The Punjab Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution against the 2025 VB-G RAM G Act, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government of “taking away the right to guaranteed employment” from Dalit labourers, PTI reported.
The House recommended that the state government ask the Union government to immediately restore the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to its original form.
The 2025 Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill replacing the MGNREGA was given assent by the president on December 21, two days after it was passed by Parliament amid protests by Opposition parties.
The MGNREGA was introduced in 2005 by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and aimed at enhancing the livelihood security of households in rural areas. The scheme guaranteed 100 days of unskilled work annually for every rural household that wants it, covering all districts in the country.
Under the new law, the number of guaranteed workdays will increase to 125, while states’ share of costs will rise to 40%. The Union government will continue to bear the wage component, with states sharing material and administrative expenses.
The legislation has drawn criticism from economists and labour rights experts.
On December 27, the Congress also said that it would launch a nationwide protest from January 5 to demand the repeal of the VB-G RAM G Act.
The Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab also called a one-day special session of the Assembly to oppose the VB-G RAM G Act.
On Tuesday, state Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond tabled the resolution against the new Act in the House for discussion, PTI reported.
Sond said that the VB-G RAM G Act would severely impact families below the poverty line, Scheduled Caste communities and rural labourers who depend on MGNREGA to survive. Claiming that the Union government wanted to “finish” MGNREGA, he demanded its restoration.
Describing the replacing of the old Act as a “deliberate and dangerous conspiracy”, the House in the resolution said that the “BJP central government has not only destroyed a government scheme but it has also destroyed the right to survival of the Dalit labourers of the country”.
The resolution said that MGNREGA was the last means of survival for millions of Dalits, adding that the system allowed Dalit labourers to stay in their villages, earn their livelihood, send their children to school and live with dignity.
“Abolishing MGNREGA is not a decision to implement the scheme but a declaration of thought from an anti-Dalit perspective,” PTI quoted the resolution as saying. “…This House clearly states that the policies of the BJP central government are anti-Dalit.”
Just 0.2% of readers pay for news. The others don’t care if it dies. You can help make a difference. Support independent journalism – join Scroll now.
We’re not driven by clicks or corporate interests – just honest, independent reporting. Keep us going. Support Scroll today!