provided space for writing something. Today, it is Brinda Karat’s turn. Today’s article is titled “Utilise MGNREGA to the fullest capacity” and the byline for this article is “The scheme should not be diluted in the name of the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan”
This sounded eerily familiar to Sonia Gandhi’s recent outburst that the Prime Minister is “diluting” MNREGA by linking it programs that build houses and create Swachh Bharat infrastructure. Sonia Gandhi ended up praising Narendra Modi in her article. Brinda Karat dutifully follows suit!
Brinda Karat first mentions that the “number of households who got work in April 2020 was the lowest in several years at 95 lakhs”. Duh! I mean, there was complete lockdown till about the 20th of April. Relaxations were introduced only a couple of days later, which obviously means that April 2020 will have the lowest workers “in several years”! Does Brinda Karat mean that even during the complete lockdown, governments should have risked bringing out people to work under MGNREGA? So that then she can write how COVID increased because of allowing these people to work?
After presenting us with the most obvious statistic, she goes on to praise the Modi government. Don’t believe me? Read for yourself what she writes next. “ ..in May the number went up to 3.05 crore. Till the third week of June, 2.84 crore households had got work, much higher when compared to the same months last year”.
Do you see that folks? In May and June, according to the icon of the Communist party, the Narendra Modi government provided employment to nearly 3 crore households that is “much higher than last year”! This is in fact awesome, right? Surely, am not the only one confused whether or not Brinda Karat is praising Modi, right? Now, the confusion compounds upon further reading.
She tells us that the center released INR 38,000 crores so far and 70% of this has been utilized. In the same paragraph, she also tells us that “The remaining Rs. 8,000 crore fund available to the States is clearly insufficient.” If 8000 crores are remaining, an obvious conclusion is that 30,000 crores out of the 38,000 crores have been utilized. That is a whopping 79% and not 70% as Brinda Karat happily mentions. It beats me what exactly do they want to achieve with fudging numbers that are so basic. Did they really think readers cannot make these basic calculations and arrive at more logical conclusions? Despite 8000 crores available, Brinda Karat says the amount released is insufficient and centre should immediately release more money! Available funds are not spent but there is a demand for more funds - Have you ever heard of a logic like this? Why don’t logic and communists go together?
So, what do we know by now? Crores of households provided record employment; INR30,000 crores already disbursed. With this background, what is the next section titled? Believe it or not – it is titled “Work provided to few”
The mind boggles at these interpretation skills. We are not told that in this fiscal year, 8.07 crore people demanded work and 6.25 crore workers were given work. These are numbers provided by Brinda Karat herself! 6.25 crore people provided work in just 3 months and yet, in her view “it is extremely disturbing that as many as 1.82 crore workers who demanded work were turned back.” Does the law mandate that everyone who demands work actually gets the work? There obviously would be some eligibility criteria, right? Instead of doing homework on this front, Brinda Karat makes a desperate attempt to whip up some controversy when there is none!
Brinda Karat now has a problem with the new scheme – “PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana”. Why? Because it is a new scheme that is aimed at providing employment to the migrants. How can someone have a problem with this? Because she says MGNREGA should have been modified to accommodate these migrants instead of turning them away and introducing a new scheme. I am not sure whether to laugh or cry at this abject loss of logic from the pen of the communist icon.
And then she asks why the new scheme is implemented only in 116 districts across the country. It is time to remind her that the MNREGA was first introduced in 2006-2007, it was implemented in 200 select districts. It took 2 years to implement this across the country. And Brinda Karat was very much part of the ruling coalition that implemented this. Did we see articles from anyone asking why only 200?
Brinda Karat herself answers the question – “The scheme is primarily meant for migrant workers in those districts where their numbers are 25,000 or more.” She goes on to invent more convoluted arguments on how this will exclude women also. The summary of multiple paragraphs she writes on this topic is this – this scheme should have been part of MGNREGA, because MGNREGA is being implemented by Modi in the best possible way ever!
She concludes by saying the law must be modified to now include every member of household (as opposed to one member), increase number of days from 100 to 200 and give allowance to everyone who is “turned away from work”. Sure, why not! Writing utopian ideas is the easiest thing to do. Working towards making them a reality is the hardest things to do. The communists choose the easiest path. Always.
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