Overview
- Parliament’s VB‑G RAM G Act has replaced MGNREGA, raising the annual guarantee to 125 days per rural household and mandating faster wage payments with compensation for delays.
- The law lets states pause public works for up to 60 days during peak sowing or harvesting to ease farm labour shortages, while retaining the 125‑day guarantee across the year.
- Funding shifts to a 60:40 Centre–state share for most states, 90:10 for the Northeast and full central funding for Union Territories, with the administrative cap increased to 9%.
- BJP chief ministers and state units in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Assam and Nagaland held press briefings and launched awareness drives, pitching the reforms as asset‑creating and corruption‑curbing.
- Opposition leaders and activists, including Jean Drèze and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, warned of a weakened guarantee, a contested ‘switch‑off’ provision, heavier state burdens and exclusion risks from heavy digitisation.