Panjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann convened a special session of the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) on 30 Dec to discuss scrapping of the two-decades-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and replacing it with the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Progressive India Guarantee for Jobs and Livelihood, VB G RAM G). The state government is also slated to bring three Bills during the special session of the Assembly—Punjab Abadi Deh (Record of Rights) Amendment Bill, Indian Stamp (Punjab Second Amendment) Bill, and Punjab Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill, 2025. Instead of the special session, senior Indian National Congress and Member of Legislative Assembly from Jalandhar Cantonment, Pargat Singh has instead sought a full-fledged winter session of the Panjab Assembly. He said, 'Panjab is facing multiple challenges—economic, administrative, and law and order. A single-day session cannot do justice to the gravity of these challenges.' Highlighting the deteriorating law and order situation, he said the state is 'sliding rapidly towards anarchy'. Panjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Sunil Jakhar said that through the special session, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was preparing for another propaganda exercise. He said, 'The Mann government has failed on every front and has no achievements to count. It would be better if the government used a special session to discuss the deteriorating law-and-order situation in the state.' Meanwhile, agricultural labor unions organized village-level protest demonstrations rejecting the union government’s call to convene Gram Sabhas (village meetings) to pass resolutions in support of scrapping MGNREGA. The protests come even as the Samyukt Kisan Morcha Panjab announced an ‘Awareness Week’ from 28 Dec–4 Jan, followed by district-level and state-level agitations against what it termed a series of anti-worker and anti-farmer measures. The joint front of rural and agricultural labor organizations, under the banner of Sanjha Mazdoor Morcha, said it would not allow MGNREGA to be replaced by VB-G-RAM-G by altering the funding pattern between the Indian union and states (earlier coverage).
Like what you're reading? Subscribe to our top stories.
Liv Forum provides a digest of analysis on major issues facing Indian (East) Panjab and Sikhs globally.
In accordance with our Privacy Policy, we will never share or sell the information of our subscribers.
