New Delhi, December 16, 2025 – In a move poised to reshape rural India's employment landscape, the Narendra Modi government has introduced the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) – or VB–G RAM G – Bill, 2025, in the Lok Sabha, aiming to repeal the two-decade-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). While the Centre hails it as a "modernised" upgrade aligned with its Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, opposition parties, economists, and activists have decried it as a "conspiracy to destroy" the flagship welfare scheme, potentially forcing millions back into distress migration and feudal labor traps.
The bill, listed in Monday's supplementary business for the Lower House, promises to bump up guaranteed unskilled work days for rural households from 100 to 125 annually. It introduces AI-driven attendance tracking, digital dashboards for payments, and a 60-day seasonal pause on works during peak agricultural periods to bolster farm labor availability. However, buried in its fine print are provisions that shift the scheme from a demand-driven, rights-based entitlement – where workers apply for jobs and local panchayats allocate them – to a centrally controlled, supply-led program. The Centre would now decide state-wise work allocations based on "objective parameters," approve village-level plans, and fund only 60% of costs (90% for hilly states), leaving states to shoulder the rest – a stark departure from MNREGA's 100% central wage funding.
For laborers like Haroli Shekhar, a 35-year-old landless worker from Karnataka's Raichur district, MNREGA has been a lifeline, providing Rs 15,000 yearly through local projects like canal digging, allowing him to avoid migrating to cities and stay with his family. Critics fear the new framework could unravel this security net. "This new law is all set to destroy MGNREGA in the guise of revamping it as a new scheme. It provides a work guarantee without any guarantee that the guarantee applies," said economist Jean Dreze, a key architect of the original act. Chakradhar Buddha of LibTech India echoed this, warning, "If the new bill is passed, people will not get jobs if they demand it. They will get jobs if the central government has the budget and thinks it fit... We are going back to pre-NREGA days."
Opposition leaders have amplified these concerns, framing the bill as an assault on the poor. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge labeled it a "BJP-RSS conspiracy to end MGNREGA," slamming the removal of Mahatma Gandhi's name from the scheme – the only law honoring the Father of the Nation – as "hollow and hypocritical." "The government that recoils from the rights of the poor is the one that attacks MGNREGA," Kharge thundered, vowing street protests alongside parliamentary opposition. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is set to lead the charge in the Lok Sabha at noon today, demanding the draft be referred to a standing committee for scrutiny. Even within the Congress, senior MP Shashi Tharoor called the renaming row "unfortunate," though his measured tone drew party flak for softening the attack.
The VB–G RAM G Bill's centralization of powers – from work site selection to funding caps – could exacerbate existing woes like wage delays and low pay rates, which have already plagued MNREGA implementation. Nikhil Dey of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan highlighted Section 4(5), which ends demand-based allocation: "Through this section, the government ends that demand. Now the central government will decide." Activists like Venkateswarlu Kuruva warn of a return to exploitation, with the 60-day pause potentially empowering landlords to dictate "feudal wages" during harvests, eroding workers' bargaining power. States could face an extra Rs 50,000 crore burden annually, with Kerala alone staring at Rs 2,000-2,500 crore more, straining poorer regions further.
Government sources defend the revamp as essential to fix MNREGA's "structural weaknesses," touting tech integrations for transparency and the extra 25 work days as pro-worker enhancements. "The new structure is balanced and sensitive to state capacities," an official told The Tribune, emphasizing alignment with national development goals. Yet, as The Indian Express opined, the bill "annihilates MGNREGA and undermines rural India’s right to work," codifying recent dilutions like biometric mandates and spending caps without addressing core grievances.
Enacted in 2005 under the Congress-led UPA, MNREGA transformed rural economies by curbing migration and empowering 15 crore-plus households with legal recourse for unemployment allowances. Its repeal risks reversing these gains, especially amid rising rural distress. As Parliament debates heat up, the bill's fate – and India's rural job safety net – hangs in the balance, with experts urging wider consultations to avert what one called "the worst" for the vulnerable.
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