Left parties protest renaming of MGNREGA, demand original format retention

A protest was staged by the Left parties, demanding continuation of the MGNREGA scheme in its original form, at the Gandhi statue, near Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), on Monday. Addressing the gathering, CPI district secretary S.K. Rahaman and CPI-M district secretariat member P. Mani said that the proposal of the Centre to reduce the allocation to the States under the scheme would dilute the scheme. It would also create an additional annual burden of ₹4,000 crore to the State. Agricultural labourers and small farmers would be affected and there was a danger of mass migrations from the villages to cities. They said it was not right on the part of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan, who were part of the NDA Alliance, to be silent on the issue. The removal of the name of Mahatma Gandhi from the scheme was an insult to the ‘Father of the Nation’ by the Modi government. MGNREGA has been providing livelihood to the poor and marginalised sections by providing them employment as a legal right. The move of the Centre to rechristen the scheme as Viksit Bhart Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) and to reduce the funds being allocated to it was affecting the poor beneficiaries. The Left party leaders alleged that the move was aimed to benefit the corporate groups while depriving the poor of their legitimate share. They demanded continuation of the old name of the scheme and in its original format. CPI district assistant secretaries K. Satyanarayana, P. Chandrasekhar, CPI district leader M. Krishna Rao, CPI-ML (Praja Poru) leader K. Deva and CPI district secretariat member M. Pydiraju were among those who participated in the protest. Published - December 23, 2025 12:00 am IST

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