The central government’s decision to replace the UPA-era Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) rocked the first day of the Budget Session in the Rajasthan Assembly, with the Congress staging protests outside the House and accusing the Centre of trying to weaken the employment guarantee scheme.
Holding protests at the start of the session, Congress leaders, led by Rajasthan Leader of the Opposition Tikaram Jully and state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasara, held placards reading, “Save MGNREGA, Save the Country”. The party has been opposing the Centre’s new Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, arguing that the law would deprive millions of their right to work.
The party also flagged issues such as a shortage of fertilisers during the protest.
In his speech at the start of the session, Governor Haribhau Bagde outlined the priorities of Rajasthan’s Bhajan Lal government, saying that more than two lakh children had been provided free education under the Right to Education Act, and that it had ensured adequate electricity supply and the availability of DAP fertiliser for farmers, adding that the dispensation was now focused on youth and employment.
Leader of the Opposition Jully, however, countered these claims, saying that one of the BJP’s own ministers was “unconvinced” by the fertiliser claim. “We did not receive fertiliser; what we received was fake. On what basis is the government calling this an achievement?” he asked, also accusing the government of having failed to deliver on its social security commitments and to alleviate farmers’ distress in the state.
“Pensions for those with disabilities, the elderly and widows have been stalled for the last 5-6 months. Not a single rupee has been spent on the Yamuna Water Agreement and the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project, leaving people in Jhunjhunu, Sikar and Churu waiting for two years,” he said.
