Refer VB-G RAM G Bill to Standing Committee: Ulaka

Chairperson of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, on Wednesday, wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, urging him to refer the VB-G RAM G Bill to the Standing Committee concerned for a detailed examination.

In a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Ulaka, who is the Congress MP from Koraput in Odisha, said that the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025 (VB-G RAM G), seeks to introduce far-reaching changes in the framework governing rural employment and livelihood support.

“Given the scale, scope and potential impact of these provisions, particularly on rural, tribal, and economically vulnerable populations, it is my considered view that the legislation warrants detailed examination by a Parliamentary Standing Committee,” he said. The Congress MP expressed “deep concern and institutional discomfort” at the prospect of a Bill of this magnitude being processed without the benefit of such scrutiny.

“Standing Committees are not procedural formalities; they are integral to Parliament’s legislative function, especially where laws affect statutory guarantees, decentralised governance and the rights of rural workers,” he said.

He said the Bill fundamentally alters the nature of statutory guarantees by replacing rights-based entitlements with contingent, government-identified and administratively controlled provisions.

He said it introduces structural changes whose implications are neither limited nor self-evident and which carry serious long-term consequences for rural employment and livelihood security. He also said it raises grave concerns regarding constitutional propriety, the dilution of justiciable rights and the erosion of accountability, “issues that cannot be adequately examined within the limited confines of floor debate.”

“As Chairperson of the Committee mandated to examine matters relating to rural development and Panchayati Raj, I find it institutionally anomalous that such a Bill is being advanced without being referred to the Standing Committee most directly concerned with its subject matter,” he said.

“This deprives Parliament of informed legislative inputs and Members of the opportunity to discharge their responsibilities with due diligence,” he said and urged the Speaker to refer the VB-G RAM G Bill to the Standing Committee concerned for comprehensive examination.

The Bill that seeks to replace the existing rural employment law, MGNREGA, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, amid strong objections by the opposition parties to the “removal” of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from it and other provisions.

It provides for 125 days of work and talks about establishing a rural development framework aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.

A centrally sponsored scheme, the financial liability would be shared between the Centre and the state governments. It would be 90:10 for the Northeastern states and Himalayan states and 60:40 for all other states and Union territories with legislature. For the UTs without a legislature, the whole cost would be borne by the Centre.

Under the proposed scheme, the Centre would determine state-wise normative allocation for each financial year. Any expenditure incurred by a state in excess would be borne by the state government.