IndiaPosted at: Nov 4 2026 6:14PM


Congress accuses Centre of weakening workers’ safeguards in rural jobs grievance rules

New Delhi, Nov 4 (UNI) The Congress on Wednesday accused the union Government of weakening workers’ rights under the rural employment guarantee framework, alleging that the final grievance redressal rules notified under the VB–G RAM G scheme have dropped crucial safeguards, diluted accountability provisions and reduced the oversight role of elected local bodies.
In a statement, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the union Ministry of Rural Development had substantially diluted the draft VB–G RAM G Grievance Redressal Rules, published in May 2026, before notifying the final version on November 2. He alleged that the changes had undermined the ability of workers and rural communities to seek effective remedies for violations of their statutory entitlements.
"In the continuing trend of converting India’s most significant rights-based law into nothing more than an administrative scheme, the Ministry of Rural Development has notified a set of rules on grievance redress which further disempower workers and people, leaving their so-called right as yet another jumla," Ramesh said.
The Congress leader argued that instead of strengthening the mechanisms through which workers could challenge violations, the government had removed several provisions intended to ensure accountability of officials, independent scrutiny of complaints and effective monitoring of grievance disposal.
One of the most significant changes, he said, was the deletion of a provision in the draft rules stipulating that failure to dispose of a grievance within seven working days would constitute a contravention of the Act and attract action under Section 27. Although the final rules retain timelines for resolving complaints, they no longer explicitly provide for action against officials who fail to meet them.
Ramesh also flagged the removal of a provision requiring the District Programme Coordinator, after obtaining legal advice, to ensure the filing of an FIR and initiation of appropriate proceedings where preliminary enquiries or social audit findings indicated prima facie evidence of financial irregularities.
Another major dilution, according to the Congress, concerns the role of elected Panchayati Raj institutions. The draft rules required grievances and action taken on them to be placed before Intermediate and District Panchayat meetings for review and monitoring. This provision has been dropped from the final rules, potentially weakening the oversight exercised by elected representatives over the implementation of the employment guarantee framework.
The final version has also removed provisions for designated weekly days when officials would receive complaints and dedicated grievance redressal desks at Block and District levels. The draft had envisaged these desks as accessible points where workers could register complaints and obtain information about the implementation of the Act.
The Congress leader further questioned the dilution of provisions relating to physical verification of complaints. While the draft rules specifically envisaged enquiries through spot verification or inspection, the final rules allow complaints to be examined on the basis of official records and other available information without expressly making physical verification mandatory.
Ramesh warned that this could compromise investigations into allegations involving falsification of muster rolls, fraudulent wage payments and discrepancies between official records and conditions on the ground. Such complaints, he argued, often require direct verification rather than reliance on documents maintained by the very administrative machinery against which grievances may have been raised.
The final rules have also dropped the requirement for District Programme Coordinators to submit quarterly reports to State Governments detailing the number, nature and categories of grievances, their disposal and pendency. Similarly, while the draft provided for automatic escalation through the digital platform of complaints remaining unresolved for 15 days, the final rules retain the 15-day escalation period without explicitly stipulating that the process must be automatic.
Ramesh also objected to the removal of an explicitly mandated State-level grievance redressal mechanism. The draft had envisaged grievance redressal arrangements at Gram Panchayat, Block, District and State levels, whereas the final rules expressly provide for the first three levels while leaving the designation of additional levels open.
The draft's detailed appellate provisions, including a 45-day period for filing appeals and a 30-day deadline for their disposal, have also been replaced by a reference to Schedule I of the Act. Ramesh questioned this change, although its precise implications for the substantive right of appeal would depend on the corresponding provisions of the parent legislation.
The Congress leader further pointed out that the final rules place greater emphasis on a digital platform designated by the Central Government, departing from the draft's recognition of grievance redressal platforms provided by either the Centre or State Governments.
Linking the changes to the broader issue of funding and implementation, Ramesh said statutory guarantees could not be realised without adequate financial allocations and an effective mechanism through which workers could hold the administration accountable.
"Without making sufficient financial allocations, ensuring the realisation of the guarantees is the sole burden of the State, and there is no avenue by which people can ensure redress for what are daily violations," he said.
He also questioned the government's increasing reliance on digital platforms for grievance redressal, pointing to difficulties allegedly faced by workers in recording attendance through the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) and receiving wages through the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS).
"Using the mirage of digital governance, the rules clearly demonstrate that the rights will remain on paper or in the cloud," Ramesh said, warning that the process of lodging complaints was also being pushed into the digital domain without adequate safeguards to ensure accountability.
The dispute comes against the backdrop of the wider political and policy debate over the transition from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to the new VB–G RAM G framework. MGNREGA was conceived as a rights-based rural employment programme, providing a statutory guarantee of wage employment and mechanisms through which workers could seek redress when their entitlements were denied.
The grievance redressal framework is particularly important because it is intended to provide workers with an avenue to challenge administrative failures, wage-related complaints, irregularities in the implementation of employment guarantees and other violations.
The Congress's central contention is that the final rules risk reducing this mechanism to a system for registering and processing complaints, without sufficiently enforceable provisions to ensure that officials are held accountable and workers actually receive the remedies to which they are entitled.
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