The new (VB- G RAM G) bill guarantees the 125 work days, but also aims to halt 60 days of work during harvesting season.
Normative funding structure under the new bill puts a disproportionate fiscal burden on the states while the union government holds absolute power.
The bill is being debated in Loksabha on December 17, opposition MPs opposed the bill with various arguments from denial of right to work to attack on the federal structure of India.
Across rural India, MGNREGA workers such as Sunainadevi and Mandeshwaridevi are furious and planning to mobilise against the proposed VB–G RAM G Bill, determined to protest from village streets to Parliament. MGNREGA workers staged a protest in Jharkhand's Palamu district, on December 17; opposing this bill which challenges the life and labour they have known so far; since the inception of MNREGA.
The legislation, introduced in the Lok Sabha as the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), proposes to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), one of India’s most significant social security laws.
While most workers cannot afford to lose a day’s wage to read the English text of the Bill, they are acutely aware that both the name and the structure of MGNREGA are set to change under the proposed law.
Opposition MPs, trade union leaders, rights activists and economists including Jean Dreze have strongly criticised the move, describing it as a deliberate attempt to weaken constitutionally grounded rights to work, dignity and universal legal entitlement for the rural poor.
The government, with the ‘revamped’ bill, promises 125 days of guaranteed employment. Workers, however, point to a reality marked by scarcity. Even under the existing law, many say they are unable to secure more than 40 to 50 days of work, wages have failed to keep pace with inflation, and payments are routinely delayed by weeks or months. They demand improvement in the implementation of the current MNREGA instead of repealing it.
“Naam badalne se kya hoga? 50 din bhi Kam hi nahi milta or mazdoori 255 rupaye se jyada badhi nahi. (What difference will changing the name make? We don’t even get 50 days of work, and wages haven’t increased beyond Rs 255.)” says Sunainadevi, 33, MGNREGA worker from Gayghat block in Muzaffarpur.
Mandeshwari Devi, MGNREGA worker from Manihari in Bihar, is in her fifties and has worked under the scheme for over 14 years. Recently, she helped organise a sit-in protest with members of ‘MNREGA Watch Bihar’ to demand the release of long-pending wages. She speaks of mounting distress in her village, where women have been waiting months for payment.
Devi, a landless worker, tells Outlook in Hindi, ‘Women buy groceries on credit from shops because of the long due wages. We barely get 40 days of work, there are many problems with e-KYC, and instead of fixing these issues, the name is being changed. What benefit does changing the name bring to the poor?’
What the VB-G RAM G Bill proposes
Introducing the Bill in the Lok Sabha, Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said it would expand rural employment by increasing the guarantee from 100 to 125 days and allocating more than Rs 95,000 crore to the programme.
Yet the proposed funding architecture has triggered widespread concern. Under MGNREGA, wage costs were 100 % borne by the Union government. The new Bill shifts 40 % of this burden to the states, with the Centre contributing 60 %. Union Territories and north eastern states will contribute 10 %, with the remaining 90 % funded by the Centre.
“But the proposed funding structure is much worse than this, ‘beyond the state wise normative allocations decided by the center’, states will have to pay 100 %,” says Jean Dreze, development economist and one of the principal architects of MGNREGA.
The Bill further empowers the Union government to release additional funds beyond the proposed allocation based on an ‘objective assessment’. This effectively centralises control over employment allocation and weakens India’s federal structure; Opposition MPs including Mahua Moitra, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and many argued during the debate on December 17 in Loksabha.
Another contentious provision mandates a 60-day suspension of employment during the harvesting season. While the government claims this supports agricultural economy, labour activists have denounced it as hostile to workers. Nikhil Dey of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan has described it as pro agri business and anti-worker in a media interview.
VB-G-RAM-G Bill Neglects Lived Realities : Workers
Sunainadevi last received MGNREGA work in June 2025, amounting to three weeks of employment. Wages for two weeks were paid; the third remains unpaid despite repeated written complaints to block officials. Protests and formal applications, she says, have proved futile.
When workers approach block development or programme officers, they are routinely turned away.
“Paisa upar se hi nahi aaya - na delhi se, na patna se, toh ham kaha se denge…aisa bolke vapas bhejte hai aphsar log. (Officers send us back saying the money hasn’t come from above—not from Delhi, not from Patna—so how are we supposed to pay you?” says Mandeshwari Devi.
Workers Outlook interviewed including Sunainadevi and Maheshwaridevi demanded increased wage of minimum Rs 600 per day, timely payment and improvement in current structure instead of new law. "None of the workers representative among us was consulted before proposing a the new bill" said Maheshwaridevi, many echoed the same.
Why MGNREGA Matters
For Sanjay Sahani, 42, MGNREGA was not merely a welfare scheme but a lifeline. After migrating to Delhi over two decades ago and working as an electrician, he learned of the employment scheme during a visit to his village in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Accessing it, however, required months of persistence.
After sustained efforts- including researching MNREGA on google and contacting Nikhil Dey of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Sahani secured MGNREGA work in 2011 and later returned permanently to his village.
He began helping fellow villagers navigate the system, first assisting a few dozen workers, then hundreds, and eventually thousands. Over nearly 15 years, he helped connect around 20,000 workers and founded MGNREGA Watch Bihar, a union that has consistently advocated for MNREGA along with efforts for betterment of it.
“There are certain flaws in the implementation of NREGA. The compulsory e-KYC, digital attendance, and delays in payments have created serious issues for workers. However, before digitisation, this employment scheme was functioning fairly well.” says Sahani.
While he does not see the renaming of the Act as the central issue, Sahani strongly defends MGNREGA’s legal architecture which is a universal, demand-driven guarantee of 100 days of work backed by the right to legal remedy.
“Even today, we demand the implementation of this scheme under the MGNREGA Act—which grants us the dignified right to work—should be improved from the bottom up. But the law should not be changed to snatch away the rights of the poor. The poor, who are already on the streets, should not now be pushed into hunger,” Sahani told Outlook in a phone interview.
Having worked under the scheme since wages stood at Rs 144 per day, Sahani also questioned why daily wages in Bihar remain capped at Rs 255.
He emphasised that MGNREGA has been especially critical for women in states such as Bihar, who are often unable to migrate for work.
Jean Dreze, Jayati Ghosh and many activists also held a press conference in Delhi on December 17 asserting why the new bill has to be withdrawn.
“The VB G-RAM-G bill is set to destroy MGNREGA in the guise of revamping. The central government retains power to decide where and when the new scheme comes into force, making mockery of the legal guarantee. Under the new scheme, the central government has most of the powers without accountability while states bear most of the burden.” Dreze told Outlook.
