Last week, the minority government of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) introduced the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025 (VB-GRAMG Bill) in Parliament seeking to replace the widely acclaimed, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) passed by the United Progressive Alliance in August 2025, twenty years ago.
The united Opposition has demanded that this Bill, along with two others (three far-reaching Bills) to be referred to the Standing Committees concerned. Spokesperson of the Indian National Congress (INC), Jairam Ramesh stated that, “We are hopeful that in keeping with the best of Parliamentary traditions and practices, this demand will be agreed to by the Government. The Bills require deep study and wide consultations. 1. Higher Education Commission Bill 2. Atomic Energy Bill 3. G-RAM-G Bill.” It is to be seen if the NDA’s outside allies, Chandrababu Naidu Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) join the Opposition in demanding that these proposes changes and shifts are first deliberated on, as required by a Parliamentary Committee.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) –that was had strongly participated in deliberations on the 2005 original MGNREGA apart from being part of the 2004-2009 UPA—has, in a public statement, strongly opposed the Union government’s move to introduce the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025 (VB-GRAMG Bill), which seeks to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). In a statement issued today, the left party stated that, “The proposed bill completely negates the basic character of the MNREGA, which is a universal demand driven law providing a limited right to work. It legally absolves the Union government from its responsibility to allocate funds according to the demand.”
Further the CPI-M states that, “The government’s claim of increasing guaranteed employment from 100 to 125 days is merely cosmetic. In reality, the Bill opens the door to the exclusion of large sections of rural households in the name of rationalisation of job cards. The provision allowing governments to suspend employment for up to 60 days during peak agricultural seasons will deny work to rural households when it is most needed and make them dependent on landlords. Mandating digital attendance at work place is bound to cause immense difficulties to workers, like loss of work, and denial of their rights.”
Another major concern is the proposed shift in the funding pattern. The Bill reduces the Centre’s responsibility for wage payments from 100 per cent to a 60:40 sharing arrangement for major states. By doing this, the proposed law shifts the responsibility of bearing the expenditure on unemployment allowance and delay compensation from the Union to the states. In doing so, this places an unsustainable financial burden on state governments while denying them any role in the decision making process. The introduction of “normative allocation” – with state-wise expenditure ceilings imposed by the Centre and excess costs borne by states – will further curtail the programme’s reach and dilute the Centre’s accountability, states the CPI-M. Hence the party has also demanded a) that the VB-GRAMG Bill be withdrawn immediately and b) The Union government must instead engage in consultations with political parties, trade unions and organisations of the rural poor to strengthen MGNREGA and ensure its effective implementation as a universal and rights-based employment guarantee.
Meanwhile, John Brittas, a Parliamentarian in the Rajya Sabha representing the CPI-M has also provided a detailed critique of the new proposed law on social media, “X”. He states that the “Modi 3.0 government has removed the soul of a rights-based guarantee law and replaced it with a conditional, centrally controlled scheme stacked against States & workers.
“125 days” is the headline. 60:40 is the fine print – MGNREGA was a fully centrally funded one for unskilled wages; G RAM G downgrades it with States to bear 40%. States will now have to shell out around Rs. 50,000+ crore. Kerala alone will have to bear an additional 2,000–2,500 crore. Cost shifting by stealth, not reform. This is the new federalism: States pay more; Centre walks away, yet claims the credit.
“MGNREGA was demand-driven: if a worker asked for work, the Centre had to pay – G RAM G replaces this with Centre’s pre-fixed normative allocations & ceilings. When funds run out, rights run out. A legal employment guarantee is reduced to a centrally managed publicity scheme at the expense of States.
“Panchayats have been side-lined, (digital) dashboards empowered – MGNREGA trusted Gram Sabhas & Panchayats to plan works based on local needs – G RAM G mandates GIS tools, PM Gati Shakti layers & central digital stacks. Local priorities are filtered through a Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack. It makes biometrics, geo-tagging, dashboards and AI audits statutory. For millions of rural workers, tech failures mean exclusion without appeal. “
Therefore, he says,
“Decentralisation replaced by centralised templates; People (have) become data points.
“Worse, G RAM G mandates suspension of work for up to 60 days every year in the name of agricultural seasons. Employment guarantee or labour control? Scheme labourers are legally told: Don’t work. Don’t earn. Wait. Stopping public works to push labour into private farms is not welfare – it is state-managed labour supply, stripping workers of wages, choice and dignity. “
He concludes by adding that,
“G RAM G stands for central control, State funds & conditional rights. Same workers. Less rights. More burden. This Bill doesn’t reform MGNREGA – it dismantles it fiscally, institutionally and morally.
“Bottom line: In the name of RAM, the States and poor are penalised, short-changed and fiscally sacrificed.”
Detailing the new 2025 Bill further, John Brittas says,
“Under Section 10 of the MGNREG Act, 2005, the ‘Central Employment Guarantee Council’ ‘ was statutorily bound to uphold social representation, mandating that not less than one-third of its non-official members shall be women and not less than one-third belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Minorities. Yet, the corresponding rechristened ‘Central Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Council’ under Clause 12 of the G RAM G Bill conspicuously and deliberately omits these reservation requirements.
“In contrast, Clause 13 of the G RAM G Bill, governing the rechristened ‘State Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Councils’, explicitly retains the very same representation criteria for women, and for SCs, STs, OBCs and Minorities, exactly as provided in Section 12 of MGNREGA for the ‘State Employment Guarantee Councils’.
“This selective retention leaves no room for benign explanation. It clearly establishes that the omission at the Central level cannot be dismissed as an oversight or drafting error, but represents a conscious dilution of statutory social inclusion at the apex level. This follows a familiar pattern – much like the Union Government’s 2023 attempt to dilute mandatory SC/ST allocations under the revised MPLADS Guidelines, which was constrained to be rolled back after I (John Brittas) raised formal objections with the Minister – demonstrating that such exclusions are neither accidental nor unprecedented, but deliberate policy choices until challenged.”
Clearly rights based legislation is being diluted and rural work has been made more conditional and fragile. MGNREGA 2025 that revived rural economies, prevented migration, kick-started a demand based economic cycle is being formally throttled by a new law that will seek to control and not disburse and de-centralise economic growth and resources.
It is to be seen if the NDA’s outside allies, Chandrababu Naidu Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) join the Opposition in demanding that these proposes changes and shifts are first deliberated on, as required by a Parliamentary Committee.
Related:
MNREGA facing fund crunch despite highest ever budgetary allocation
CJP submits detailed feedback to Labour Ministry on Draft Shram Shakti Niti 2025