Govt rejects BJP move on jobs Bill

Two amendments to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, moved by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have been rejected by the government as a debate continued on the Bill, touted as the biggest social legislation in the history of modern India.

According to BJP Parliamentary Party Spokesperson VK Malhotra, the two amendments pertained to the universal application of the jobs scheme to anyone searching for employment and the extension of the scheme to the unemployed in urban areas as well.

"We have been told by the government that these amendments will not be accepted, and that the terms of the Bill will remain more or less the way there were presented to the House," said Malhotra.

The Left, too, has had to leave one of its key demands behind, that of either setting a national minimum wage for the programme or ensuring that a minimum of Rs 60 per day be the wage, or the minimum wage of states be applied, whichever was higher.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads a group of ministers (GoM) on the Bill, held parleys with Left leaders even as the Bill was being debated in order to ensure consensus on the issue. It has been agreed, according to sources, for the government to notify the wage component at a later stage.

Speakers from all parties spoke on the Bill, as the debate went on for the entire day today in Parliament. Ramji Lal Suman of the Samajwadi Party said the Bill was an important step in eradicating poverty in rural India.

"Unemployment and poverty are the two most important problems facing the country and we welcome the Bill since it addresses core economic issues of the countryside," he said.

Janata Dal (U) leader Nitish Kumar, however, said the Bill was a watered down version of what the standing committee on the Bill, led by BJP leader Kalyan Singh, had demanded and that the government was reneging on its promise made in the common minimum programme. "This flies in the face of what the common minimum programme sets out to do, by the government's own admission," he said.

The Bill is expected to be cleared in the Lok Sabha tomorrow, and is expected to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha the day after.