India, Dec. 22 -- MGNREGA was a covenant the nation made with its poorest citizens. It was a promise of dignified work and not starving due to a lack of it. That promise is now being broken, deliberately and with disturbing impunity.

The government's decision to replace MGNREGA with the grandly titled Viksit Bharat-G RAM G Bill is a reversal in disguise. A cursory glance at it would seem lofty. Indeed, it would be impossible to push something that was not covered in a veneer of beautiful promises; however, its intent is anything but.

The right to work did not fall from the sky. It emerged from a hard constitutional debate, born of resistance from those who feared binding obligations on the state. It was placed among the Directive Princi...