A political firestorm has erupted following the Modi government’s decision to scrap the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a move the Congress party has described as a direct assault on the economic survival of India’s rural poor.
The Congress alleged that the decision marks the end of a transformative era for rural labour, dismantling a scheme that for nearly two decades provided a legal guarantee of 100 days of wage employment per year to every rural household.
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal issued a scathing indictment of the government’s move, alleging that the administration had been systematically weakening the Act for years before finally delivering the “death blow.”
“The Modi government has effectively dismantled MGNREGA — by converting it from a right to a favour,” Venugopal said in a statement on Sunday. “The decision to cap funds, centralize control, and alter the demand-driven nature of the scheme has pushed crores of rural families into insecurity and distress.”
Venugopal further argued that by removing the legal guarantee of work, the government is stripping dignity from the hands of the rural workforce and leaving them at the mercy of bureaucratic whims.
In response, the Congress party has announced a massive two-day nationwide mobilisation to protest what it calls the “de-anchoring” of rural social security. Congress workers will lead large-scale demonstrations at all district headquarters across India. Simultaneously, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) will convene to map out a long-term political and legal strategy against the decision.
The protests will extend to the grassroots level, with workers organising programmes in Mandals and Panchayats. Demonstrators will carry portraits of Mahatma Gandhi to symbolise a commitment to his ideals of self-reliance and the constitutional promise of the “right to work.”
Launched in 2005 under the UPA government, MGNREGA was globally recognised as one of the world’s largest social safety nets. It played a critical role in reducing rural poverty, empowering women — who form a majority of the workforce — and preventing distress migration to cities.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the scheme was widely credited as the “last resort” for millions of migrant workers who returned to their villages. In recent years, however, it faced friction with the present administration over budget cuts, delayed wage payments, and the mandatory introduction of Aadhaar-based payment systems, which critics argued were designed to exclude eligible beneficiaries.
By scrapping the Act, the government signals a fundamental shift in economic policy, moving away from legislated welfare toward a model of centralised schemes, a shift the Opposition warns will leave the most vulnerable without any legal recourse for survival.