‘Trying to erase Gandhiji’s name’: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah on MGNREGA replacement
Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday alleged that the BJP-led Union government’s decision to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rural and Ajeevika Mission Gramin (VB-G RAM G) Act was not approved by the Union Cabinet.
According to a report published by Deccan Herald on Monday, speaking at the Congress foundation day programme in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah claimed the decision was taken by the Prime Minister’s Office without proper cabinet discussion.
"They are trying to erase Mahatma Gandhiji’s name. No matter what they try, Mahatma Gandhiji’s name is permanent. This scheme, started by Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi in 2005, is now being changed. It hasn’t been decided in the Cabinet. It has been decided in the prime minister’s office, even the concerned minister doesn’t know", DH quoted him as saying.
The Chief Minister said the Congress Working Committee has decided to launch a continuous agitation against the move from January 5, starting at the gram panchayat level and extending to the national level.
He lamented that the VB-G RAM G Act had increased the financial burden on states, making it 60% for the union government and 40% for the state. “The BJP is trying to ruin the rural economy. Dalits, OBCs minorities and women were benefiting (under MGNREGA). When there are no jobs, they should be given work. They are trying to destroy this scheme,” he said.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar also strongly criticised the move, is it possible to erase Mahatma Gandhi from this country’s history? Power is not permanent. How long will their party (BJP) be there? There must be an end. Is BJP permanent? Emperors like Alexander the Great are gone, Saddam Hussain had to hide.
Shivakumar further pointed out that even BJP-ruled states would struggle to implement the 60:40 funding pattern proposed under VB-G RAM G Act, calling it impractical and unfair.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
