No guarantee of right to work?

Until 2007, Srilakshmi worked successful jowar fields successful Belagavi’s Athani taluk for ₹40 a time and a ration of 2 kg of grain. Men alongside her earned ₹65 and the aforesaid ration. During thin months erstwhile enactment dried up, she joined nearly 50 others from the taluk migrating over 100 km to Kolhapur successful Maharashtra, wherever they worked for over 60 days, cutting leather into straps and soles and finishing Kolhapuri chappals, earning ₹120 a time with accommodation. 

For Srilakshmi and thousands who migrated for work, adjacent wages, guaranteed employment within 15 days, and compensation for denial was unthinkable. These promises formed the ground of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA). 

Right to work

Hailed with the societal connection of “Har hath ko kaam mile, kaam ka pura daam mile” (every manus should get work, and each idiosyncratic should get the afloat worth of their labour), MGNREGA was introduced successful 2006 to legally warrant the “right to work”, combat chronic poorness and service arsenic a societal information net, with workers saying it gave them thing they were agelong deprived of – bargaining power. 

“It was MGNREGA that first recognised women as workers in their ain right. That was erstwhile galore of america archetypal saw our names connected occupation cards and opened slope and station bureau accounts successful our ain names,” Srilakshmi said.

Proudly narrating the women’s archetypal corporate request for work, Bharathi Santosh, a worker from Raichur, said 120 women had gone to the artifact office in Sindhanur seeking employment. “The serviceman had ne'er seen truthful galore women crook up asking for work,” she said. Two days later, galore were allotted work. “Four hours of enactment and adjacent income. That felt powerful. We felt equal,” she said. 

Women person accounted for implicit 58% of MGNREGA workers for the last five years, arsenic per authoritative data.

End of MGNREGA

After completing 20 years successful February this year, MGNREGA is acceptable to beryllium replaced. Starting July 1, the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), 2025 (VB-G RAM G Act) volition beryllium rolled retired nationwide.

VB-G RAM G has triggered crisp absorption from sections of workers, who reason that it guarantees “unemployment” nether the pretext of a guarantee scheme. Workers argue that the caller Act kills the “soul” of the scheme – by shifting from a “demand-based” entitlement to a “supply-driven” model, wherever funds are nary longer open-ended but capped.

Even earlier the Act is rolled out, the modulation has left workers without work. The Act was earlier announced to travel into effect successful April 2026 and was then postponed to July.

“From March till June, Form 6 were not disposable crossed gram panchayats. We were lone told that caller forms volition travel nether the caller Act, thing beyond that,” said Krishnappa from Raichur. “This is the highest season. The income rhythm revolves astir wages – from buying seeds oregon repaying tiny debts taken to surviving the thin play until the adjacent circular of enactment begins. If that rhythm breaks, determination is nary mode to negociate adjacent basal expenses,” helium said, adding that new worksites were not being opened contempt assurances that MGNREGA would proceed until the caller Act comes into effect.

125 vs 100

The strategy proposes 125 days of work, compared to the 100 days guaranteed nether the MGNREGA. The authorities has invited objections to the draught rules up of rollout. However, workers accidental their lone request is that VB-G RAM G be immediately and unconditionally halted.

Workers and unions specified arsenic the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha said the instrumentality was passed done some Houses of Parliament successful little than a week, and the same continues successful the draught rules process. The rules, released connected May 23, 2026, gave stakeholders until June 21 for feedback, adjacent arsenic rollout is acceptable for July 1. Unions wonderment if these inputs volition beryllium considered astatine each if the determination has already been made.

Power dynamics

Arguing that the changes could reshape wage dynamics across labour markets, Rajendran Narayanan from NREGA Sangharsh Morcha said the MGNREGA created a wage level beneath which backstage employers recovered it harder to propulsion workers.  “If employment nether the strategy is restricted oregon suspended, large numbers of labourers are pushed into the private labour market astatine once, weakening bargaining powerfulness and benefiting large landowners and employers, portion landless labourers and women workers suffer out,” helium said. 

He added that the contented goes beyond workdays, arsenic MGNREGA provided an alternate root of income and the quality to garbage exploitative wages, and reducing it inevitably shifts powerfulness backmost towards employers.

Capped employment

Notably, while the caller Act increases the workdays, it besides caps the full magnitude of enactment that tin beryllium generated. Unlike MGNREGA, wherever enactment expanded with demand, the caller model ties jobs to a fixed yearly “normative” allocation for each State. Once this cardinal headdress is exhausted, additional demand is not met unless States money it, turning an open-ended entitlement into a budget-restricted system. 

Split the bill

The strategy is also structured connected a 60:40 backing model, with States expected to lend 40% of the cost, dissimilar MGNREGA wherever wage payments were afloat funded by the Centre.

Workers reason that akin Centre-State cost-sharing patterns, arsenic seen among ASHA and Anganwadi workers, often pb to delays successful wage payments erstwhile either broadside of backing is disrupted. Even nether MGNREGA, they argue, wage revisions implicit clip did not support gait with inflation.

The backing exemplary has besides drawn disapproval from the Karnataka government, which has argued that States are already nether fiscal accent and cannot enarthrosis the load of contributing 40% of the funds.

The Union authorities connected June 9 released the interim fund for VB-G RAM G. Karnataka has been allocated ₹5,709.9 crore nether the Act. Announcing the release, Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that Karnataka, on with Jharkhand, Telangana and Mizoram, is yet to implicit each procedural formalities. The full allocation for States nether the interim fund stands astatine ₹92,550.17 crore.

Not perfect

Workers’ unions acknowledged that MGNREGA was not perfect, citing delayed money releases, wage payment backlogs and excessive digitisation as recurring post-COVID concerns, and acknowledging that adjacent the ineligible warrant of 100 days was seldom met. While households were entitled to 100 days of work, information shows mean employment per household arsenic adjacent to 45 days.

In 2025-26, the mean wage complaint per idiosyncratic per time was ₹342, up from ₹282.2 successful 2021-22, an summation of lone ₹59 – which workers accidental does not bespeak rising surviving costs.

However, workers similar Chetana from Dharwad argued that if a demand-driven programme backed by a ineligible guarantee, open-ended backing commitments and afloat cardinal enactment struggled to provide 100 days of employment, however tin a scheme built on capped allocations, shared authorities backing and periodic enactment stoppages realistically present 125?

Right nether question

“We are told enactment volition beryllium fixed lone if a request is identified, approved and funded. If determination is nary approved task oregon the fund is exhausted, determination is nary work. That means it is nary longer a guarantee, and the uncertainty decides whether we migrate,” said Mahantesh, a idiosyncratic from Kalaburagi. He added that enactment nether the Act volition be identified by the Union government and if priorities prevarication elsewhere, workers volition person to migrate for work. “How does idiosyncratic sitting successful Delhi cognize what is the request successful Raichur oregon Belagavi oregon anywhere? How is that a right to work?” he contended.

Workers reason that the caller Act is not a replacement for MGNREGA successful immoderate existent sense. “Replacement means thing better, beyond changing name. Something that reflects existent realities and is framed aft consulting the radical it affects,” said another idiosyncratic Mahesh from Grameena Kooli Karmikara Sangha (Grakoos), emphasising that for labourers, power lay in the gram panchayats – the archetypal constituent of entree for immoderate household seeking work.

Viksit Gram Panchayats

“Every December, a gram panchayat meeting would be held wherever we enactment guardant our demands. Work was planned and implemented accordingly,” said Gayathri Anjappa from Hubballi. She added that the gram sabha decided colony works, with “the village’s priorities” guiding planning.

Under VB-G RAM G, however, entree to enactment depends connected cardinal priorities, notified areas and approved schemes done Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans (VGPP).

“When enactment is capped, employment ceases to beryllium a warrant and becomes a scarce assets to beryllium rationed,” Gayathri said, adding that successful specified cases officials are near with two choices – either administer a constricted fig of workdays across a ample fig of households, leaving everyone with lone a fewer days of employment, oregon supply important enactment to a smaller radical portion excluding galore others altogether. “In either case, idiosyncratic is denied work.” 

Pause window

Another proviso drafting disapproval is the 60-day “Seasonal Alignment Window,” nether which State governments tin suspend each VB-G RAM G works for up to 60 days a twelvemonth during highest sowing and harvesting seasons. Workers are expected to instrumentality to the private labour market during this period, and since it is treated arsenic an administrative pause, nary unemployment allowance is payable.

Workers accidental this marks different displacement from MGNREGA, wherever enactment could beryllium demanded passim the year. “Karnataka’s uneven geography makes specified a broad intermission problematic, arsenic drought-prone northbound Karnataka depends acold much heavy connected the strategy than the south, and a azygous shutdown could deed the poorest regions hardest, leaving migration arsenic the lone option,” argued Krishnappa, a idiosyncratic from Koppal. 

The proviso astir pause-window rests connected the presumption that request for enactment falls during monsoon months – a assertion contested by workers. In Karnataka, 34.5 lakh radical demanded enactment betwixt June and August unsocial successful 2025-26. 

Workers similar Krishnappa shared that large farmers babelike connected wage labour have agelong pushed for suspending MGNREGA during highest seasons, since it allows workers to garbage debased wages and mediocre conditions. They pass that a 60-day intermission would propulsion workers backmost into the private labour market precisely erstwhile agricultural labour demand is highest. 

Moreover, by restricting employment during alleged highest cultivation seasons, the strategy rests connected the presumption that workplace enactment is readily available. Women workers contention this, arguing that the cultivation jobs they are expected to instrumentality to person steadily declined implicit the years. 

‘Excessive digitisation’

Excessive digitisation has agelong been flagged arsenic a occupation nether MGNREGA, with workers complaining that the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) utilized for attendance is often affected by mediocre connectivity, server failures and facial designation errors, leaving workers marked absent contempt completing enactment and losing wages.

They accidental a strategy meant to amended transparency has alternatively go a obstruction to wages. Even the Parliamentary Standing Committee study successful April 2025 had adjacent recommended pausing NMMS until glitches were fixed and strengthening offline systems, noting that exertion should alteration entree to work, not artifact it. 

Workers argue the caller Act pushes further successful the aforesaid direction. “Despite repeated complaints, VB-G RAM G relies adjacent much connected integer and biometric systems for attendance, payments and monitoring,” said Raja K., different worker, adding determination is inactive nary clarity from the Centre oregon State connected implementation. “If workers tin suffer wages due to the fact that a photograph fails to upload oregon a server crashes, what happens erstwhile the strategy becomes adjacent much babelike connected technology?” he asked.