[Evaluate the implications of repealing MGNREGA, 2005, on the **right-to-work** jurisprudence in India.](/upsc-mains-answer/evaluate-implications-repealing-mgnrega-2005-right-b41c7b5)

Q. Evaluate the implications of repealing MGNREGA, 2005, on the right-to-work jurisprudence in India. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

MGNREGA, 2005 converted the Directive Principles under Articles 39(a) and 41 into a justiciable statutory entitlement to wage employment. Its repeal from 1 July 2026 by the VB–G RAM G Act, 2025 [2] therefore raises a core question: is the right being expanded, or merely re-founded?

Ways the right stands strengthened - The guarantee remains statutory, not scheme-based — the entitlement continues to be legally enforceable rather than discretionary [2]. - Guaranteed employment rises from 100 to 125 days per rural household per financial year, a 25% widening of the entitlement [2][3]. - Backed by the highest-ever Budget Estimate allocation of ₹95,692.31 crore and a combined Centre–State outlay above ₹1.51 lakh crore [2]; funds reach nearly 2.80 lakh Gram Panchayats [1]. - A saving clause carries ongoing MGNREGA works forward, and wages continued uninterrupted through the transition — protecting entitlements from a legal vacuum [2]. - DBT wage transfer, e-KYC and face-authentication attendance improve the enforceability of the right by curbing leakage and ghost musters [1][3].

Ways the jurisprudence is unsettled - Two decades of judicial and administrative interpretation built around MGNREGA's specific sections lose their direct statutory anchor; remedies must be re-established under the new Act. - Planning through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans is saturation- and convergence-oriented [2]; a worker's demand may in practice be routed through pre-approved plans rather than driving work creation. - Technology as gatekeeper: making attendance conditional on face authentication risks exclusion where connectivity or biometric capture fails [3]. - The 60:40 cost-sharing design [3] ties realisation of the right to State fiscal capacity — several States were yet to make budgetary provision at rollout [1].

On balance, the repeal expands the right's content while resetting its jurisprudence. Sustaining it requires that grievance redress, unemployment allowance and delay-compensation remedies be codified and operationalised as robustly as before, with technology treated as an enabler rather than a condition of entitlement. Done well, VB–G RAM G can carry the right to work from a safety net to a genuine instrument of Viksit Bharat @2047.

(~330 words)

Sources: 1. Centre Unveils ₹1.25 Lakh Crore Rural Development Push; New Framework to Roll Out from July 1, PIB — ₹1.25 lakh crore push, 2.80 lakh Gram Panchayats, State budgetary provisions, transition continuity, DBT/e-KYC rollout 2. Historic Commencement of Viksit Bharat – G RAM G Act Across Rural India from July 1st 2026, PIB — repeal of MGNREGA, 125-day guarantee, ₹95,692.31 crore BE, ₹1.51 lakh crore outlay, saving clause, VGPP framework 3. Viksit Bharat–G RAM G Act, 2025 (features), PIB — 60:40 cost-sharing, DBT wage delivery, face-authentication attendance, 125 days 4. PRS Legislative Research — The VB–G RAM G Bill, 2025 — legislative passage of the Act replacing MGNREGA, 2005