NREGA to be Renamed, Workdays, Wages to Expand Slightly: Reports
New Delhi: Months after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj recommended raising the number of days that work is provided under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or MGNREGS to 150 a year, the Union government on Friday, December 12, is said to be considering raising the days to 125, multiple reports said on Friday.
The scheme currently offers 100 days of work, based on demand, in rural areas across most parts of the country.
The Narendra Modi government is also considering renaming the scheme for a second time, the Economic Times reported on Friday. In an earlier name revision, 'Mahatma Gandhi' (MG) was appended to NREGS, as the scheme was initialised when it began in 2005. This was done by changing the name of the original National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or NREGA.
Popularly, the scheme was acronynmised as Narega, and then Manrega, following the first name revision. Reports say the present government plans to change the scheme's name significantly, replacing Mahatma Gandhi by his moniker, Bapu, which means father in Hindi, and adding Pujya, or worshipped, another Hindi word.
If the proposal is approved, the scheme name will have a mix of Hindi and English words: Pujya Bapu Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Yojana or PBGRGY. Reports claim this will be the scheme's new name because a
There are also reports that the minimum wage under the scheme will be revised upwards. A day's work will fetch up to Rs 240. The parliamentary committee had suggested that wages be increased to at least Rs 400. It had also asked for an independent survey of MGNREGS.
Wages for MGNREGS vary by state, but the Union lays down the minimum amount to be paid. A new wage rate (Rs 370) was introduced in April 2025.
Delayed and poor wages, job card deletions, manadatory technological steps (Aadhaar-phone linking, OTPs) that have become hurdles, and lack of compensation for delayed wages have dogged the scheme throughout the government's tenure and since the payments were linked to bank accounts.
According to the Union government's MGNREGA wage dashboard, over 35% of scheme workers are members of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, and women work significantly more than males (in terms of workdays) under the scheme. The government's dashboard also says 97.94% of payments were made within 15 days under the scheme.
In December 2024, MGNREGS workers staged a protest in Delhi's Jantar Mantar, saying the government's data on wage payments was "false". The workers demanded a Rs 800 per-day wage, required to sustain the workers and their families who depend on the scheme.
Workers also demand the scheme be made available on demand all year long.
Reports on Friday said the government will give a further impetus to digitisation under the revamped MGNREGS. There was no official confirmation to any of these amendments.
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