Congress Slams New Rural Job Scheme, Calls It 'Saddest Day' for Workers

The Congress party on Tuesday strongly criticised the central government after wage rates under the new Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act, 2025, were notified. The party claims the law effectively repeals the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), replacing a demand-driven legal entitlement with a centrally controlled, allocation-based programme.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Congress Lok Sabha MP Saptagiri Ulaka, who chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, said the new framework dismantles the statutory guarantee of work available to rural households. He argued that employment is now contingent on pre-approved budgetary allocations rather than actual demand. “Today is the saddest day for the country,” Ulaka said.

Ulaka explained that under MGNREGA, any registered rural household could demand work, and the administration was legally obligated to provide employment within a stipulated time or pay an unemployment allowance. Funding followed certified demand, making the scheme rights-based. He said VB-G RAM G fundamentally changes this by shifting to a supply-based model where employment depends on advance budget allocations, approved labour budgets, centrally determined ceilings, state contributions and administrative capacity.

He also criticised the proposed funding pattern, under which the Centre’s share in most cases has been reduced to 60%, with states required to contribute 40% of programme expenditure. Ulaka demanded the withdrawal of this funding structure, restoration of the Centre’s responsibility for guaranteeing employment, protection of job cards from arbitrary deletion, and removal of administrative barriers to employment.

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh noted that, aside from the legal changes, the notified wages are low — largely at Rs 300 per day. He recalled that during the 2024 Lok Sabha campaign, the Congress had promised a Rs 400 national daily minimum wage for all workers, including MGNREGA. He also pointed out that an expert committee headed by Dr Anoop Satpathy, set up by the Modi government, had recommended a national minimum wage floor of Rs 375 per day in 2019.

Ramesh described the notification as a “snub to India’s workers and an unwise economic policy,” especially given widespread minimum wage protests in industrial hubs like Noida and the recognised stagnation of rural wages.