US EditionInsult to Mahatma Gandhi: Opposition Attacks Centre over New Rural Jobs Law
Opposition claims renaming MGNREGA dismantles rights-based guarantees and shifts financial burden to states, with the new bill codifying technology that may limit entitlements for lakhs of rural workers.
- On December 15, 2025, the Centre listed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Bill, 2025 in the Lok Sabha supplementary list of business to repeal MGNREGA and create a new framework.
- Opposition leaders argued the renaming reflects an ideological intent, with Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress president, calling it a BJP‑RSS conspiracy to dismantle MGNREGA.
- The draft bill outlines specific legal and funding shifts, promising 125 days of unskilled work annually while imposing 90:10 and 60:40 cost‑sharing ratios and state liabilities.
- The Opposition responded by pledging parliamentary and street resistance, demanding Standing Committees review, and warning the bill 'attacks the soul' of rights-based guarantees, worsening rural distress.
- High‑profile objections highlighted the symbolic stakes of the renaming, with Shashi Tharoor and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra questioning the removal of Mahatma Gandhi's name and noting practical renaming costs.
21 Articles
21 Articles
Key BJP ally concerned over G RAM G jobs scheme. And it's not about the name
The VB-G RAM G Bill proposes to replace the existing MGNREGA. It has created an uproar in the Opposition benches over the dropping of Mahatma Gandhi's name from India's flagship rural employment scheme. However, the Bill has also faced concerns from a key BJP ally, the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP. It warned that the changes could strain state finances.
‘A bill to destroy MGNREGA’: Why experts fear the worst from new job guarantee bill
Thirty-five-year-old Haroli Shekhar lives in a village in Raichur, one of Karnataka’s poorest districts.Every day, seven members of his large family of landless labourers go out seeking work. Sometimes, they labour at construction sites, but most of the time they end up finding work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.The landmark law was enacted by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in 2005. It …
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said about MNREGA that Mahatma Gandhi had a clear vision for the welfare of the rural poor. He combined the ideas of Ramrajya and Gram Swaraj. It was a good name and has been known as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in various Indian languages for the past twenty years. Therefore, a name change is not necessary, and it has even been debated in Parliament, where the government has called th…
Congress slams govt over bill replacing MGNREGA; Tharoor objects to removing Gandhi’s name
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the concept of Gram Swaraj and the ideal of Ram Rajya were never competing forces but they were the twin pillars of Gandhi's consciousness, and replacing the Mahatma's name in a scheme for the rural poor ignores this profound symbiosis.
'Let us not dishonour his legacy...’: Tharoor, Priyanka Gandhi slams govt over renaming MGNREGA
Even as the Congress slammed the Centre over the move to change the name of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), their party leader Shashi Tharoor called the controversy “unfortunate". Congress sources reacted strongly to it, saying the leader should make his position clear. Tharoor, in a post on X, wrote, “The controversy over renaming MGNREGA in the Govt’s proposed new G-RAM-G Bill is unfortunate. The concept of Gr…
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