Cong will raise repealing of MGNREGA during upcoming parliament session: Kharge
Bengaluru (PTI): AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday said that the Congress, which has launched a nationwide fight against the central government for repealing the UPA-era rural employment law MGNREGA and replacing it with a new one, will also raise the issue during the upcoming parliament session.
He, however, did not wish to comment on the leadership tussle between CM Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar over the Chief Minister post in Karnataka, and the Congress high command's intervention in this regard.
"During the upcoming parliament session too, we will raise the issue. The fight against this (repealing of MGNREGA) is underway everywhere in every district. In Karnataka, protests are also planned. The fight on this issue is a continuous programme," Kharge told reporters here.
Stating that a programme has been organised against the repeal of MGNREGA at Nehru auditorium in Delhi on January 22 at 10 am, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said he along with top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be launching it, and several NGOs are participating in it.
The Modi government, by striking at the root of the MGNREGA programme, has caused a shock to the poor, he further said, adding that "MGNREGA ensured right to work, which the central government has today snatched away."
The Budget session of Parliament will be held from January 28 to April 2.
The Congress party, which is fighting against the central government for repealing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), is demanding for its restoration by scrapping the new Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act.
Alleging that the central government has also caused loss of thousands of crores to the state governments by increasing the state's share under the new act to 40 per cent from the ten per cent that was there earlier under the MGNREGA, Kharge said, "By removing MGNREGA they want the poor to become bonded labourers. They want them to live like slaves."
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
