Mamata Banerjee vows to fight move to dilute MGNREGA Act

Protesting against the Centre's reported move to dilute provisions of the rural work guarantee programme MGNREGA, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday vowed to fight it, saying it would bring disaster to the poor people of the country. "West Bengal is the first state to protest against the central government's unjust decision to curtail the scope of 100 days' work, which is against the fundamental principle of the Act to benefit the downtrodden people of rural India," Banerjee said in a Facebook post.

"The basic principle of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act to provide economic empowerment to the poor people of rural India will stand defeated," the chief minister said.

"Today, I reiterate to fight against the Centre's decision to restrict the scope of 100 days' work, which will only bring disaster to the poor people of the country," she said.