West Bengal: CM Mamata to rename Karmashree scheme after Mahatma Gandhi amid VB-G RAM-G Bill row

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], December 18 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced that the Karmashree scheme of the state government will be named after Mahatma Gandhi as a response to the Centre's VB-G RAM-G Bill replacing MGNREGA.
Speaking at the Business and Industry Conclave at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium, Mamata Banerjee called the changing of the name of India's flagship rural employment scheme a matter of "deep shame."
She said, " We have also started the Karmashree project, as MNREGA funds have also been stopped. Removal of Gandhiji's name fills me with deep shame. They are forgetting the father of the nation. We have decided to rename our Karmashree scheme after Mahatma Gandhi."
"If you don't know how to respect Mahatma Gandhi, then we certainly know how to honour him and others like Netaji, Rabindranath Tagore and others," West Bengal CM added.
The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, which was passed in the Lok Sabha today, has sparked a political row since its introduction in Parliament.
The Bill guarantees 125 days of wage employment per rural household in each financial year to such rural households whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work, contributing to income security beyond the earlier 100-day entitlement, with an aggregated 60-day no-work period to ensure the availability of agricultural labour during peak sowing and harvesting season.
The Bill also introduces a fund-sharing in a ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and the states.
Similarly, the Karmashree scheme in West Bengal provides at least 50 days of wage employment to each Job Card holder household in a financial year, through various works implemented by different Departments of the State Government.
Earlier today, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram criticised the government over the VB-G RAM-G Bill and said that the BJP government wants to remove the memory of Mahatma Gandhi.
Speaking to ANI, Chidambaram said, "It is a tragic day in our country. The MGNREGA was a program on which many people depended for their livelihood. This is a revisionist government which wants to remove the memory of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, by coming up with a bizarre name, VB G RAM G. They are not only revisionist but also anti-poor and anti-marginalised. We will take this message to the people of India."
Meanwhile, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan defended the Bill and stated that rural development schemes have evolved over time, and the VB-G RAM-G scheme will provide an employment guarantee of 125 days, compared with 100 days under MGNREGA.
Addressing the issue of 60:40 share of funds between the Centre and the state governments, the Union Minister said that the Centre's share exceeds Rs 95,000 crore out of the total proposed Rs 1,51,282 crore.
Speaking to reporters, he said, "You speak your view, but do not let others speak. Isn't it immoral? I condemn their actions. There have been many schemes for rural development. One scheme runs for a few days and then changes, like Sampoorn Gramin Rojgar Yojana, Jawahar Rojgar Yojana, and then MNREGA came. It was not named after Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, so was it an insult to him? Welfare of the poor is a resolve of the BJP, and many schemes were brought under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which is why 25 crore people have been uplifted from the poverty line."
"Viksit Gaon for Viksit Bharat is a resolve for Modi ji. There was an employment guarantee for 100 days, which has been raised to 125 days, and to support this expansion, adequate funds have been proposed, totalling Rs 1,51,282 crore. Of this amount, the Centre's share exceeds Rs 95,000 crore," the BJP leader said. (ANI)