Letters to The Editor — December 18, 2025

Contentious move

The move by the Centre to change the name of the rural employment scheme, MGNREGA, to VB-G RAM G is jarring. Where is the need to change the name of the scheme, named after the greatest icon of our freedom movement? Increasing the number of man days, from 100 to 125, is a smokescreen. Increasing the financial burden of States is the first step that would lead to the breakdown of the scheme. The Centre can initiate new welfare schemes.

S.V. Venkatakrishnan,

Coimbatore

While the objectives of VB-G RAM G sound good, the mechanisms chosen to achieve them (capped funding, increased State burden, central control) will practically dilute the legal guarantee and make the scheme less accessible to the rural poor. It is a fact that India has witnessed a gradual rise in rural-to-urban migration due to a lack of opportunities in villages.

Kshirasagara Balaji Rao,

Hyderabad