December 17, 2025
Mahua Moitra’s speech on The Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin): VB – G RAM G ( विकवित भारत – जी राम जी) Bill, 2025
Thank you, hon. Chairperson Sir. I stand on behalf of my party, the All India Trinamool Congress, to stridently oppose both, the renaming of the Bill and the replacement of the MGNREGA Act by the VB—G RAM G Bill, 2025.
In 2005, the Union Government enacted the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which revolutionized rural India’s idea of livelihood security. There was a historic consensus among all parties in this very House when they
passed the Bill, and everyone shouted ‘rozgar guarantee zindabad’. This was the history of the original Bill. For the first time in law, the Central Government aimed to provide 100 days of assured employment to one single member of every rural household, as long as there was an adult member willing to sign up for unskilled manual work. As long as you wanted it, it was available. It was demand-driven. Women were guaranteed, at least, one half of the jobs made available. The NREGA Scheme was aimed at creating durable infrastructure like wells, ponds, roads, etc. Employment was to be provided within five kilometers of an applicant’s residence so as to prevent large-scale rural-to-urban migration. Minimum wage was to apply. Every State was notified with a minimum wage. On October 2, 2009, Gandhi Jayanti, in keeping with the vision of the ‘Father of the Nation’, vision of rural self-reliance in India, the name was changed to the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarante e Act. That is the history of this. Now, suddenly, 16 years later, with no consultation with anybody – the Government did not consult the opposition; the Government did not consult civil society; the Government did not consult any stakeholders – the Government has introduced a Bill to repeal the MGNREGA. This is not an amendment. The Government is replacing it with something called VB—G RAM G Bill. It was Bengal’s great son, Rabindranath Tagore, who popularized the name ‘Mahatma’, meaning ‘the great soul’, for Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Some historians said tha tother people before Gurudev had called him the Mahatma. But, it is ironic that from the Prime Minister’s home State, the
Gujarat High Court’s Justice Pardiwala, when he was there, declared in February 2016, once and for all, that it was Rabindranath Tagore who gave the title of Mahatma to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and that all school textbooks should give the credit of naming him the Mahatma to Tagore. What have this Government done today? They have changed the name. They are dishonouring both the Mahatma and Gurudev. Is it any wonder that Bengal and
Bengalis call them Bangla birodi? Does this Government think it has been very smart by putting the name Ram, by putting the acronym R.A.M. in the name of the Bill? What did Gandhiji say? I am quoting Gandhiji. He said: “BY
RAMARAJYA I do not mean Hindu Raj. I mean by Ramarajya Divine Raj, the Kingdom of God.” Ram Rajya ensures equal rights to a prince and a pauper. It is sovereignty of the people based on moral authority. By changing the name
and repealing the Act, you have destroyed Gandhiji’s idea of Ram Rajya, both in letter and in spirit. Now, before the suspension of the fund releases in March 2022, West Bengal was among the top performers of MGNREGA nationwide. Approximately 2.6 crore job cardholders across 1.4 crore rural households were in Bengal. Since March 2022, the Union Government has not released one single paisa to West Bengal. As of today, the Centre has outstanding MGNREGA dues of Rs. 52,000 crore – Rs. 7,000 crore in unpaid wages and Rs. 45,000 crore in unpaid material and pending liabilities. We, as Members of the Trinamool Congress, representing the people of Bengal, have taken to the streets for our rightful dues. We have sat on dharna. Our hon. Chief Minister has written innumerable times. We have complied with over 150 action taken reports. When we went to meet with the hon. Minister, we, despite being MPs, were dragged like animals by the Delhi Police. We were thrown into prison vans and we were taken to a godforsaken Thana on the outskirts of Delhi. This is what we got. I have got the Bill in front of me. I am looking at page 1. Now, if you look at the Objects and Reasons of the Bill, it says ‘to provide an enhanced statutory wage-employment guarantee of 125 days in every financial year to every rural household’. But, actually, there is not one single element of the legal right to work retained in the Bill, which was there in the original Bill. That was a legal right. The original MGNREGA provided some fundamental guarantees. The first was that it was funded by the Central Government. The wage bill was met 100 per cent by the Central Government. The second was that it was a
demand-driven employment program as my hon. colleague Shri Naresh ji from SP said. He said ‘when people wanted to work, it was demand-driven. It was bottom-up’. The third guarantee was of 100 days of work across rural India, no
matter where you were. There was no notified area, no this and no that. You wanted to work, you lived in rural India, you filled up a form and you were entitled to it. That was the right. I am looking at the Bill. This Government used the word ‘guarantee’ 92 times in this Bill. But I am going to go through just four provisions of the Bill which demonstrate that the new G RAM G Bill provides no guarantees at all. Forget about 92, it provides not even one guarantee. First, I am looking at page 4, Chapter 2, Section 4(5) of the proposed Bill. What does it say? 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, which was a demand-driven employment program, has been now replaced by an allocationbased scheme which the Central Government can alter at whim. If the Central Government thinks they want to alter the quantum of allocation, it can. This takes us back; this is retrograde. It takes us back to the pre-MGNREGA days when we had the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and employment assurance schemes, which basically used to give the people of India only about 10 days of employment. That is what you are taking us back to. The second provision, which I am looking at on page 4, Chapter 2, Section 5(1) of the Bill, is deadly. It completely destroys the idea of a universal legal entitlement across rural India. What does it say? It says ‘save as
otherwise provided, the State Government shall in such rural areas, as may be notified by the Central Government’. The Centre is saying that the scheme will run only in those areas which have been notified by the Central Government. The State Government has to provide for 125 days of work, but the Centre is going to prescribe the norms. This is brilliant, this is great. Now, these ‘125 days’, that they are saying, is all eyewash. In the last five years, what has been the reality? Due to squeezed allocations, MGNREGA has not been able to meet demand for work. Average in India has been between 50 and 55 days of work. In Bengal in the last five years, no matter what the demand was, you could not give even one day of work because you stopped the program. The third provision is Section 4(6) at page 4, Chapter 2. What does this provision state? It states ‘any expenditure incurred by a State in excess of its normative allocation shall be borne by the State Government’. Suppose, any State Government has more demand, its people want more work, and it gives them more work, the State Government is on the hook for the bill. The Central Government is not going to go beyond the allocation. That is exactly what my colleague pointed out. The fourth provision is the deadliest. This is the death knell for the MGNREGA scheme. This provision is the reason for which the MGNREGA is not going to go forward. Let us look at page 11, Chapter 5, Section 22(2). This provision says that for the purposes of this Act, the fund sharing pattern between the Central Government and the State Government shall be 60:40. In the North-Eastern States and Union Territories, it shall be 90:10. Now, under Section 22 of the old MGNREGA, 100 per cent of the wages were provided by the Central Government and in terms of materials and administration, the ratio was 75:25 between the Central Government and the State Government. Now, let me give a very small example so that you understand what this means. Let me illustrate the funding comparison. Let us take the example of any State. The total MGNREGA expenditure per annum is Rs. 10,000 crores. Out of that, say ‘wages’ is Rs. 7,000 crores and ‘materials’ is Rs. 3,000 crores. Under the old MGNREG Act, the Central Government bears 100 per cent of the Rs. 7000 crore as wage costs, and out of Rs. 3,000 crore against the material costs, the Central Government bears 75 per cent, which is Rs. 2,250 crore, and the State Government bears Rs. 750 crore. So, what was the situation? The Central Government’s total bill is Rs. 9,250 crore, and the State Government pays Rs. 750 crore. This was under the old MGNREGA. What is it like under the new VB-GRAM G Bill? Let us take the example of the same expenditure of Rs. 10,000 crore. Sir, I have got 12 minutes. I am the first speaker. Please do not ring the bell. Under the new situation, what is happening? For the same expenditure of Rs. 10,000 crore, it is 60-40 share of the total bill. The Centre has to bear Rs. 6,000 crore and the State Government has to bear Rs. 4,000 crore. In the old MGNREGA, the State Government for the same expenditure was only liable for Rs. 750 crore, but now the State Government is liable for Rs. 4,000 crore. So, the State’s share has gone up by Rs. 3,250 crore, which is 430 per cent higher. Now, the State Government has to give additional Rs. 3,250 crore. What does it mean for the States? This means the loss of wage protection because you are on the hook for the wage bill. There is a budget cap risk. If there is expenditure beyond the allocation, the States have to bear it. Sir, please let me finish. The unemployment allowance will continue. There is a structural shift, where you are moving to a ‘fiscally devolved model’. Sir, let me finish. Sir, you have increased the time to 10 hours. MGNREGA was a people’s law, the popular slogan was “हर हार् को काम दो, काम का पूरा दाम दो”. What is happening today? The Calcutta High Court has directed the Union Government to resume MGNREGA in West Bengal as of 1st August. Not only did you not do it, you went to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court dismissed your petition saying the Calcutta High Court’s order stands. Even till today, the legal position is clear but you have not increased it. I will request the hon. Minister, who is present here, to give a very clear indication to the State of West Bengal and to all of us sitting here on how you propose to clear the rightful dues of Rs. 7,000 crore of unpaid wages and Rs. 45,000 crore of our projected liabilities. This is our legal entitlement. We are not begging for it. You are in contempt of both the court of law and the court of the people. “ना ककसी का सार्, ना ककसी का कवोकास, ना रहीम का ना राम का” is the truth of this Bill.
