Activists warn of gendered impact of VB-GRAMG Act, seek return to MGNREGA framework

By A Representative 

The All-India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA), along with the Agrarian Alliance and Workers’ Forum of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), has written to President Droupadi Murmu urging her to call upon Parliament to repeal the newly enacted Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (VB-GRAMG Act) and restore and strengthen the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

In a detailed appeal dated February 19, the alliance expressed “grave concerns” over the repeal of the two-decade-old rural employment law and its replacement with the VB-GRAMG Act, which received Presidential assent approximately two months ago. The signatories contend that the new legislation dismantles the justiciable right to employment that had formed the foundation of MGNREGA since its enactment in 2005.

According to ALIFA and NAPM, the shift from a rights-based framework to what they describe as a discretionary scheme will have a disproportionate impact on rural women workers, particularly those from Adivasi, Dalit and Bahujan communities. The letter notes that large numbers of workers, especially women, have been protesting against the new Act across several states.

The groups argue that MGNREGA’s design — including its legally enforceable right to work, demand-driven access, decentralised planning through Gram Sabhas, equal wages for men and women, proximity of worksites to habitations, and childcare provisions — contributed to steadily rising participation of women over the years. In a context where women’s labour force participation in India has remained low, they state, MGNREGA provided a rare avenue for paid work compatible with care responsibilities and local social constraints.

The appeal highlights that 70–80 per cent of rural women workers are engaged in agricultural and allied labour, much of it informal or unpaid. Within this setting, MGNREGA functioned as a supplementary and relatively secure source of income. The signatories argue that replacing the justiciable right with discretionary provisioning under the VB-GRAMG Act weakens women’s ability to demand employment without mediation by contractors or local political actors.

Among the provisions criticised are the centralisation of work allocation, which may require workers to travel to notified sites rather than accessing work close to home; the seasonal withdrawal of work during agricultural periods; and capped or discretionary demand. The alliance contends that these changes risk excluding women who face mobility constraints, care burdens, or social discrimination.

The letter also raises concerns over the weakening of Gram Panchayats and Gram Sabhas in planning and decision-making. It argues that these local institutions, which have statutory representation for women, had enabled collective articulation of work priorities and access. Centralised allocation, the groups state, recentralises authority and reduces participatory oversight.

ALIFA and NAPM further criticise the growing reliance on biometric authentication and centralised digital systems, asserting that such technocratic controls have led to exclusions under MGNREGA in recent years. They state that elderly women, women with disabilities, Dalit and Adivasi women, single women, and gender-diverse persons are disproportionately affected by authentication failures and connectivity gaps, sometimes resulting in delayed or denied wages.

On fiscal issues, the letter questions the proposed 60:40 Centre–State funding ratio under the new framework, arguing that poorer states may struggle to provide adequate employment. While the VB-GRAMG Act promises 125 days of work annually, the alliance notes that even under MGNREGA, workers reportedly received only 36–44 days of employment in the past two years, despite a statutory guarantee of 100 days. Without assured funding and periodic wage revisions, the signatories contend, the expanded promise may remain unfulfilled.

Citing approximately 26 crore workers registered under MGNREGA, the appeal describes the legislative change as a nationwide restructuring of rural livelihood security with significant gendered consequences. It frames the issue as not only social and economic but constitutional, asserting that shifting from a legal guarantee to a discretionary scheme undermines principles of equality, dignity of labour and social justice.

The alliance has urged the President to call upon Parliament to pass legislation repealing the VB-GRAMG Act with immediate effect and to hold its operationalisation in abeyance pending such repeal. It has also sought a transparent and consultative process to restore and strengthen MGNREGA, including enhanced budgetary allocations and reforms to address implementation challenges.

The appeal has been signed by activists, researchers and representatives of social movements across multiple states, including Aarthi Pai, Albertina Almeida, Arundhati Dhuru, Anita Cheria, J. Devika, Medha Patkar, Meera Sanghamitra, Kiran Vissa, Rukmini Rao, Soumya Dutta, Svati Shah and others.

Describing MGNREGA as “a vital guarantee of dignity, autonomy and survival” for millions of rural women, the signatories state that scrapping it constitutes a regression in India’s commitment to gender justice and democratic governance, and have called for intervention from the President’s office in the interest of rural workers across the country.