‘Let us not dishonour his legacy...’: Tharoor slams government over renaming MGNREGA

New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday criticised the government over its proposal to repeal the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and replace it with a new rural employment law, calling the renaming “unfortunate”.

In a tweet, Tharoor said, "The controversy over renaming MGNREGA in the Govt's proposed new G-RAM-G Bill is unfortunate. The concept of Gram Swaraj and the ideal of Ram Rajya were never competing forces; they were the twin pillars of Gandhiji’s consciousness. Replacing the Mahatma’s name in a scheme for the rural poor ignores this profound symbiosis. His final breath was a testament to 'Ram'; let us not dishonour his legacy by creating a division where none existed."

The government came under sharp criticism on Monday as opposition MPs questioned why the name of the father of the nation was being removed from a scheme aimed at supporting rural livelihoods.

The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025, listed in the Lok Sabha’s supplementary list of business on Monday, proposes to repeal MGNREGA and introduce a “rural development framework aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.”

Under the new law, every rural household whose adult members volunteer for unskilled manual work will be guaranteed 125 days of wage employment in a financial year. Currently, MGNREGA provides up to 100 days of wage employment for unskilled labourers.

The bill also specifies that it will function as a centrally sponsored scheme. State governments will be required to prepare schemes to implement the proposed guarantees within six months of the law coming into force. The Centre will allocate funds to each state based on specified parameters, with any expenditure exceeding the approved allocation being the responsibility of the respective state governments.