NEW DELHI: The Central Government has triggered a massive political showdown in the Lok Sabha by introducing a new bill to overhaul and rename the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). In its 20th year, the historic scheme is set to be rebranded as the ‘Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission-Gramin’ (VBGRAM-G).
The move has drawn fierce criticism from the Congress party, which views the renaming as a deliberate attempt to erase the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and the contributions of the UPA government.
A Legacy Rebranded
MGNREGA, often described as the “dream project” of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the brainchild of former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, was launched in 2005. It was designed to provide a legal guarantee of 100 days of wage employment per year to rural households, a move that revolutionized the rural economy and countered the BJP’s 2004 ‘India Shining’ campaign.
The new VBGRAM-G Bill introduced by the Modi government proposes significant structural changes along with the name change. Congress leaders have accused the NDA government of “label-driven politics,” claiming that the BJP is simply rebranding successful UPA-era schemes to claim credit while removing the names of national icons like Mahatma Gandhi.
History of the Scheme
The report highlights that the concept of a rural employment guarantee dates back to the 1980s under Indira Gandhi (RLEGP) and later Narasimha Rao, but it only found its most effective form under Dr. Manmohan Singh’s leadership. Influenced by the Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme of 1977, Singh and Jairam Ramesh incorporated the legal guarantee into the 2004 Congress manifesto, which eventually became law in 2005.
As the Bill moves through Parliament, the opposition is expected to mount a stiff challenge against what they call an assault on the scheme’s original character and its association with the Father of the Nation.
