NEW DELHI: The Centre is set to replace the two-decade-old national rural employment scheme - MGNREGA - with a new legislative framework titled the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025.
In response to the change, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slammed the government questioning the intentions behind removing Mahatma Gandhi's name.The Bill, aimed at aligning rural livelihoods with the government’s long-term development vision, has been listed for introduction in the Lok Sabha, according to the supplementary list of business issued on Monday.
The proposed legislation seeks to dismantle MGNREGA, enacted in 2005, and establish a new statutory regime for rural employment.Priyanka Gandhi criticises the movePriyanka Gandhi questioned the government’s intent behind renaming the scheme, asking whether such a move was necessary in the first place. Speaking to the reporters outside the Parliament complex, she said, "Why is Mahatma Gandhi's name being removed. Mahatma Gandhi is considered the tallest leader not just in the country but in the world, so removing his name, I really don't understand. What is the objective? What is their intention?"She further went on to argue, "Whenever the name of a scheme is changed, there are so many changes that have to be made in offices, stationery, for which money is spent. So, what is the benefit? Why is it being done?"Priyanka Gandhi added that the move was wasteful in terms of both money and time, and said the Centre was effectively disrupting its own work by squandering valuable debate time.
"Even when we are debating, it is on other issues, not the real issues of the people. Time is being wasted, money is being wasted, they are disrupting themselves," Priyanka Gandhi added.Last week, when reports surfaced about the government renaming the scheme to 'Poojya Bapu Grameen Rozgar Yojana,' Priyanka Gandhi had said the exercise would be a waste of government resources and questioned what benefit the process would serve. "I can't understand what mentality is behind this. First, this is Mahatma Gandhi's name, and when it is changed, the government's resources are spent on it again," Priyanka Gandhi argued, "From offices to stationery, everything has to be renamed, so this is a big, costly process. So what's the benefit of doing this unnecessarily? I can't understand."What changes?The government would guarantee 125 days of wage employment every financial year to each rural household whose adult members are willing to undertake unskilled manual work.
This is an upgrade from the minimum 100 days of wage employment.The bill positions itself as part of a broader “rural development framework aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047”The goal of MGNREGA framed the programme to "enhance the livelihood security"While the MGNREGA focused on the goal to "enhance the livelihood security", the new bill says it aims to promote "empowerment, growth, convergence and saturation for a prosperous and resilient rural Bharat", and lays emphasis on "empowerment, growth, convergence and saturation through public works aggregating into forming Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack".In the statement of objects and reasons, rural development minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan acknowledged the role played by MGNREGA over the last 20 years in providing assured wage employment to rural households. However, the new legislation signals a reimagining of rural employment policy as the government seeks to transition from an entitlement-based safety net to what it describes as a future-oriented development mission.The VB-G RAM G Bill would mark the end of one of India’s most expansive social welfare programmes and the beginning of a new chapter in rural employment policy, potentially reshaping how the state supports livelihoods in the countryside.
