New Delhi | The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025 that seeks to replace the existing rural employment law MGNREGA is set to be introduced in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing Winter session of Parliament.
According to a copy of the Bill, it will provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work.
Within six months from the date of commencement of the VB-G RAM G Act, states will have to make a scheme consistent with the provisions of the new law.
Under this centrally sponsored scheme, the financial liability would be shared between the Centre and the state governments. It would be 90:10 for the Northeastern states and Himalayan states and 60:40 for all other states and Union territories with legislature. For the UTs without legislature, the whole cost would be borne by the Centre.
The MGNREGS was a 100 per cent centrally sponsored scheme.
While MGNREGS was a demand-driven scheme with the Union government bound to allocate more money if demand for work was there, under the proposed scheme, the Centre would determine state-wise normative allocation for each financial year. Any expenditure incurred by a state in excess would be borne by the state government.
The wage rate would be specified by the Central government through a notification. The Bill says it should not be less than the prevailing wage rates under the MGNREGS.
Until a wage rate is notified by the Centre, MGNREGS wage rates will continue to apply in the areas covered by the new Act.
Unemployment allowance would be paid if an applicant is not provided work within 15 days, which will have to be paid by the state government, according to the Bill. The amount should not be less than one-fourth of the notified wage rate for the first 30 days during the financial year and not less than half of the wage rate for the remaining period of the financial year.
The new Act focuses on four major types of works -- water security (conservation, irrigation, rejuvenation of water bodies, afforestation, etc); core rural infrastructure (activities like construction and upgradation of rural roads, Panchayat Bhawans, Anganwadi, etc); livelihood-related infrastructure creation (creation of assets to enhance rural likelihood like training centres, rural haats, grain storage, etc); and climate adaptation (activities related to disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation).
The Bill also provides for facilitating adequate availability of agricultural labour during peak agricultural seasons, and says the state shall notify a period covering the peak agricultural seasons of sowing and harvesting, during which works under this Act shall not be undertaken.
Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in the statement of purpose of the Bill, said MGNREGA has provided guaranteed wage-employment to rural households over the past 20 years.
However, "further strengthening has become necessary in view of the significant socio-economic transformation witnessed in the rural landscape driven by widespread coverage of the social security interventions and saturation-oriented implementation of major government schemes", he said.
While the MGNREGA focused on the goal to "enhance the livelihood security", the new Bill says it aims to promote "empowerment, growth, convergence and saturation for a prosperous and resilient rural Bharat".
A comprehensive digital ecosystem, including biometric authentication at various levels, global positioning system or mobile-based worksite monitoring, real-time management information system dashboards, proactive public disclosures, and use of artificial intelligence for planning, audits and fraud risk mitigation, will be used to modernise governance, accountability and citizen engagement, the bill stated.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, better known as MGNREGA, aims at enhancing the livelihood security of households in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
The Winter session of Parliament, which started on December 1, will conclude on December 19.
New Delhi | The Congress on Monday strongly objected to the bill on replacing MGNREGA, saying erasing Mahatma Gandhi's name shows how "hollow and hypocritical" Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gestures of paying homage to the Father of the Nation are.
The opposition party alleged that the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025, "attacks the soul" of rights-based guarantee by replacing it with a scheme "stacked against" the states and workers and defies the ideals of Mahatama Gandhi.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor questioned the renaming of the scheme, saying the concept of Gram Swaraj and the ideal of Ram Rajya were never competing forces but they were the twin pillars of Gandhi's consciousness, and replacing the Mahatma's name in a scheme for the rural poor ignores this profound symbiosis.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said this is not just about changing the name of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), but is a "conspiracy by the BJP-RSS to dismantle MGNREGA".
"Erasing Gandhi's name on the centenary of the RSS shows how hollow and hypocritical Modi's gestures of paying homage to Bapu on foreign soil truly are," Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.
"Only a government that resents the rights of the poor would attack MGNREGA. The Congress party will strongly oppose any decision by this arrogant government that is anti-poor and anti-labour, both in Parliament and on the streets," he said.
"We will not allow the rights of millions of poor people, labourers, and workers to be snatched away by this government," Kharge said.
Tharoor, whose stand has been at variance with that of his party on some occasions recently, said the controversy over renaming MGNREGA in the government's proposed new G-RAM-G Bill is unfortunate.
"His (Gandhi's) final breath was a testament to 'Ram'; let us not dishonour his legacy by creating a division where none existed," the Thiruvananthapuram MP said on X.
When a user asked whether he was objecting to the renaming or the controversy over it, Tharoor replied, "It's pretty clear that I am objecting to replacing the Mahatma's name..."
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also slammed the government over its move to change the name of MGNREGA, asking what the government's intention was behind removing the name of Mahatma Gandhi, who is the tallest leader not just in India but in the world.
Asked about the government's move, Priyanka Gandhi said, "Whenever the name of a scheme is changed, there are so many changes that have to be made in offices, stationery... for which money is spent. So, what is the benefit? Why is it being done?"
"Why is Mahatma Gandhi's name being removed. Mahatma Gandhi is considered the tallest leader not just in the country but in the world, so removing his name, I really don't understand what the objective is. What is their intention?" she told reporters in the Parliament House complex.
"Even when we are debating, it is on other issues, not the real issues of the people. Time is being wasted, money is being wasted, they are disrupting themselves," Priyanka Gandhi added.
Congress General Secretary in-charge (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said the entire opposition is demanding that the three far-reaching bills -- Higher Education Commission Bill, Atomic Energy Bill and G-RAM-G Bill -- be referred to the Standing Committees concerned.
"We are hopeful that in keeping with the best of Parliamentary traditions and practices, this demand will be agreed to by the Government. The Bills require deep study and wide consultations," Ramesh said.
The Bill is set to be introduced in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing Winter session of Parliament.
According to a copy of the Bill, it will provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work.
Within six months from the date of commencement of the VB-G RAM G Act, states will have to make a scheme consistent with the provisions of the new law.
The financial liability would be shared between the Centre and the state governments. It would be 90:10 for the Northeastern states and Himalayan states and 60:40 for all other states and Union territories with legislature. For the UTs without a legislature, the whole cost would be borne by the Centre.
The MGNREGS was a 100 per cent centrally sponsored scheme.
"The scheme, which will now be known as the Viksit Bharat Guarantee For Rozgar And Ajeevika Mission (Grameen), attacks the soul of a rights-based guarantee and replaces it with a conditional, centrally controlled scheme stacked against the states and workers.
"The same MGNREGA that became a lifeline for rural workers and strengthened the rural economy is being systematically destroyed; in fact, it's demolishing the right to work itself," the Congress said on X, adding the scheme will "now defy the very ideals of the Father of the Nation".
While MGNREGS was a demand-driven scheme with the Union government bound to allocate more money if demand for work was there, under the proposed scheme, the Centre would determine state-wise normative allocation for each financial year. Any expenditure incurred by a state in excess would be borne by the state government.
The wage rate would be specified by the central government through a notification. The Bill says it should not be less than the prevailing wage rates under the MGNREGS.
New Delhi | Opposition members on Monday protested against Hindi names for key legislations as Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill in the Lok Sabha.
Objecting to the introduction of the Bill, RSP(A) leader N K Premachandran said it was difficult for him to even pronounce the name, contending that the practice of naming Bills in Hindi was violative of Article 348(b) of the Constitution, which says legislations should have names in English.
Congress member Jothimani and DMK member T M Selvaganapathi also objected to the name of the Bill.
"I see this as an imposition of Hindi. Already, Tamil Nadu has been deprived of SSA funds just because we have opposed the three-language policy in the National Education Policy-2020," Jothimani said.
DMK leader T R Baalu also spoke against "imposition" of Hindi on southern states.
Earlier, the opposition had objected to the names Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, which replaced the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act, respectively.
The government faced similar protests when it moved the Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, which replaced the Aircraft Act of 1934.