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NEW DELHI: Set to consign the Congress-stamped MGNREGA to history, Modi govt will unveil a new law on guaranteed unskilled rural jobs, with a structure that will shift the Centre’s financial burden to states, provide fixed budgets for states instead of the present practice of it being demand-driven, and annually pause the scheme for two months during the agricultural season – in tweaks that will rewrite the concept of job guarantee from what has been known for the last two decades.Titled ‘Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025’, the bill will repeal MGNREGA, and put in place an implementation paraphernalia that is similar to the job scheme even as it diverges on consequential provisions. Also, it hikes the promised employment for a rural household from 100 days under MGNREGA to 125 days.The bill, set to draw protests from the opposition in Parliament, was not tabled Monday even though it was listed in the agenda.As per the proposed Act, the Centre will bear 60% of the cost, while states will bear the remaining 40%. In case of NE states and hill states of Uttarakhand, Himachal and J&K, the fund-sharing between the Centre and state will be 90:10.
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Unlike MGNREGA, demand won’t drive new schemeThis fund-sharing formula is a major departure from MGNREGA, as it constitutes a flat division of costs on the lines of a “centrally sponsored scheme”, without the distinctions of “labour cost” and “material cost” as prevalent under MGNREGA. Under MGNREGA, Centre bears the entire cost of labour budget (wages) and 75% of material cost, besides a big part of administrative expenditure.Moreover, the scheme will no longer be “demand-driven” as under MGNREGA in which budget for states is cleared according to “work plan” and “labour budget” — anticipated work demand — presented to Union rural development ministry by individual states at start of the year. In contrast, in new law, as per Sec 22, Centre will determine annual state-wise “normative allocation” based on parameters to be laid down. The “normative allocation” is defined as allocation of fund being made so far by Centre to state. Any expenditure above the “normative allocation” will be borne by the state.Most importantly, ‘VB-G RAM G’ will not be in operation for two months of a year, which would be notified as “peak agricultural seasons” — 60 days to correspond with sowing & harvesting, and which states will announce in advance. As per Section 6, no work shall be commenced or executed during this period. The govt’s rationale for the 60-day pause is “to facilitate adequate availability of agricultural labour during the said period”. Essentially, the govt has agreed with the claims that MGNREGA is responsible for shortage of agricultural labour during peak seasons.In finer detail of the implementation framework, provisions of proposed bill mirror details of MGNREGA — from fixation of wages to the role of panchayats to setting up of monitoring authorities like “central gramin rozgar guarantee council” and its state counterparts, audit, preparation of village and block development plans. A job-seeker will still be entitled to “unemployment allowance” to be paid by state, if s/he is not provided work within a fortnight of demand. The wages under the new scheme will be similar to the one under MGNREGA.The programme will now be a centrally-sponsored scheme, and every state govt will have to prepare a scheme within six months after the commencement of the Act.
