Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to express his concern over the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), or VB-G RAM G Bill, passed by Parliament to replace the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA).
The chief minister asked the Union government to refrain from implementing the proposed law, saying that many provisions in the new legislation would adversely affect the finances of states.
MGNREGA was a fully centrally sponsored programme. However, the new law reduces the central share of wages to 60%, dealing a blow to the states. According to preliminary estimates, Kerala alone will suffer an economic loss of about ₹3,500 crore annually. MGNREGA was launched at a time when the country’s rural economy was facing a severe crisis. In the current climate of rising unemployment and inequality, a system that provides on-demand employment is essential to the nation’s well-being.
Kerala has always been at the forefront of effective implementation of the Employment Guarantee Scheme. Any change to the system’s decentralized nature will significantly affect states and undermine the system’s goals, he said. The Chief Minister also said in the letter that the Government of Kerala is of the firm opinion that the name of Mahatma Gandhi, who toiled hard all his life to wipe away the tears of the poor, should continue to be associated with such a scheme. The Chief Minister also pointed out in the letter that the new law would pave the way for bureaucratic rule contrary to the Gandhian principles of decentralization and that it was against the ideas of decentralization envisioned in the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution, he said in the letter.
Published – 19 Dec 2025 21:04 IST
