The Act replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, with a modern statutory framework that enhances livelihood security and is aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.
President Droupadi Murmu on Sunday gave assent to the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB–G RAM G) Bill, 2025, marking a significant milestone in the transformation of rural employment policy, as per a release by the President’s Secretariat.
VB-G RAM G Bill approved by President Murmu
Earlier, Parliament passed the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, marking a decisive reform in India’s rural employment and development framework. Anchored in the principles of empowerment, growth, convergence and saturation, the Act seeks to transform rural employment from a standalone welfare intervention into an integrated instrument of development. It strengthens income security for rural households, modernises governance and accountability, and links wage employment with the creation of durable and productive rural assets, thereby laying the foundation for a prosperous and resilient Rural Bharat.
The passage of the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, represents a significant renewal of India’s rural employment guarantee. By expanding statutory employment to 125 days, embedding decentralised and participatory planning, strengthening accountability, and institutionalising convergence and saturation-based development, the Act repositions rural employment as a strategic instrument for empowerment, inclusive growth and the creation of a prosperous and resilient Rural Bharat, fully aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.
Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB–G RAM G) Bill, 2025: How is it a milestone in rural employment?
The Act enhances the statutory wage employment guarantee to 125 days per financial year for rural households. It seeks to advance empowerment, inclusive growth, convergence of development initiatives and saturation-based delivery, thereby strengthening the foundation for a prosperous, resilient and self-reliant Rural Bharat. The Act provides a statutory guarantee of at least 125 days of wage employment per rural household in each financial year to households whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work (Section 5(1)). This enhancement over the earlier 100-day entitlement significantly strengthens livelihood security, work predictability, and income stability for rural households, while also enabling them to contribute more effectively to national development.To facilitate adequate availability of agricultural labour during peak sowing and harvesting seasons, the Act empowers States to notify an aggregated pause period aggregating to sixty days in a financial year (Section 6).The full 125-day employment guarantee remains intact, to be provided during the remaining period, ensuring a calibrated balance that supports both agricultural productivity and worker security.
The Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, represents a decisive step towards renewing and strengthening India’s rural employment framework in line with the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.By enhancing the statutory wage employment guarantee to 125 days per financial year, the Act reinforces the right to demand employment while deepening decentralised, participatory governance. It integrates transparent, rule-based funding, accountability mechanisms, technology-enabled inclusion and convergence-driven development to ensure that rural employment not only provides income security but also contributes to sustainable livelihoods, resilient assets and long-term rural prosperity.The Act does not dilute the right to demand employment. On the contrary, Section 5(1) places a clear statutory obligation on the Government to provide not less than 125 days of guaranteed wage employment to eligible rural households. The expansion of guaranteed days, together with strengthened accountability and grievance redressal mechanisms, reinforces the enforceability of this right.The shift to normative allocations pertains to budgeting and fund-flow mechanisms and does not affect the legal entitlement to employment. Sections 4(5) and 22(4) ensure rule-based, predictable allocations while retaining the statutory obligation to provide employment or unemployment allowance.The Act does not centralise planning or execution. Sections 16 to 19 vest planning, implementation and monitoring authority in Panchayats, Programme Officers and District authorities at appropriate tiers. What is integrated at the national level is visibility, coordination and convergence, not local decision-making.
The Act is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, to be notified and operationalised by the State Governments in accordance with the provisions of the Act.The cost-sharing pattern is 60:40 between the Centre and States, 90:10 for North Eastern and Himalayan States, and 100% central funding for Union Territories without legislatures.Funding is provided through State-wise normative allocations based on objective parameters prescribed in the Rules (Sections 4(5) and 22(4)), ensuring predictability, fiscal discipline, and sound planning, while fully preserving statutory entitlements to employment and unemployment allowance.The administrative expenditure ceiling has been enhanced from 6% to 9%, enabling improved staffing, training, technical capacity and field-level support, and strengthening the ability of institutions to deliver outcomes effectively.
(With inputs from ANI)
