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No new anti-graft measures in VB-G RAM G; tech not a cure-all for accountability: LibTech India
A new rural jobs act, the VB-G RAM G Act, has replaced MGNREGA. LibTech India states the new law lacks anti-corruption measures. They argue technology should not be the only way to access jobs or wages. The group emphasizes the need for offline systems alongside digital ones. The act guarantees 125 days of wage employment per rural household.
The VB-G RAM G Act has no new provisions to mitigate corruption, LibTech India said on Saturday and asserted that technology should not be the sole gateway to employment, wages, or accountability.
In a statement here, the consortium of academicians and activists noted that the lack of new anti-graft provisions is despite corruption mitigation being a justification for the repeal of MGNREGA.
It also emphasised the need for complementing digital systems with strong, clearly defined offline counterparts.
The Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act, 2025, which has received the President's assent, repeals the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, paving the way for several structural changes to the rural jobs scheme.
LibTech India said the MGNREGA had "in-built provisions" such as social audits and public hearings, which were "routinely under-funded and weakened".
Acknowledging that tackling corruption is vital, it argued, however, that the new Act has "no new provisions" to do so.
It said the VB-G RAM G Act's central focus is on using biometric authentication and other technology to combat corruption and enhance transparency. The government has argued that these measures will eliminate the historical "ghost economy" issues faced by the prior MGNREGA scheme.
The consortium said it has closely engaged with the implementation of MGNREGA over the last 15 years, with a particular focus on the role of technology, data systems, and accountability in large public welfare programmes.
Over time, implementation processes became heavily dependent on digital workflows and system compliance, to the extent that activities not reflected in the Management Information System (MIS) were often treated as if they had not occurred at all, leading to denial of rights, delayed grievance redressal, and "invisibilisation" of genuine work, it said.
"Despite evidence showing the futility of some technologies like the photo-based attendance app and opacity of complex payment systems, the new Act seems to strengthen these," it said.
Citing the example of mandatory biometric attendance at work sites, LibTech India said it is likely to lead to denial of work and wages.
"Workers must be able to demand work, mark attendance, resolve grievances and access payments through accessible non-digital mechanisms. Technology should function as an enabling and supportive tool, not as the sole gateway to employment, wages, or accountability," it said.
Stating that the consortium stands against the repeal of the MGNREGA, it underscored the need to strengthen the scheme instead.
"Unlike MGNREGA, the VB-G RAM G Act has been brought without public consultation and with limited parliamentary scrutiny. The VB-G RAM G Act gives arbitrary, discretionary power to the Union government over coverage, implementation modalities, and disclosures, without assuming any statutory liabilities," it said.
It said the new Act departs from the "demand-driven, decentralised principles that were foundational to MGNREGA".
Its statement said that under the 2005 Act, substantial programme information was proactively placed in the public domain through the MIS. Despite limitations, the principle of public disclosure remained central, enabling social audits, independent research, media scrutiny, and corrective action by governments themselves, it noted.
"By repealing MGNREGA, the statutory disclosure architecture enabling public scrutiny is now at risk," it said.
It further said that while the new Act contains references to transparency, there is no clarity on the scope, granularity, and enforceability of the data that will be placed in the public domain, or whether it will match the worker-level, demand-side disclosures that existed under MGNREGA.
"This uncertainty is exacerbated in the context of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023. Although the DPDP Act permits continued access to information that is already mandated to be public by law, the precise contours of what will legally constitute public-domain information under the new employment framework are unclear," it said.
The group, which has been conducting studies on the implementation of MGNREGA and technologies like NMMS (National Mobile Monitoring System) and ABPS (Aadhaar Based Payment System), said digital over-reliance weakened offline verification, local problem-solving, leading to dilution of accountability.
"In efforts to improve dashboard metrics, even well-meaning officials may be pushed to digitally exclude workers from accessing their rights. We are concerned that these trends are now being given legal sanction in the VB-GRAMG Act, pushing programme administration further towards an era of 'dashboard governance'," it added.
Parliament last week passed the VB-G RAM G Bill amid vociferous protests by the opposition, with Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan asserting that it was needed to fix shortcomings in the old scheme.
The Act guarantees yearly 125 days of wage employment per rural household, offering unskilled manual work. It also has an aggregated 60-day no-work period to ensure the availability of agricultural labour during peak sowing and harvesting season.
According to a government statement, the new Act authorises the Centre to investigate complaints relating to implementation, suspend fund releases where serious irregularities are detected, and direct corrective or remedial measures to address deficiencies.
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Source: EconomicTimes
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