Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra strongly criticized the Grow India Guarantee Employment and Livelihood Mission (Rural) Bill, 2025, saying that the original MNREGA scheme, in which most of the funds (often referred to as 90%) were paid by the central government, was the backbone of the rural economy and the biggest support for the extremely poor facing employment difficulties.
He warned that this transfer of funds would burden states and harm the rural poor.
Speaking to reporters, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “This bill will prove very harmful for the poorest of the poor because the original MGNREGA scheme, in which the central government provided 90% of the funds, was the backbone of the rural economy and the biggest support for the extremely poor and those facing difficulty in finding employment.”
He said, “For the last 20 years it has been a successful scheme that has helped poor people, especially those who have nothing. Now, in the new form of this bill, when the funds allocated by the central government have been cut so much, the state governments will not be able to afford it. This means that the scheme will come to an end and it will be very harmful.”
These comments came after Parliament passed the Vikas Bharat Guaranteed Employment and Livelihood Mission (Rural) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, with Rajya Sabha also clearing the bill after Lok Sabha approval.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) members are holding a 12-hour dharna (dharna) against the passage of the Develop India-Employment and Livelihood Mission (Rural) Bill, 2025, also known as the VB-Ji Ram Ji Bill.
A protest is being held against the bill outside the Constitution House in the Parliament complex. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on December 18, 2025, and then passed in the Rajya Sabha on the morning of December 19 despite strong opposition.
With the VB-G RAM G Bill being passed in both houses and the Upper House being adjourned till Friday afternoon, there were protests from the opposition, with members objecting to the hasty manner in which the government passed it.
The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha amid protests from opposition MPs, who tore copies of the bill and threw them in the air. The government says that this bill will strengthen employment and livelihood in rural areas.
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan said that this bill will play an important role in the welfare of the poor. He accused Congress of insulting the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi.
The Bill ensures 125 days of wage employment to every adult member of a rural household willing to do unskilled manual labour, instead of the existing 100 days.
According to Section 22 of the Bill, the fund sharing pattern between the Central Government and the State Governments will be 60:40, while for the North Eastern States, Himalayan States and Union Territories (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir) it will be 90:10.
Section 6 of the Bill allows state governments to notify in advance a period of sixty days in total in the financial year, including the peak agricultural season of sowing and harvesting.
Opposing the bill, Congress announced nationwide protests on 17 December and accused the BJP and RSS of “abolishing rights-based welfare schemes”.
