Kumar Bahukhandi
President Droupadi Murmu-File Photo
New Delhi : President Droupadi Murmu on Sunday December 21 , 2025 gave her assent to the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, which replaces the MGNREGA and has a provision for 125 days of wage employment for rural workers.
With the presidential assent, it now becomes the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025, and a notification in this regard was published in the Gazette of India. The Rural Development Ministry, in a statement, called it a decisive reform in India’s rural employment and development framework.
According to the government, the VB-G RAM G scheme, which has replaced Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, aims to establish a rural development framework aligned with the national vision of ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’.
Besides providing for 125 days of wage employment, the Act also facilitates adequate availability of agricultural labour during peak sowing and harvesting seasons by empowering states to notify a pause period aggregating to sixty days in a financial year, the Ministry said.
It stressed that the Act seeks to transform rural employment from a standalone welfare intervention into an integrated instrument of development.
The Bill was passed in the Parliament last week amid protests by the opposition.
The Congress, which continued its protests in various parts of the country against the new scheme on Sunday, accused the Modi government of “desecrating the groundbreaking law” MGNREGA in Parliament and said that two decades of progress have been overturned “without consultation” and by sidestepping all parliamentary conventions.
Dismissing criticism of the Bill, Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday alleged that misinformation is being spread about the new scheme, which he described as a step ahead of MGNREGA.
In a video posted on X, the minister said that over Rs 1,51,282 crore will be allocated for VB-G RAM G scheme to ensure adequate funds for rural employment.
“There is a conspiracy to misguide the country, and false information is being spread, while the truth is that the VB-G RAM G scheme is a step ahead of MGNREGA,” Chouhan said.
The ministry said the Act replaces MGNREGA with a modern statutory framework that enhances livelihood security and is aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.
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 India.
It mandates payment of wages on a weekly basis or, in any case, within fifteen days of completion of work. In cases of delay beyond the stipulated period, delay compensation will be payable.
The wage employment under the Act is explicitly aligned with the creation of durable public assets across four priority thematic domains -water security and water-related works, core rural infrastructure, livelihood-related infrastructure, and works to mitigate extreme weather events.
All works originate from Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans (VGPPs), prepared at the Gram Panchayat level through participatory processes and approved by the Gram Sabha.
These plans are digitally and spatially integrated with national platforms, including PM Gati Shakti.
“This integrated planning framework will enable Ministries and Departments to plan and implement works more effectively, avoid duplication and wastage of public resources, and accelerate development through saturation-based outcomes,” the Ministry said.
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.
The Ministry said the normative allocations pertain to budgeting and fund-flow mechanisms and does not affect the legal entitlement to employment, and would be based on objective parameters prescribed in the Rules, ensuring predictability, fiscal discipline, and sound planning, while fully preserving statutory entitlements to employment and unemployment allowance.
Administrative expenditure ceiling has been enhanced from 6 per cent to 9 per cent, enabling improved staffing, training, technical capacity and field-level support, and strengthening the ability of institutions to deliver outcomes effectively.
The ministry added that Technology under the Act is intended as an enabling mechanism, not a barrier.
(Source-PTI)
