Karnataka Assembly passes resolution against VB-G RAM G, demands reinstating MGNREGA
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution urging the Centre to immediately repeal VB-G RAM G and reinstate MGNREGA amid walkout by the opposition BJP and its ally JD(S).
The resolution was moved by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday, which was accepted by the House today.
The resolution said the VB-G RAM G Act, "unilaterally" enacted by the Centre, is "detrimental to the basic ideals of federalism and the right to livelihood of the rural people."
Opposition Leader R Ashoka said the BJP opposes the resolution moved by the ruling Congress and supports the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajivika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G).
He also reiterated his party's demand that Excise Minister R B Timmapur should resign as there was a large scale corruption to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore in the Excise Department.
As he walked out, Ashoka tore the resolution copy and threw it in the Assembly.
The BJP leader on Tuesday alleged that the scam money was used for funding Congress in the poll-bound states. The BJP staged an overnight agitation inside the Karnataka Assembly, which continued throughout Wednesday.
The party raised slogans in the Assembly disrupting the proceedings demanding Timmapur’s resignation.
The ruling Congress rejected the opposition's demand, saying that there was no evidence against Timmapur.
After passing the resolution on VB-G RAM G, Speaker U T Khader adjourned the House sine die.
Earlier speaking on the resolution, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge said the MGNREGA was a game changer as it created jobs and helped create assets in the villages.
While MGNREGA is demand-based, the VB-G RAM G is a supply-based and it does not guarantee jobs as the previous employment scheme offered, the minister noted.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar too backed the resolution, saying that many development works were taken up in his constituency Kanakapura due to the MGNREGA.
Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, who has been expelled from the BJP for anti-party activities, supported the VB-G RAM G saying that the law was much needed.
The resolution read by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "The VB-GRAM-G Act is against the federal principle, is a severe burden on the state exchequer and is against the principle of decentralisation, and has taken away the powers and rights of the Gram Panchayats; and to reinstate the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in its original form, which has led to rural asset creation and self-reliance of the poor."
"This House takes serious view of the repeal of the MGNREGA, which was a Sanjeevini (something that gives life) for the rural poor and an integral part of rural life… This House strongly opposes this move of the Centre (of bringing in the VB-G RAM G act repealing MGNREGA)," it added.
The Karnataka Cabinet had earlier decided not to accept the VB-G RAM G Act, replacing the MGNREGA, and to take up a legal battle against it.
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High courts upheld only 8 per cent of death sentences; SC confirms none in recent years: Report
New Delhi (PTI): Highlighting that a high acquittal rate of death row convicts by the Supreme Court and high courts demonstrates a pattern of "erroneous or unjustified convictions", a study of 10 years of death penalty data has revealed that the top court did not confirm any death sentences in recent years.
The study by Square Circle Clinic, a criminal laws advocacy group with the NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad, found that an overwhelming majority of death sentences imposed by trial courts did not withstand scrutiny at higher judicial levels. Acquittals far outnumbered confirmations at both the high courts and Supreme Court levels.
According to the report, the trial courts across India awarded 1,310 death sentences in 822 cases between 2016 and 2025. High courts considered 842 of these sentences in confirmation proceedings but upheld only 70 or 8.31 per cent.
In contrast, 258 death sentences (30.64 per cent) resulted in acquittals. The study noted that the acquittal rate at the high court level was nearly four times the confirmation rate.
Data showed that of the 70 death sentences confirmed by high courts, the Supreme Court decided 38 and did not uphold a single one. The apex court has confirmed no death sentences between 2023 and 2025.
"Wrongful or erroneous or unjustified convictions, then, are not random or freak accidents in the Indian criminal justice system. The data indicates they are a persistent and serious systemic concern," the report said.
Over the last decade, high courts adjudicated 1,085 death sentences in 647 cases, confirming only 106 (9.77 per cent). During this period, 326 persons in 191 cases, were acquitted.
The report attributed low confirmation rates to the appellate judiciary’s concerns regarding failures in due process. "This coincides with increased Supreme Court scrutiny of safeguards at the sentencing stage," the report said.
Of the 153 death sentences decided by the apex court over the last decade, the accused were acquitted in 38 cases. In 2025 alone, high courts overturned death sentences into acquittals in 22 out of 85 cases (over 25 per cent). The same year, Supreme Court acquitted accused persons in more than half of the death penalty cases it decided (10 out of 19), the report said.
The study highlighted that 364 persons who were ultimately acquitted "should not even have been convicted and unjustifiably suffered the trauma of death row". It added that such failures extend beyond adjudication and reflect serious lapses in investigation and prosecution.
The question of remedies for wrongful convictions remains pending before the Supreme Court. In September 2025, three persons acquitted by the apex court filed writ petitions seeking compensation from the state and argued that their wrongful convictions violated their fundamental right to life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
"In 2022, the Supreme Court crystallised a sentencing process in Manoj v. State of Madhya Pradesh , and mandated all courts to follow those guidelines before imposing or confirming a death sentence," the report read.
In 2025, the apex court held in Vasanta Sampat Dupare v. Union of India that death penalty sentencing hearings form part of the right to a fair trial and stressed that capital punishment can be imposed only after a constitutionally compliant sentencing process.
"However, even at the high courts whether the process mandated under Manoj is being complied with is in doubt,” the report said.
