Wed Dec 17 00:00:00 UTC 2025: Headline: Disability Rights Groups Demand Withdrawal of Rural Employment Bill, Citing Threat to Livelihoods
Chennai, December 17, 2025 – Disability rights activists and organizations across India are calling for the central government to withdraw the proposed Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill. In a press release issued Tuesday, these groups argue that the bill would dilute the protections currently afforded to disabled rural workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), leading to further economic hardship.
According to the activists, MGNREGA, despite its shortcomings, legally recognizes people with disabilities as workers entitled to employment and livelihood protection. They fear the VB-G RAM G Bill would erode this right, legitimizing exclusion and threatening the dignity and survival of disabled rural workers.
Organizations including the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD), Vikalangalu Hakkulu Jatiya Vedike, Tamilnadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled and Caregivers, and individual activists like Nitesh Kumar Tripathi, have voiced strong opposition to the bill.
The NPRD argues that the claim of providing 125 days of work under the proposed bill is misleading. They highlight the provision to prohibit employment during ‘agricultural peak seasons,’ which they say could be extended across both Kharif and Rabi sowing and harvesting periods, effectively denying work for a significant portion of the year. Activists fear that this restriction would force disabled individuals into deeper poverty and reliance on inadequate disability pensions.
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