New scheme dismantles legal job guarantee for rural poor: Sachin Pilot

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Senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Monday opposed the name change of the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act), and said the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G Ram G) dismantled the job scheme’s core promise of a legal job guarantee that gave rural workers, women, and the unemployed dignity and protection.

The MGNREGA, which was enacted during the UPA regime in 2005, was renamed as VB-G Ram G, and President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Bill on December 21, 2025.

The new Act brings structural changes to the rural job scheme while increasing the number of guaranteed days of work from 100 to 125 days. 

Speaking at a press conference at the party office here, Mr. Pilot said the new Act would disempower the gram panchayats and curtail the constitutionally guaranteed right to a job of the rural people. During the COVID-19 crisis, it acted as a critical livelihood lifeline, preventing millions from slipping into hunger and debt. 

Mr. Pilot pointed out that the UPA government’s rural jobs programme was named after Mahatma Gandhi, and it mandated 100 days of employment to the poor constitutionally, and sought to know why it was renamed by the BJP-led dispensation.

“What was the need to change it (scheme name)?. People will not like this,” the former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister said. Under the new Act, the Centre decides which areas are rural areas and provides jobs to rural people based on the availability of funds. “Now it’s a mere scheme and not a constitutionally right-based scheme,” the Congress leader said.

Noting that all civil society groups had condemned the new Act, he said instead of strengthening it, the Union government weakened it by reducing funding to the State under the scheme.

The NDA government led by the BJP does not want people to remember the good work done by Congress governments in the past, the Congress MLA from Rajasthan alleged.