Congress calls new rural jobs law ‘rozgar chori’ as employment generation falls

The Congress party on Monday (August 10, 2026) lambasted the Centre over a significant drop in job creation under the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), which replaced the previous UPA-era Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The new legislation, according to Congress, should be renamed "rozgar chori" (employment theft).

Data from the Union Rural Development Ministry revealed that the number of person-days generated under the scheme in its inaugural month, July 2026, was 49.94% lower than the number generated under MGNREGA in the same period last year. Person-days represent a unit that quantifies the work done by one individual in a working day.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge took to X to express his concerns, stating that the BJP had wielded the "lathi" against not only the youth but also the country's labor force. Under the Modi government, Kharge claimed, the MGNREGA was abolished, stripping millions of families of their "right to work" and replaced by VB-G RAM G, which has led to the loss of employment for 50% of laborers.

Kharge questioned whether the ₹17,144 crore in pending MGNREGA funds had been disbursed to the States. Moreover, he inquired about any support provided to drought-affected States. In a separate statement, Congress general secretary (communications) and former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh contended that the initial month's data on VB-G RAM G highlighted "the price of dismantling MGNREGA."

He argued that MGNREGA had empowered gram panchayats and liberated workers from the "political whims of the government in power." Instead, Ramesh contended, the Modi government had centralized the scheme, imposed a substantial financial burden on State governments, made access increasingly reliant on technology and biometric authentication, eliminated the employment guarantee, and made it more challenging for workers to assert their rights. For Ramesh, VB-G RAM G is nothing more than "rozgar chori" (employment theft).