New job guarantee plan to be supply driven

New job guarantee plan to be supply driven

Allocations will be capped and be determined by the govt. based on ‘parameters’ not yet specified

The new Bill gives Centre greater control over where and how the scheme is implemented

Bill allows pausing of scheme during peak season to ‘facilitate availability of labour’

The Union government is set to introduce the Viksit Bharat — Guarantee For Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005 in the Lok Sabha. The move will mark a shift from a “demand-driven framework” to a “supply-driven scheme”.

Under the new system, allocations will be capped within a fixed budget determined by the Union government based on “parameters” not yet specified. Employment will be provided only in rural areas notified by the Centre.

While the VB-G RAM G Bill increases the number of guaranteed workdays from 100 to 125, it significantly raises the financial burden on States from the current 10% share to 40% of total expenditure. The government circulated the Bill among MPs on Monday, framing it as legislation to “establish a rural development framework aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat @2047”.

Under the MGNREGA, the Centre was responsible for 100% of the labour wages and 75% of the material wages.

In practice, this translated to a 90:10 cost share between the Centre and the States. However, Section 22(2) of the Bill says “the fund-sharing pattern between the Union government and the State governments shall be 90:10 for the north-eastern States, Himalayan States/Union Territories (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir), and 60:40 for all other States and Union Territories with legislature”.

While this increases the financial burden on States, the new Bill gives the Centre greater control over where and how the scheme will be implemented. Section 4(5) says: “The Central government shall determine the State-wise normative allocation for each financial year, based on objective parameters as may be prescribed by the Central government.” The MGNREGA was demand-based and allowed flexibility to increase the budget based on need.

The Centre will not only set the budget for each State but also decide where it will be spent. Section 5(1) empowers the Union government to “notify rural areas in a State” where the scheme will be implemented.

The new Bill allows for pausing the programme during peak agricultural seasons to “facilitate availability of labour”. Technological interventions introduced under the MGNREGA — such as mobile app-based attendance, Aadhaar-based payment systems, and geotagging of worksites — are now codified into law.

In its Statement of Objects and Reasons, the government argues that the MGNREGA needs to be replaced in view of the “significant socio-economic transformation” in rural India.

‘End of right to work’

Nikhil Dey, a founder member of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan and one of the architects of the MGNREGA, criticised the move, calling it a retreat from the rights-based framework enjoyed for two decades. “The new legislation takes the country back to allocation-based schemes where the Centre plays a bigger role and the beneficiary has little say. It also places impractical financial burden on the States,” Mr. Dey said.