Centre’s move to rename MGNREGA draws sharp Congress criticism

The Congress on Saturday questioned the Union government's decision to rename the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), asking what necessitated dropping Mahatma Gandhi’s name from a flagship rural employment programme.

The criticism came a day after the Union Cabinet approved a Bill to rename the scheme and increase the guaranteed work days. According to sources, the programme will now be called the Poojya Bapu Grameen Rozgar Yojna, with the number of work days proposed to rise from 100 to 125.

Congress general secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh called the government a “master” at renaming schemes and laws.
“They renamed the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, and the rural LPG distribution programme to Ujjwala. They are experts in re-packaging and branding,” he told PTI.

Ramesh questioned the rationale behind altering the name of the employment guarantee law.

“They hate Pandit Nehru but it seems they also hate Mahatma Gandhi. What is wrong with the name Mahatma Gandhi?” he said.

Congress general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal said the Prime Minister, who once termed MGNREGA a “monument of failure”, was now renaming it to claim credit for a transformative scheme.
“It is yet another way of erasing Mahatma Gandhi from our national psyche, especially from rural India,” he wrote on X.

Venugopal alleged that the move amounted to a “cosmetic exercise” to mask consistent underfunding of the programme, adding that workers had been demanding higher wages while arrears remained unpaid.
“It seems to be a carefully planned strategy to engineer a slow death for the scheme,” he said.

The Congress leaders stressed that renaming would not alter the scheme’s origins, crediting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi for enacting the law in 2005.

MGNREGA, enacted to enhance livelihood security in rural households, guarantees at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to adult members volunteering for unskilled manual work. The Cabinet's proposal marks the first major renaming of the scheme since its inception.