India has resources, but not the will: Jean Dreze on the future of MGNREGA

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, (MGNREGA) is a pro-worker law implemented by an anti-worker system, economist Jean Dreze said, reflecting on how the country’s flagship rural employment programme, conceived as a rights-based guarantee, has increasingly been shaped by administrative practices that work against the workers it was meant to empower.

Mr. Dreze, who played a key role in the conceptualisation and drafting of the MGNREGA, was speaking on the “harsh realities of MGNREGA vs the proposed Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill (VB-G-RAM-G)” in the city on Thursday. During the discussion, he examined the changing trajectory of the MGNREGA, the pressures it faces today, and how policy decisions- from wage levels to digitisation have steadily weakened what was once envisioned as a rights-based safety net for rural workers.