‘Unfortunate move’: Congress flags removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from MGNREGA

The Congress on Monday criticised the Centre’s move to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with a new law that drops Mahatma Gandhi’s name, calling the development unfortunate and warning against undermining the Father of the Nation’s legacy.

Reacting to the proposed Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025—shortened as G-RAM-G—Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the controversy surrounding the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name creates a needless ideological divide.

“The controversy over renaming MGNREGA in the government’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,” Tharoor said in a post on X.

“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,” he added.

The Centre is preparing to introduce the new Bill in the Lok Sabha, which seeks to replace the nearly two-decade-old MGNREGA and restructure India’s rural employment framework. The move has sparked political pushback, with the Congress accusing the government of attempting to dilute Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy by removing his name from the flagship rural employment law.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also questioned the rationale behind the renaming exercise, warning it would lead to avoidable public expenditure. “From offices to stationery, everything has to be renamed. This is a big and costly process. What is the benefit of doing this unnecessarily?” she asked.

According to the proposed legislation, the guaranteed number of employment days for rural households will be increased from 100 to 125 annually. The Bill also proposes AI-based systems for fraud detection and stronger social audit mechanisms, including twice-yearly audits in every Gram Panchayat, aimed at enhancing transparency and accountability.

Officials in the Rural Development Ministry said the legislation is intended to address structural weaknesses in the existing framework, expand employment opportunities and better align rural asset creation with national development goals.

(This story was taken from syndicated feed and was only edited for style by Gujarat Samachar Digital team)