New rural job law turns states into ‘supplicants’ of Centre, Warn former bureaucrats

By A Representative 

In an open statement marking the 20th anniversary of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), comprising 88 former civil servants from the All-India and Central Services, has expressed "deep anguish" over the Union government’s decision to repeal the landmark legislation. 

The group, which includes former Foreign Secretaries, Home Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries, argues that the replacement of MGNREGA with the Viksit Bharat - Guarantee For Rozgar And Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-GRAMG) Act represents an assault on Gandhian principles of local governance and a dangerous erosion of India’s federal structure.

The signatories, who maintain no political affiliation, highlighted that MGNREGA was born from a grassroots demand for the constitutional right to work and was passed unanimously by Parliament in 2005. They noted that the law has served as a critical lifeline for millions, particularly women, Dalits, and Adivasis, who constitute the majority of its workforce. Decades of research have confirmed its role in reducing poverty, increasing school enrollment, and providing a safety net during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The group lamented that instead of strengthening this framework, the government subjected the programme to a decade of "slow poisoning" through inadequate funding, wage payment delays, and the imposition of exclusionary technocratic tools like the National Mobile Monitoring System and Aadhaar-based payments.

The CCG’s primary concern with the new VB-GRAMG Act lies in its perceived dismantling of the "demand-driven" nature of rural employment. Under Section 4(5) of the new Act, the Central Government will now determine "normative allocations" for each state based on its own parameters, which the CCG argues turns state governments into "supplicants" of the Union. 

Furthermore, the new law shifts a significant financial burden onto states; whereas the Union previously bore 100% of labor costs, states must now bear at least 40% of total costs and take full responsibility for any expenditure exceeding the central allocation. This shift is described by the former bureaucrats as a violation of Article 258 of the Constitution and a threat to federalism.

The statement also criticized the lack of transparency in the legislative process, noting that the VB-GRAMG Act was passed in both houses of Parliament in just three days without being sent to a Parliamentary Standing Committee. 

The group pointed out several regressive provisions, such as Section 6(2), which shuts down employment for 60 days during peak agricultural seasons—a move they claim will disproportionately hurt landless laborers and reduce the bargaining power of women. They further warned that by centralizing development priorities, the new Act would likely lead to an increase in the role of contractors, which were strictly banned under MGNREGA.

Concluding the statement, the 88 signatories, including prominent figures such as Shivshankar Menon, Aruna Roy, Julio Ribeiro, and G.K. Pillai, asserted that the promise of 125 days of employment under the new Act appears "hollow" given that such an expansion could have been achieved within the existing MGNREGA framework. 

Calling the repeal an abandonment of Ambedkar’s vision of empowering the marginalized through rights, the Constitutional Conduct Group urged the Union government to immediately repeal the VB-GRAMG Act and restore MGNREGA to its full legal status to protect the livelihoods of the rural poor.