New Delhi [India], October 7 (ANI): Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Tuesday accused the Centre of 'tweaking' the norms of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme, claiming that 60 per cent of the funds allocated for the scheme will now be redirected to 'water-related' projects.

While citing a media article from an English daily, the Congress MP claimed that the MGNREGA scheme's purpose was to provide poor rural families with guaranteed work and build villages, including roads, houses, ponds, and schools.

'The Modi government has quietly tweaked MGNREGA norms -- forcing 60% of all funds to go into 'water-related' projects. Sounds good? Wait till you see what this really means. MGNREGA was meant to give poor rural families guaranteed work -- building whatever their village needed: roads, houses, ponds, schools. Now Delhi decides from above how they must spend it. That's not decentralisation. That's dictatorship from Delhi,' Tagore wrote on 'X'.

He alleged that the decision from the Union Government has stripped away the power of the local Gram Sabha, leaving villagers powerless in deciding their priorities. He claimed that the new steps taken by the government are not even saving water, but their face.

'This move strips away local Gram Sabha power. Villagers no longer decide their priorities -- the Modi government does. The entire spirit of MGNREGA -- people's planning, bottom-up development -- has been sabotaged. Even worse, this is not about saving water. It's about saving the government's face. After years of ignoring the groundwater crisis, they now want to show 'big numbers' before 2029,' Tagore said.

The Congress MP further alleged that the Centre is using every scheme that is being 'repackaged' to spread propaganda and mentioned that MGNREGA, once empowered the poorest, is being twisted to serve the most powerful.

'Rs 35,000 crore of MGNREGA funds will now be redirected to projects chosen for PR headlines, not people's needs. Meanwhile, wages are unpaid, job cards are inactive, and work demand is suppressed. From 'Make in India' to 'Dig Wells for BJP's Image' -- every welfare scheme is being repackaged for propaganda. This is what happens when governance becomes a photo-op factory. MGNREGA once empowered the poorest. Today, it's being twisted to serve the most powerful. Water is life -- but forced centralisation is political drought,' Manickam Tagore said.

The MGNREGA provides a legal guarantee of at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to the adult member of a rural household who volunteers for unskilled manual labour.

The main goal of the scheme is to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by improving their purchasing power and creating new infrastructure through the public-driven schemes. (ANI)