The Levy Economics Institute Drafts Open Letter to Indian Government
Blithewood, home to the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College.
he Levy Economics Institute of Bard College has drafted an open letter to the government of India and gathered signatures in defense of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the largest rights-based public employment program in the world. Spearheaded by Levy Institute President Pavlina R. Tcherneva, leading international experts have added their names to the open letter in support of the program, which is facing imminent repeal by the Indian government.
MGNREGA, signed into law in 2005, is set to be replaced by the Viksit Bharat G RAM G Bill (2025), which would consolidate authority over the program in the central government while transferring greater and likely unsustainable obligations for administration and payment to the states. MGNREGA aims to guarantee the right to work, and generates over 2 billion person-days of work annually for approximately 50 million households in India. More than half of all workers in the program are women, and about 40 percent are from Scheduled Castes or Tribes. The early years of MGNREGA coincided with unprecedented rural wage growth, and studies confirmed the program’s positive effects on economic output and efficiency.
“Originally passed with unanimous parliamentary support, MGNREGA transcends political lines. Its foundational principle—that the national government must guarantee an employment safety net—affirms economic dignity as a fundamental right,” the letter states. Dismantling the program, the letter concludes, would be a “historic error.”
Post Date: 12-19-2025
MGNREGA, signed into law in 2005, is set to be replaced by the Viksit Bharat G RAM G Bill (2025), which would consolidate authority over the program in the central government while transferring greater and likely unsustainable obligations for administration and payment to the states. MGNREGA aims to guarantee the right to work, and generates over 2 billion person-days of work annually for approximately 50 million households in India. More than half of all workers in the program are women, and about 40 percent are from Scheduled Castes or Tribes. The early years of MGNREGA coincided with unprecedented rural wage growth, and studies confirmed the program’s positive effects on economic output and efficiency.
“Originally passed with unanimous parliamentary support, MGNREGA transcends political lines. Its foundational principle—that the national government must guarantee an employment safety net—affirms economic dignity as a fundamental right,” the letter states. Dismantling the program, the letter concludes, would be a “historic error.”
Post Date: 12-19-2025