New job law is not a retreat from social protection. It aims to reform |
Public debate around welfare reform is both necessary and healthy. Concerns expressed in some quarters over the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) stem from a legitimate apprehension: Any change to a historic employment guarantee could dilute hard-won worker rights. That concern deserves respect. But it also calls for a careful reading of what the Viksit Bharat G RAM G Bill actually provides, rather than assumptions. 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. The Bill also provides for an unemployment allowance in case employment is not provided within 15 days of application, by removing MGNREGA-era disentitlement provisions.
The weakness of India’s rural employment framework lay not in intent, but in structural shortcomings.
VB-G RAM G must be assessed against this reality. Far from weakening entitlements, the proposed framework addresses MGNREGA deficiencies directly. By removing disentitlement provisions that had the effect of denying workers their due, and by strengthening statutory obligations relating to transparency, social audit and grievance redressal, the Bill seeks to restore credibility to the employment guarantee. Enhanced accountability mechanisms and time-bound grievance resolution are not peripheral features; they are central to making the right meaningful on the ground. In this sense, VB-G RAM G does not retreat from social protection. It seeks to convert a frequently frustrated entitlement into a real, enforceable guarantee.
The most common........