The right to employment as a statutory entitlement versus employment as a welfare benefit — analyse this tension in light of the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 and its implications for federal fiscal responsibility.

Q. The right to employment as a statutory entitlement versus employment as a welfare benefit — analyse this tension in light of the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 and its implications for federal fiscal responsibility. (15 marks, 250 words)

The distinction is foundational: an entitlement is a justiciable right the citizen can demand, whereas a welfare benefit is a discretionary provision the State grants. The VB-G RAM G Act, 2025, which repeals MGNREGA from 1 July 2026, sits uneasily between the two [1].

Employment as statutory entitlement - MGNREGA converted work into an enforceable right, backed by unemployment allowance rather than administrative discretion [1]. - VB-G RAM G retains this core: Section 5(1) obliges the State to guarantee 125 days (up from 100), with allowance payable if work is not provided within 15 days [2]. - Gram Sabha social audits and mandated transparency preserve the rights-based character.

Drift toward welfare-benefit framing - "Mission" nomenclature, convergence with PM Gati Shakti, and access conditioned on biometric/geo-tagging risk recasting a right as a deliverable scheme [2]. - Digital gatekeeping can exclude the poorest — diluting the entitlement in practice even where it survives in law.

Implications for federal fiscal responsibility - The new 60:40 Centre:State cost-sharing (90:10 for NE/Himalayan states) replaces near-full central funding of wages [1]. - This enforces state co-investment and accountability, but strains fiscally weak states and may throttle the demand-driven guarantee — shifting the burden of a national right onto uneven state exchequers [1].

The Act should be implemented as a genuine justiciable entitlement, with a Centre-borne backstop for poorer states, so that cooperative federalism advances the right to work under Article 41 rather than fragmenting it.

(~250 words)

Sources: 1. PRS Legislative Research — VB–G RAM G Bill, 2025 — 125-day guarantee, 60:40 and 90:10 cost-sharing, repeal of MGNREGA 2. Viksit Bharat–G RAM G, 2025 (PIB Press Release) — Section 5(1) obligation, 15-day unemployment allowance, technology-conditioned access, commencement from 1 July 2026