SHILLONG, Nov 11: Congress legislator, Ampareen Lyngdoh, on Wednesday expressed no confidence in decisions taken by the Centre without holding consultations with the state government, stating that this trend is getting perilous.
“Of late, many decisions have been taken by Government of India in and outside Parliament without consulting state government. I have no confidence in the decisions taken by the central government, the rules and laws, which are affecting governance in Meghalaya,” said Lyngdoh, while participating in the no-confidence motion moved by Opposition Congress.
Ampareen also asserted that she will take up the CAA issue outside the House even as she reminded the members that it was not a closed subject.
On Code on Social Security 2020, Lyngdoh questioned Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong, on the advisories sent by the state government to the central government when the Centre had decided to go ahead with the Code on Social Security 2020.
President Ram Nath Kovind had on September 28 given his assent to the Code on Social Security 2020, and it subsumes nine regulations relating to social security, retirement and employee benefits.
“I would like to know what were the advisories of our government with regard to wages and privileges of certain sectors,” she questioned.
Lyngdoh also questioned if the state government has considered the inclusion of privileges and wages, especially for pregnant women engaged in any form of contractual, part-time, government or non-government sectors.
On Aadhaar, the Congress legislator reminded the state government of how people had raised voice against its mandatory implementation in Meghalaya.
“The state government has not tried to defend the stand of the people on Aadhaar,” she said.
Stating that to avail various central government schemes, Aadhaar has been made mandatory, Lyngdoh said, “On one hand, they are saying that they are concerned about the poor and on the other hand, they are telling our citizens ‘I will give you free gas and build houses, go and get your Aadhaar done’,” she said.
Talking about her visit to Mawkyrwat recently, Lyngdoh said she was nonplussed to see people standing in queues to register themselves for Aadhaar in order to receive the schemes. “They will not give us gas, house and now they will not give old-age pension, widow pension all these schemes are linked to Aadhaar,” she said.
Stating that all scholarship schemes are also linked to Aadhaar, Lyngdoh said, “If my child does not have Aadhaar, are you going to deny her scholarship? I had to do this or otherwise it would have been denied”.
She bewailed saying that the state government has failed her as a mom, adding that others surely as well down the line.
Stating that the system is not ready for Aadhaar registry, she said, “So many things are not in place; from machines to operators, what worries me is main component for online registry”. “How do they register when there is no network,” she questioned.