Civil society groups plan nationwide protest against scrapping of MGNREGA

Lok Sabha starts debate on VB-G RAM G that replaces MGNREGA, Parl Panel head wants new bill to be send to standing committee for detailed examination

Civil society groups, led by the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, are planning a nationwide protest -- similar to the farmers’ stir a few years ago-- starting December 19 demanding scrapping of the new Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (GRAMIN) or VB- G RaM G Bill.

 

The groups are planning to mobilise agriculture and rural workers in all state capitals, district headquarters, block offices and panchayats and also march towards the national capital demanding abolition of the new draft and continuation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme.

 

“If there was one Act that truly made India a ‘vishwaguru’, it was MGNREGA and repealing it with a new centrally sponsored scheme would mean that all powers will get concentrated in the hands of the Central government without any corresponding obligation,” Jean Dreze, economist and former member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

   

Dreze said that in the new draft VB-G RAM G, the Central government holds unbridled power to determine which part of the country the rural employment scheme will work, and where it won’t.

 

“Twenty years back when the scheme was being framed we had opposed this provision and it was dropped after much effort, but once again Centre wants to bring this provision back,” Dreze said.

 

The real reason for repealing MGNREGA seems to be political more than anything else, Dreze said, while calling upon all states to bitterly oppose the draft Bill.

 

“This normative based allocation and 60:40 ratio of expenditure share is also highly problematic,” Dreze said.

 

Jayati Ghosh, economist and former professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, said that it (repealing MGNREGA) will pull down aggregate demand and further hurt the economy.

 

Others too demanded immediately withdrawal of VB-G RAM G and reinstatement of MGNREGA

 

Meanwhile, in a related development, chairperson of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka on Wednesday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, urging him to refer the VB-G RAM G Bill to the Standing Committee concerned for a detailed examination.

 

In the letter, Ulaka, who is the Congress MP from Koraput in Odisha, said that the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, (VB-G RAM G) seeks to introduce far-reaching changes in the framework governing rural employment and livelihood support.

 

“Given the scale, scope and potential impact of these provisions, particularly on rural, tribal, and economically vulnerable populations, it is my considered view that the legislation warrants detailed examination by a Parliamentary Standing Committee,” he said.

 

The Congress MP expressed “deep concern and institutional discomfort” at the prospect of a Bill of this magnitude being processed without the benefit of such scrutiny.

 

Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, while initiating the debate on the Bill asserted that the VB-G RAM G will not only ensure employment but also fulfil Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of making villages self-reliant.

 

Moving the Bill for consideration and passage, Chouhan said that the new Bill will ensure all-around development of villages and make them poverty-free, fuelling their growth journey.

 

Initiating the debate from the Opposition side, Jai Prakash (Congress) lamented that the name of Mahatma Gandhi was removed from the Bill, which was “the biggest crime”.

 

He said the proposed law will create fresh financial liabilities for the states and deprive grassroots-level bodies like the gram sabhas of their rights to decide on work to be undertaken under the draft law.

 

According to the Bill, it will provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work.

 

Within six months from the date of commencement of the VB-G RAM G Act, states will have to make a scheme consistent with the provisions of the new law

 

A centrally sponsored scheme, the financial liability would be shared between the Centre and the state governments. It would be 90:10 for the North-eastern states and Himalayan states and 60:40 for all other states and Union territories with legislature.

 

For the UTs without a legislature, the whole cost would be borne by the Centre.

 

Under the proposed scheme, the Centre would determine state-wise normative allocation for each financial year. Any expenditure incurred by a state in excess would be borne by the state government.