New Delhi. Parliament on Thursday passed the ‘Developed India-Ji Ram Ji Bill, 2025’ amid opposition opposition. Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan said that “Congress killed Bapu’s ideals, while the Modi government has kept them alive”. Rejecting the opposition’s allegations of bringing a new bill in place of the MNREGA scheme and removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name from it, Chauhan said that through the ‘Developed India-Ji Ram Ji Bill, 2025’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is working towards the goal of implementing the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and creating a developed India on the foundation of developed villages.
The bill was discussed in the Rajya Sabha for more than six hours and after the reply of Minister Chauhan, it was passed by voice vote. The House rejected the amendment proposals brought by many members of the opposition on this bill. The bill was approved by the Lok Sabha during the day. Responding to the discussion, Chauhan said that from the rural manpower program in 1960-61 to MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), various schemes have been made from time to time in the country. He said that if the objective is not achieved by these or only a little of the objective is achieved then new schemes are brought.
When the Rural Development Minister was replying to the discussion in the Upper House, the opposition members came in front of the chair and were continuously raising slogans and creating ruckus. Chairman CP Radhakrishnan warned the sloganeering members several times not to go towards the ruling party’s gallery. Later, opposition members including Congress walked out of the House in protest. He said that earlier Mahatma Gandhi’s name was not in the name of MNREGA and its name was NREGA, but due to votes before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Congress remembered Bapu and his name was added.
Chauhan alleged, “The Congress-led government also did not implement MNREGA with force and Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented it properly.” Comparing the implementation of this scheme during the time of UPA and NDA governments, he said that while 1660 crore mandays were created during the time of Congress, 3210 crore mandays were created in the Modi government. He said that before the Modi government, the participation of women in this scheme was 48 percent, which increased to 56.73 percent during this government.
The Union Minister said, “The Congress Party has committed the sin of stealing Gandhi’s name.” He said that Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said in the House that this government is changing the name on a ‘whim’. Chauhan said, “We are not changing the name on a whim, Congress has a craze to keep names after its family members.” Chauhan claimed that during the Congress governments, hundreds of schemes, buildings, festivals, institutions etc. were named after members of the Gandhi family – Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
He said that the Congress is ‘pretending’ by taking the name of Mahatma Gandhi and that it had “killed Bapu’s ideals” on the day of the partition of the country, the special status given to Kashmir and the imposition of emergency by Indira Gandhi. Taking the Congress to task, he said, “It worked to kill Bapu’s ideals, the Modi government worked to keep them alive.”
Chauhan said that there were many shortcomings in MNREGA and on that basis this government brought a new bill. He said that in MNREGA, 60 percent of the money was for wages and 40 percent for construction materials, but in the states ruled by opposition parties, the entire money was taken for wages, and only 26 percent was spent on materials and in many states only 19-20 percent was spent. He alleged that Congress had completely handed over this scheme to corruption. He said, “The opposition ‘India’ alliance should put their hands on their hearts and tell whether there was no corruption in it, whether the money did not go into their pockets, whether their leaders did not loot.
Chauhan said that in order to end this loot and fulfill the objective of using the money only for the employment of the poor, it was necessary to remove the shortcomings and bring transparency. He said that before bringing the new bill, extensive discussions were held on it. He said that there will be a provision for more employment in the new law and the funds will be used to create fully developed villages, which is the resolution of the Modi government.
Chauhan said that under this, the government has envisioned such an ideal village where there is employment, education, good governance, cleanliness, people get pure drinking water from tap, treatment, children get nutrition, lighting system and paved roads. He also enumerated many other qualities to create an ideal and developed village. The Rural Development Minister said, “Congress committed the sin of reducing the budget of this scheme and reduced it from Rs 40 thousand crore to Rs 35 thousand crore. The Modi government spent up to Rs 1 lakh 11 thousand crore in this scheme and this year there is a proposal of Rs 1,51,282 crore in the budget. This money is for wages, for the development of villages.”
He said that all disaster management work will be done under this scheme. The Minister said that there will be special provisions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Disabled etc. and they will be given employment guarantee cards. Enumerating all the programs of the Modi government including PM Awas Yojana, Jaljeevan Mission, Ujjwala Yojana, Saubhagya Yojana and Atal Pension Yojana, Chouhan said, “For us, Bapu is still alive in these schemes. Mahatma Gandhi is alive not only in posters and photographs, but in our work to reach the last person.”
Pointing to the objections of opposition members on increasing the state’s contribution in the scheme to 40 percent, he said, “We have kept the ratio of Center and states at 60:40 so that the participation of the states increases and they understand the responsibility.” Chauhan said that a new India is being built under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and this scheme will play an important role in the welfare of the poor.
