Protest will continue until changes in 100-day work plan are withdrawn: Ira Mutharasan

Tamil Nadu: R. Mutharasan, a member of the Communist Party of India’s National Control Committee, said the protests will continue until the central government reverses the changes made to the 100-day work plan.

Participating in the launch of the Rural Workers Monthly Magazine, organized by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Workers Association in Thanjavur on Saturday, she told reporters:

The BJP government at the center has used its power in Parliament to abolish the Mahatma Gandhi Employment Scheme (100 Days of Work) and has used the name Gandhi to imply its abolition. This scheme, which was implemented with central government funds, has been replaced by a scheme in which state governments have to bear 40 percent of the cost, creating a severe financial crisis for the states.

Furthermore, the type of work to be initiated in a village was decided in a Gram Sabha meeting, discussed, and recommended to the government through the Panchayat, and implemented on that basis.

Now, through a new law, the central government has decided, through a wrong decision, that the central government will decide which city and which project will be implemented in a state. Mutharasan said that the protest will continue until the central government withdraws these changes.

The event was attended by K. Palanidurai, a retired professor at Gandhi Gram Nirmala Vidyalaya University, N. Periyasamy, State President of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Workers Association, General Secretary A. Bhaskar, MLA K. Marimuthu, Puducherry General Secretary A. Ramamurthy, Communist Party of India State Executive Committee member Muthu Uthirapati, District Secretary K. Sakthivel, M.A. Bharathi, C. Bakhirisamy of the Agricultural Workers Association, C. Chandrakumar of the AITUC and others attended.