Death knell for MGNREGA: Lok Sabha debates new rural jobs Bill amid Opposition fire
Speaker Om Birla said while the debate will continue late into the night on Wednesday, the Minister for Agriculture, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, will reply on Thursday when the Bill comes up for passage
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The Lok Sabha has started debating the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill (VB-G RAM G) on Wednesday evening with the treasury benches mounting a strong defence of the proposed legislation, even as the Opposition termed it a death knell for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Almost all Opposition MPs lamented the deletion of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the title of the proposed Bill.
At the outset, Speaker Om Birla said while the debate will continue late into the night on Wednesday, the Minister for Agriculture, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, will reply on Thursday when the Bill comes up for passage.
financial liabilities
Initiating the debate, Congress MP from Haryana Jai Prakash said the proposed law will create fresh financial liabilities for the States and deprive grassroots-level bodies such as the gram sabhas of their rights to decide on the work to be undertaken under the draft law.
Naresh Chandra Uttam Patel of Samajwadi Party asked how people living in areas that do not have Internet connectivity will satisfy the biometrics requirements in the proposed Bill. He also questioned the mandatory suspension of work during peak agriculture season. Section 6(1–4) of the proposed Bill mandates that no work shall be undertaken for up to 60 days during peak sowing and harvesting seasons, as notified by State governments. Under MGNREGA, work could be demanded year-round; this creates a statutory blackout period, directly curtailing the right to demand work.
“You have stopped work during sowing and harvesting season. The real need for MGNREGA happens during the distress period. What happens when there is drought?” he asked.
Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress said the provision of 60:40 basis of Centre-State expenditure-sharing would prove to be the death knell of the scheme. “In an expenditure of ₹10,000 crore, the distribution of 60:40 Centre-State spending would be ₹6,000 crore and ₹4,000 crore. So, effectively the State share has gone up by 430 per cent, said Moitra.
She pointed out that before the suspension of fund releases in 2022, West Bengal was among the top performers of MGNREGA nationwide.
“Approximately 2.6 crore job card holders across 1.4 crore rural households were in Bengal. Since March 2022, the government has not released one single paisa to West Bengal. As of today the Centre has outstanding MGNREGA dues of ₹52,000 crore,” said Moitra.
Rajkumar Chahar of the BJP asked why the Opposition was so opposed to the proposed Bill when it was extending work days to 125
Published on December 17, 2025
