Over 300 scientists, academics, and civil society members urged the Indian government to address shortcomings in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) through consultations and ground research, rather than repealing it. They argue the new Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, which increases guaranteed workdays to 125 and alters cost-sharing, misreads existing problems and undoes MGNREGA's empowerment. Opposition parties also plan nationwide protests against the new law.