MGNREGA Vs VB-G RAM G.....

 The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), enacted in 2005 under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, was a landmark social welfare legislation, hailed as the largest work guarantee programme in human history. Its unprecedented nature stemmed from its establishment of the 'right to work' as a legal entitlement for rural households, fundamentally shifting the approach to poverty alleviation from discretionary government schemes to a rights-based, demand-driven framework. This provided a crucial social safety net in a country where a significant majority of the poor resided in rural areas and often lacked formal skills for stable employment.

The Unprecedented Nature of MGNREGA Under UPA

MGNREGA was unprecedented due to several innovative design features:

Legal Guarantee: Unlike previous employment programmes which were allocation-based and discretionary, MGNREGA legally mandated 100 days of unskilled manual work per financial year for every rural household that demanded it. If work was not provided within 15 days of application, the applicant was entitled to an unemployment allowance, a liability borne by the states, creating an incentive for efficient implementation.

Demand-Driven and Self-Targeting: The programme was triggered by the demand for work by wage-seekers, ensuring that benefits reached those who needed them most without complex targeting mechanisms that often led to exclusion errors.

Decentralized Planning and Implementation: The Act gave a significant role to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in planning, executing, and monitoring works, with at least 50% of the works assigned to Gram Panchayats. This bottom-up approach aimed to align projects with local needs and priorities, such as water conservation and rural infrastructure.

Transparency and Accountability: The Act incorporated robust accountability measures, including mandatory social audits by Gram Sabhas, proactive public disclosure of records, and electronic fund transfers, which aimed to reduce corruption.

Social and Financial Inclusion: It ensured equal wages for men and women and mandated that at least one-third of the beneficiaries were women, contributing to women's empowerment and financial independence. It also had high participation rates from Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).

The Challenge of Skill Shortages and UPA's Initiatives

While MGNREGA provided immediate income support and a crucial safety net, it primarily focused on unskilled manual labour. The underlying challenge was the majority of the rural workforce lacking formal, marketable skills to transition to higher-productivity, full-time employment.

The UPA government (and subsequent governments) recognized this gap. The foundational credit for initiatives to address this challenge goes to schemes like the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), a placement-linked skill training program for rural youth, and the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). These programs, aimed at skill development and entrepreneurship, were designed to work in synergy with the employment guarantee, enabling a pathway from basic manual work to more skilled livelihoods. Project LIFE-MGNREGA was later formulated to formally link MGNREGA workers who had completed 100 days of work to these skilling programs.

The BJP Government's Approach: An Updated Version?

The current government under the BJP has recently repealed the original MGNREGA Act and introduced the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025. The government frames this as a modernised, outcomes-focused, and corruption-free upgrade to align rural employment with the long-term vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.

Key changes and data under the new framework include:

Increased Guarantee (Cosmetic?): The guaranteed employment has been increased from 100 to 125 days per rural household. Critics, however, argue this is a "red herring" as the national average days of work provided under the old scheme rarely crossed 50 days, and only about 7% of households completed 100 days of work in FY 2023-24.

Shift in Funding Pattern: The original 100% central government funding for unskilled labour costs has been replaced with a 60:40 fund-sharing model between the Centre and most states (90:10 for North-Eastern and Himalayan states). This potentially increases the financial burden on states and could impact implementation in poorer regions.

Centralized Control and Discretion: The new Act introduces "normative financial allocations" decided by the Central Government, moving away from the purely demand-driven, open-ended entitlement of the original act. It also allows the central government to notify specific rural areas for implementation and includes a 60-day "no-work period" during peak agricultural seasons to ensure labour availability for farming, which critics argue undermines the workers' bargaining power.

Focus on Skill Development: The updated approach strongly emphasizes skill development through integration with existing programs like DDU-GKY and RSETI (Rural Self Employment Training Institute), aiming to help workers transition to full-time employment. However, previous skilling projects under MGNREGA (like Project UNNATI) have struggled to meet targets due to implementation challenges.

Recent Data: The person-days generated increased to 309.2 crore in FY 2023-24 (up from 265.4 crore in FY 2019-20). Women's participation has increased to over 58%. The share of individual beneficiary works has also risen significantly to over 73%, aligning with the asset creation focus.

MGNREGA under the UPA was revolutionary because it gave employment generation the unprecedented status of a legal right, providing a critical social protection floor for millions of rural poor and empowering local governance. The ongoing challenge of a lack of skills in the rural workforce has been a persistent issue, and the credit for establishing national-level skill development programs to address this largely goes to the UPA's initiatives and subsequent integration efforts. The BJP government's replacement with the VB-G RAM G Act aims to modernize the approach by increasing the guarantee to 125 days and integrating employment with planned infrastructure development and skill training. However, the changes in the funding structure and the shift from a pure demand-driven legal entitlement to a system with central control and "normative allocations" have drawn sharp criticism. Critics argue that these modifications dilute the very rights-based foundation that made the original MGNREGA a global exemplar of poverty alleviation, potentially turning a legal right into a discretionary welfare scheme and placing a greater financial burden on state governments. The actual impact of the new legislation will depend on its implementation and whether it can genuinely empower rural workers with both immediate income security and long-term skill-based livelihoods.