India Sets ₹300/Day Wage Floor Under New Rural Jobs Law

Opposition parties criticised the wage rates. Congress said they are far below the 2019 recommendations of the expert committee headed by Anoop Satpathy, which had proposed a national minimum wage floor of ₹375 per day. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said the party had promised a ₹400/day minimum wage for all workers, including MGNREGA, during the 2024 Lok Sabha campaign.

Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja demanded immediate restoration of MGNREGA to its full potential. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking modifications in the VB-G RAM G scheme.

Congress MP Saptagiri Ulaka, chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development, said the party would continue opposing the new law. "We appeal to the government that the VB-G RAM G be repealed and a strengthened MGNREGA be brought back," he said.

Ulaka argued that MGNREGA was a rights-based, demand-driven employment guarantee scheme. The new law converts it into a supply-driven, government-driven scheme where the Centre decides state allocations based on the 16th Finance Commission's normative formula, he said. He also flagged the new cost-sharing formula: under MGNREGA, the central government covered nearly 100% of labour costs and material costs at a 60:40 ratio. Under VB-G RAM G, combined labour and material costs are now subject to a 60:40 ratio, he added.