Critically evaluate the shift from MGNREGA to the VB–G RAM G Act, 2025 in terms of entitlement, accountability and fiscal federalism.

The VB–G RAM G Act, 2025 repealed MGNREGA, 2005. It changes India's rural job guarantee, which gives statutory effect to the Article 41 right to work [1]. The new law promises more days, digital accountability and Centre-fixed funding. Its design is stronger on paper, but it weakens the demand-driven nature of the old guarantee.

Entitlement

• (+) The guarantee rises from 100 to 125 days per rural household. Wages are due weekly, and in any case within 15 days [1].
• (−) A 60-day agricultural pause shortens the period in which those days can be worked [1].
• (−) Enforcement was weak under the old law. Bihar, Karnataka and Rajasthan paid no unemployment allowance between 2018 and 2023 [6].

Accountability

• (+) The Grievance Redressal Rules, 2026 set up Gram Panchayat, Block and District tiers with DPI tracking. They fix a 7-day enquiry and 15-day resolution, then escalate automatically. No complaint can be rejected for its format or language [2].
• (+) AI and biometric checks help detect irregularities [3].
• (−) MGNREGA had the same 7-day limit, yet Sangrur (Punjab) settled complaints up to 436 days late [4].
• (−) Escalation moves the file upward, but the Rules name no penalty for the officer who misses the deadline [2].
• (−) The independent check is thin: only 585 of 740 districts had an Ombudsman [5].
• (−) Many wage delays come from failed Aadhaar–bank links, which a Block officer cannot fix [7].

Fiscal federalism

• (+) The administrative expenditure cap rises from 6% to 9%, which pays for staff and training [3].
• (+) North-Eastern and Himalayan States get a 90:10 share [1].
• (−) The 60:40 Centre–State split puts more of the cost on States [1].
• (−) The Centre sets a normative allocation, and States pay any spending above it [1]. This turns a demand-driven right into a capped budget, so poorer States may give out less work.

Overall, the Act widens the entitlement and digitises accountability, but funding caps and cost-shifting could empty the guarantee of real force. Three steps would help:

• fill Ombudsman posts and raise delay compensation, as the Standing Committee urged [5]
• feed DPI delay records into officers' performance reviews
• make normative allocations respond to demand through Centre–State consultation

With these, the 125-day promise can become a working right under Article 41 and SDG 8.