What if Data Could Restore the Right to Work?

G-RAM-G Can Become ‘G-MAHA-RAM-G’ — If Data Restores the Right to Work

MNREGA was not just a welfare scheme.
It was a cushion.

A minimum assurance.
A bargaining floor.
A quiet guarantee that no rural worker would fall below a certain line.

Its real strength was simple and powerful: the right to work on demand.
That right gave labour negotiating power — with contractors, with local employers, and sometimes even with the state.

The new framework turns this logic upside down.

Work is now needs-based, planned, and decentralised into state and local hands.
On paper, this looks efficient.
In reality, it will naturally slow things down.

When supply decides timing, the worker waits.
When budgets decide allocation, guarantees soften.

That is the real risk.

At the same time, we must be honest.

Over time, MNREGA also became a leaky drain.
Weak controls.
Poor asset quality.
In many places, it unintentionally encouraged dependency instead of aspiration.

Durable assets were the exception.
Accountability was limited.

So the intent behind G-RAM-G — creating meaningful assets, linking work to skills, and nudging labour toward capability building — is a positive shift.
It may even be the first step toward dignity-based livelihoods rather than survival wages.

But one question must stay at the centre:

How do we preserve bargaining power and minimum assurance while modernising execution?

Why not think both sides?

If the supply side can digitally plan projects,
why can’t the demand side be digitally visible too?

Imagine a simple national system where:
• Any rural worker can apply in advance, month-wise
• States and Panchayats see real demand data
• 125 days becomes a trackable entitlement, not a vague promise
• Minimum wages regain transparency and enforceability

Data doesn’t weaken guarantees.
It protects them.

With demand intelligence, G-RAM-G can truly become G-MAHA-RAM-G —
where planning improves outcomes without erasing rights.

Because without visibility, guarantees fade.
And without guarantees, planning becomes privilege.

That balance is where real reform lies.