The NDA sarkar at the Centre successfully diverted the attention of the opposition from more serious issues like unemployment, price-rise, rupee-dollar rate and vote chori by pushing the VBGRAMG bill in the parliament. The bill guarantees 125 days of work as against 100 guaranteed by the hitherto repealed MGNREGA.

The name change, dropping that of Mahatma Gandhi, appears to be the main contention of the opposition parties. The 20-year-old repealed MGNREGA saw many ups and downs as corruption, nepotism and manipulations marred its implementation as different political parties dealt with it differently over the past 2 decades. Had the scheme been implemented properly, the Grama Swarajya, as dreamt by Mahatma Gandhi, should have been realised in scores of villages if not thousands! The protesting opposition parties "led" by the Congress party are naturally peeved at the way the name dropping of Mahatma Gandhi was done.

I personally feel that they should wait for spotting lacunae, if any, in VBGRAMG at the implementation stage and then protest, instead of protesting prematurely and criticising the new Bill based on inferences.

Govardhana Myneedu, Vijayawada