In his article, ‘The Sentinel’ published in Young India on October 13, 1921, Mahatma Gandhi articulated his vision for assured livelihood opportunities for poverty-stricken people. He wrote, “To a people famishing and idle, the only acceptable form in which God can dare appear is work and promise of food as wages.” In independent India, the fulfilment of that bold vision was not left to god. The government enacted legislations to guarantee employment to people on demand so that they could secure their wages and food. This was first done in Maharashtra, with The Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Act, 1977 mandating the government to give work to an applicant within 15 days of the date from which they seek work.It was a demand-driven legislation and that defining feature was incorporated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s regime in the landmark Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA).MGNREGA expanded the guaranteed employment to 100 days throughout the year and ensured minimum wage. It also provided in the Act itself that 90% of the funds allocated to the scheme would be provided by the Union government and, in tune with the vision of Mahatma Gandhi, its implementation was left to the Panchayats, upholding the bottom up approach which remained central to democracy. There were no budgetary constraints for the right to work provided by MGNREGA and no limitations on demand for jobs was imposed. It was universal in scope and both the Houses of Parliament passed it on the basis of consensus. Because minimum wage was guaranteed, the people demanding jobs as part of their right to work had the bargaining power to negotiate for more wages than what was enshrined in MGNREGA to work elsewhere. It thus empowered them to put forth their demand vis a vis others and enhanced their dignity and self- esteem. MGNREGA was the first of its kind of legislation and got acclamation as the largest ever right to work law in the world. Also read: ‘Historic Error’: Leading International Experts Write to Modi Government Against MGNREGA RepealThe scheme put a check on distress migration from rural areas to cities and provided a much needed safety valve for the poor and marginalised sections to mitigate poverty.During the pandemic, it enormously helped the Modi regime to deal with the massive shortage of work that people had to face due to unplanned lockdowns which flattened the curve of the economy. Modi ridiculed MGNREGAIt is tragic that such a powerful, pro-poor legislation was ridiculed by Prime Minister Modi in the Parliament in 2015, when he said that it represented the failure of the Congress regime. In doing so, he was mocking the rural people whose opportunities for earning livelihood were shrinking on account of the unprofitable agricultural sector and the neo-liberal economy which has led to burgeoning income inequality.Modi, who assured voters in his 2014 election speeches that he would create 2 crore jobs annually upon becoming prime minister, has failed to do so over the last 11 years. In fact, it was under his government that unemployment reached a 45-year-high.Now, he has repealed MGNREGA. After deceiving people about job creation, Modi has framed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB–G RAM G), providing 125 days of work. It is a deceptive law where the so-called guarantee is a pure misnomer because it suspends work during peak agricultural season for six months. The guarantee under the law is non-existent and the provision of finance for it puts heavy burden on states by reducing the share of the Union government from 90% in MGNREGA to 60% under the new law.While MGNREGA is based on a bottom-up approach with Panchayats as the fulcrum for designing the architecture of the right to work, the so-called G RAM G legislation is fully operated by the Union government, upholding the top-down approach, contrary to Gandhi’s vision.The areas in which it would be implemented in states would be decided by the Union government and in case the states do not bear the 40% share, then the execution of the work under G RAM G would not commence at all. Such centralised operations with total discretion to be exercised by the Union government kills the very spirit and substance of MGNREGA. G RAM G will cause pauperisation of the massesIt has been argued that the new legislation has been framed without providing minimum wages, to take away the bargaining power of the people to opt for the work of their choice and the amount they would get to force them to migrate to cities and sell their labour at a price dictated by the market. G RAM G has made the poor a victim of supply-driven economy. When MGNREGA was being framed, it was suggested to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the scheme should not be operational during peak agricultural season to ensure the supply of labour for the farmers. But that suggestion was not accepted and the right to work as demanded by the poor prevailed over the interests of those who wanted cheap labour. Modi, who described MGNREGA as “Congress ki biphalata” (failure), has now enacted Vikshit Bharat’s G RM G law, described by critics as failure of Modi in giving any guaranteed right to work. The electoral angleIt is apprehended that such a centralised law – that empowers the Union government to determine funds, locality and type of work – might be used to pump funds into states during elections on the pretext of the scheme. Channeling of funds would determine the voting behaviours of the electorate in favour of the ruling party at the centre. This would be akin to the money pumped into states under the Kisan Samman scheme during elections and the recent transfer of Rs 10,000 in the accounts of Jeevika Didis in Bihar during the November assembly elections.The repeal of MGNREGA and its replacement with G RAM G is an assault on the poor and Gandhi’s vision of guaranteed right to work. S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K.R. Narayanan