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The journey from MGNREGA to VB–G RAM G Act: Gandhi would have had no remorse
New Delhi: The Indian public is witnessing an unusual political moment, with the opposition Congress threatening to launch an agitation over the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from a rural employment guarantee scheme of MGNREGA. However, both the political class and sections of the intelligentsia have largely refrained from undertaking an objective assessment of the scheme’s performance and structural limitations. This analysis seeks to offer a comprehensive, 360-degree examination of the rural employment guarantee programme, critically evaluating its outcomes while assessing the challenges confronting the newly introduced scheme under VB–G RAM G Act.
The principal opposition, the Congress, along with a large section of the intelligentsia, reacted sharply to the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the rural employment guarantee programme. The NDA government at the Centre has introduced the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB–G RAM G Act), replacing the two-decade-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) rolled out in 2005 and expanded nationwide by 2008. The Congress party has threatened to launch a nation-wide agitation against the Centre’s decision.
A Snapshot of History
It is not that India lacked livelihood-support programmes prior to 2005. Democratically elected governments at the Centre had experimented with several initiatives aimed at alleviating rural poverty. The Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana, launched in 2001, is a case in point. However, unlike its predecessors—which were implemented through executive orders—MGNREGA was enacted through Parliament, thereby acquiring a statutory status. More than merely an employment-generation programme, MGNREGA was designed to ensure minimum livelihood security for rural households. Since it was anchored through a legislation, the scheme could not be withdrawn through executive action by the present government and therefore required replacement through a new Act of Parliament, which........
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