Congress workers staged the protest as part of the nationwide “MGNREGA Bachao Sangram”, a mass awareness campaign against the Union government’s move to replace Mahatma Gandhi’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the Viksit Bharat-Garantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Act, or VB-1. January, No16G RAM. Photo credit: PTI
The Union Ministry of Rural Development has rejected a Right to Information (RTI) request seeking details of consultations held by the Center with state governments ahead of the introduction of the new rural employment law – the Viksit Bharat-Garantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (VB-GRAM G).
The RTI request referred to an article by Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, published in The Hindu on 24 December, in which he said the bill “was preceded by extensive consultations with state governments, technical workshops and multi-stakeholder discussions”.
He also said the core elements of the draft legislation were shaped by experience 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 memos showing how input from those consultations was incorporated into the 2025 VB‑GRAM G Bill.
In its reply, the ministry said the information could not be shared as the scheme “has not yet been formally notified to the states/UTs and has not become operational in any state/UT”. He added that the implementation process was still ongoing and the matter “has not reached finality or completion”.
Publishing information at this stage, he said, would mean sharing records of “ongoing negotiations and decision-making on policy implementation”.
Published – 25 Feb 2026 22:52 IST
