Congress workers stage a protest as part of party’s nationwide ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’, a mass outreach campaign against the Union government’s move to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Act, or VB-G RAM G, in Noida, on January 11, 2026.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Union Rural Development Ministry has rejected a Right to Information (RTI) application that sought details of consultations the Centre held with State governments before introducing the new rural employment law — the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB‑GRAM G) Act, 2025.
The RTI application referred to an article by Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, published in The Hindu on December 24, in which he stated that the Bill was “preceded by extensive consultations with State governments, technical workshops and multi-stakeholder discussions”.
He had also said that the core design features of the legislation were shaped by lessons from years of implementation as well as feedback from States.
Chakradhar Buddha of the United Forum for RTI Campaign sought records of these pre-legislative consultations with States, along with details of technical workshops and multi-stakeholder discussions cited by Mr. Chouhan. He also sought internal notes showing how inputs from these consultations were incorporated into the drafting of the VB‑GRAM G Act, 2025.
In its response, the Ministry said the information could not be shared because the scheme “has not yet been formally notified by the States/UTs and has not become operational in any State/UT”. It added that the implementation process was still under way and the matter had “not attained finality or completion”.
Disclosing the information at this stage, it said, would involve sharing records of “ongoing deliberations and decision-making relating to policy implementation”.
Published – February 25, 2026 10:52 pm IST
