Rights or Relief

The decision to repeal a longstanding rural employment guarantee and replace it with a new framework has reopened a fundamental debate about how India understands welfare, work, and federalism.

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What is being contested is not merely a scheme, but a philosophy that treated employment as a right rather than a discretionary benefit. For over a decade, the employment guarantee acted as a shock absorber for rural India. Its demand-driven design gave workers a legal claim on the state during periods of distress ~ whether caused by drought, agrarian slowdown, or economic shocks. In doing so, it altered the relationship between citizen and government, embedding a rights-based approach into everyday governance. Its replacement with a centrally determined allocation model marks a decisive shift away from that idea.