“NAREGA has reshaped the labour market in this country” : Rahul Gandhi

September 10, 2009, Chennai:
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi was addressing a press conference at Chennai. To a question on the effectiveness of NAREGA Rahul Gandhi said, “I have been saying for sometime now that this country started of as one country and every body in this country was poor. Sixty years of work and today we have developed two Indias. One India is the India of opportunity and second India is lacking that opportunity...

You can say one India is rich, one India is poor. You can say one India has infrastructure, roads, connectivity and other India does not. You can say one India lives in the cities, the other India doesn’t. None of these definitions captures precisely the fact that there are two India. But every one among us knows that there are two Indias. Central thrust what the Congress Party does and is going to do for the next couple of years-probably more than that is try and recreate that One India. Ensure that it is an India of opportunities for all. Our view is that you need both these Indias to eventually create that One India. The idea is that you take the India with opportunities, you grow that India and you take some of the benefits and you put them into the villages and you engage and involve that India into this first one. That is our view. Out view is that both these Indias have to be merged and that is the idea of “ Aam Admi” and the weapons which we are using-NAREGA is one such weapon. . Massive expansion of education system is another weapon, massive expansion of health system is the third weapon. Universal ID is the fourth weapon. Everything what we do is all designed to bring opportunity to India that does not have that opportunity. Because, we fundamentally believe that the energy of this country is with its people, among its people. And if 70% of our people don’t have opportunity, then we are not employing and using the full energy of this country. That is defined by the Aam Admi agenda by what our Prime Minister says and does; what Congress President says and does and what our senior leadership says and does.
On one side, you have the BJP and the BJP’s view is the “ India Shining” concept. What is that? There is an India with opportunities, let’s focus all our efforts on that India and let’s not worry about the India with no opportunity. On the other side, you have the leftist parties and what do they say? They say that there is India without opportunity, let’s ignore the India which has opportunities. Let us strangle the India with opportunity.
That is the difference between the three formations. What we are going to say is that we are going to bridge these two India and we are going to make sure that this One India which is firm has opportunity for all. Our schemes are aimed at bringing both Indias together.
What is the core of the NAREGA programme; what has it done in Uttar Pradesh? Common view is that it gives 100 days of work to the villagers. The deeper view is that, “NAREGA has reshaped the labour market in this country.”And what it has done, that it has created a floor and it has created a minimum wage in this country for the first time. So, no matter who you are; you can get a hundred days of work at a particular price. This has changed completely the dynamics in poor states like Uttar Pradesh. In states like Andhra Pradesh it has revolutionized the system.
My personal view is that, the real power of NAREGA is in how it reshapes the labour market and puts a floor below poor people and gives them support by not letting them fall below a certain level. My view is that the more have access to NAREGA, education schemes, and the more people that get access to opportunities. It is better for our country.While answering a question on interlinking of rivers Congress General Secretary said,My personal view is that it's a disastrous idea. It is an idea that has not been thought through; it is an idea that will be extremely dangerous for the environment of this country. Nature is a very-very powerful thing and it is not a good idea to play with the nature at massive scales. At local level, you might have some irrigation concepts that's not a problem. Linking rivers at a national level is a disaster.”
To the question ` Based on your interaction, do you believe that the congress should make a bid for power on its own in Tamil Nadu'
Rahul Gandhi said“ I am here as the general secretary of the Youth Congress and as I told you yesterday, I like to to draw a line around my responsibilities. My responsibilities as general secretary of Cognress party it to build the Youth Congress very impressed by the response the Youth Congress elections has received here, very pleasantly surprised and overwhelmed with the response.The process is designed to bring in the youth Tamil boys and girls in Youth Congress. Most important thing for the youth congress here is that we start opening our doors to the energy in Tamil Nadu.
We should not necessarily be worried about power sharing elections- we should be worried about what the people of Tamil Nadu are thinking. We should be worried about engaging with the people of Tamil Nadu as a political organization.
While speaking on factionalism within Congress party he said“ India has the specialty of group politics my friend; this is not a Tamil Nadu phenomenon. This is a all India phenomen”