For almost two decades, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) defined much of the framework for rural development in India. On December 18, without any pre-legislative public consultation, or examination by parliamentary committees, it was repealed and replaced with the Viksit Bharat G Ram G Act providing what the government claims is “an enhanced employment guarantee of 125 days”. Huge concerns are being raised, not just about the manner in which the ruling party used its majority in both houses of Parliament to repeal and pass the new legislation, but also about the claims that are being made.

Since the opportunity for a meaningful discussion on the Bill before its passage was brushed aside, it is necessary to seriously engage with the clarifications and response of the rural development minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan in this newspaper on December 20 (‘New job law is not a retreat from social protection. It aims to reform’).

A careful reading of the minister’s article and an analysis of his assertions are necessary. The minister says, “The most prominent feature of the Bill is that it gives a legal guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in a year to each rural household.” If this enhanced legal guarantee of 125 days were seen to be a reality, there would not be the kind of uproar we see across the spectrum of those engaged with this law. It would have been widely welcomed.

The minister takes up the contentious claim of getting 125 days of work on demand under the law. He says, “The most common criticism is that VB-G RAM G undermines the demand-driven nature of rural employment. This claim does not withstand a plain reading of........

© Indian Express