Opposition MPs attacked the Union government over decrease in funds to the rural sector and its inability to address rural distress during a debate on the working of the Union Ministry of Rural Development in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday (March 10, 2026). BJP members countered the attack, saying that the Narendra Modi government believed in building strong villages.
Initiating the debate, BJP MP K. Laxman said the Centre had uplifted the rural lives. He said the allocation to the rural sector increased over the years since 2014 and the increase compared to last budget was 4%. “The Modi government increased the allocation to the rural employment scheme by 40% compared to the UPA regime,” he said, adding that the new VB-G-RAMG scheme was a transparent scheme than the MGNREGS.
Parliament Budget session updates on March 10, 2026
Congress MP Rajani Patil said statistics looked good in papers and the ground reality in villages was different. “Unemployment is increasing. Farmers are in distress,” she said, adding that the “historic step” of the government of stopping the MGNREGS was not considering the ground realities. “This Ministry is linked with crores of rural lives. If the schemes of the Ministry are not strong, people will not get the benefit of it,” she said.
