Viksit Bharat- G RAM G Bill 2025

Context

• The Viksit Bharat- G RAM G Bill, 2025 replaces MGNREGA with a new statutory framework aligned with Viksit Bharat 2047.
• The employment guarantee is enhanced to 125 days per rural household, strengthening income security
• Links wage employment with durable rural infrastructure across 4 priority areas.
• Strengthens decentralised planning through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans and nationally integrated through the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack.
• The shift to normative funding and a centrally sponsored structure improves    predictability, accountability and Centre-State partnership.

Introduction

Rural employment has been a cornerstone of India’s social protection framework for nearly two decades. Since its enactment in 2005, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) played a key role in providing wage employment, stabilising rural incomes and creating basic infrastructure. Over time, however, the structure and objectives of rural India have evolved significantly. Rising incomes, expanded connectivity, widespread digital penetration and diversified livelihoods have altered the nature of rural employment needs.

Against this backdrop, the Government has proposed the Viksit Bharat- Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, also referred to as Viksit Bharat- G RAM G Bill, 2025. The Bill represents a comprehensive statutory overhaul of MGNREGA, aligning rural employment with the long-term vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, while strengthening accountability, infrastructure outcomes and income security.

Background of Rural Employment and Development Policy in India

Since Independence, India’s rural development strategy has mainly aimed at tackling poverty, improving farm productivity, and creating jobs for surplus and underemployed rural workers. Over time, wage employment programmes became an important way to provide income support to rural households while also building basic infrastructure like roads, water bodies, and community assets. These programmes kept evolving as rural economic and social conditions changed.

The journey of wage employment schemes in India happened in several stages. In the early years, programmes such as the Rural Manpower Programme in the 1960s and the Crash Scheme for Rural Employment in 1971 were launched to deal with unemployment. During the 1980s and 1990s, more organised efforts followed, including the National Rural Employment Programme and the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme. These schemes were later merged into Jawahar Rozgar Yojana in 1993 to improve coordination, and then further combined into the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana in 1999 to expand coverage and effectiveness.

Alongside these, schemes like the Employment Assurance Scheme focused on providing work during lean agricultural seasons, while the Food for Work Programme linked employment with food security. A significant turning point came with the Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Act of 1977, which introduced the idea that employment could be a legal right. Building on all these experiences, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was enacted in 2005, creating a nationwide, rights-based framework to ensure rural employment.

MGNREGA Evolution and the Limits of Incremental Reform

• Purpose of MGNREGA:
  • MGNREGA was launched to improve livelihood security by guaranteeing at least 100 days of wage employment every year to rural households willing to do unskilled manual work.
• Improvements over time:
  • Several administrative and technological reforms strengthened its implementation.
  • Women’s participation increased steadily, rising from 48% (2013–14) to 58.15% (2025–26).
  • Aadhaar seeding expanded significantly, and the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS) was widely adopted.
  • Electronic wage payments became almost universal, improving transparency.
  • Monitoring improved through a large increase in geo-tagged assets.
  • A growing share of assets were created as individual household assets, rather than only community works.
• Role of field-level staff:
  • Field functionaries played a crucial role in sustaining implementation.
  • They ensured continuity and scale despite limited staff and administrative resources.
• Persistent challenges:
  • Monitoring revealed serious gaps in several states.
  • Issues included works not found on the ground, mismatch between expenditure and physical progress, and use of machines in labour-intensive works.
  • Digital attendance systems were often bypassed.
  • Over time, misappropriation accumulated.
  • After the pandemic, only a small share of households completed the full 100 days of work.
• Overall assessment:
  • While delivery mechanisms improved, the existing MGNREGA framework reached its structural limits.
• Response through new legislation:
  • The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Gramin Bill seeks a comprehensive legislative reset.
  • It raises the administrative expenditure ceiling from 6% to 9%.
• Expected benefits of the new framework:
  • More resources for staffing, remuneration, training, and technical capacity.
  • A shift towards a more professional and people-centred implementation system.
  • Stronger administrative capacity to improve planning, execution, service delivery, and accountability.
  • Better chances of achieving programme objectives consistently at the village level.

Rationale for a New Statutory Framework

The need for reform is also rooted in broader socio-economic changes. MGNREGA was built in 2005, but rural India has transformed. Poverty levels declined from 27.1 per cent in 2011-12 to 5.3 per cent in 2022-23, supported by rising consumption, improved financial access, and expanded welfare coverage. With rural livelihoods becoming more diversified and digitally integrated, the open-ended and demand-driven design of MGNREGA no longer aligns fully with contemporary rural realities.

The Viksit Bharat- G RAM G Bill, 2025 responds to this context by modernising rural employment guarantees, strengthening accountability, and aligning employment creation with long term infrastructure and climate resilience goals.

Key Features of the Viksit Bharat- G RAM G Bill, 2025

• Guaranteed employment:
  • The Bill provides 125 days of wage employment per rural household each year to households whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual work.
  • This enhances income security, going beyond the earlier 100-day guarantee.
• Balancing agriculture and employment:
  • An aggregated 60-day no-work period is built into the system.
  • This ensures that agricultural labour remains available during peak sowing and harvesting seasons.
• Work availability:
  • Workers are assured their full 125 days of employment within the remaining 305 days of the year.
  • This arrangement benefits both farmers (labour availability) and labourers (stable income).
• Wage payment system:
  • Daily wages must be paid on a weekly basis, or
  • At the latest within 15 days (a fortnight) after the work is completed.
• Linking employment with development:
  • Employment generation is closely linked with infrastructure creation, ensuring long-term benefits.
• Four priority areas of work:
  • Water security: works related to water conservation, harvesting, and management.
  • Core rural infrastructure: creation and strengthening of essential rural assets.
  • Livelihood-related infrastructure: assets that directly support income-generating activities.
  • Climate resilience: special works aimed at mitigating the impacts of extreme weather events.

All assets created are aggregated into the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack, ensuring a unified, coordinated national development strategy. Planning is decentralised through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans, which are prepared locally and spatially integrated with national systems such as PM Gati Shakti.

MGNREGA vs VIKSIT BHARAT- G RAM G Bill, 2025

The new Bill represents a major upgrade over MGNREGA, fixing structural weaknesses while enhancing employment, transparency, planning, and accountability.

The Financial Architecture

The shift from a central sector scheme to a centrally sponsored framework reflects the fact that rural employment and asset creation are essentially local activities that require active involvement of states and local institutions. Under the new structure, both costs and responsibilities are shared between the Centre and the states through a norm-based allocation system, which creates stronger incentives for effective implementation and helps prevent misuse. Planning is firmly anchored in local realities through Gram Panchayat Plans, ensuring that works respond to regional needs. At the same time, the Centre continues to set standards and guidelines, while states carry out implementation with accountability. This cooperative arrangement between the Centre and states enhances efficiency, strengthens ownership, and leads to better outcomes on the ground.

The total estimated annual requirement of funds on wage, material, and administrative components is Rs.1,51,282 crore, including the State share. Of this, the estimated Central share is Rs.95,692.31 crore. This transition does not impose an undue financial burden on states. The funding structure is calibrated to state capacity, with a standard cost-sharing ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and states, enhanced support of 90:10 for North Eastern and Himalayan states, and 100 per cent central funding for Union Territories without legislatures. States were already bearing a share of material and administrative costs under the earlier framework, and the move to predictable normative allocations further supports sound budgeting. Provisions for additional assistance to states during disasters and stronger oversight mechanisms also help reduce long term losses arising from misappropriation, reinforcing fiscal sustainability alongside accountability.

Benefits of the Viksit Bharat- G RAM G Bill

• The Bill strengthens the rural economy by combining job creation with the building of useful and long-lasting assets.
• This approach helps raise household incomes and makes rural families more resilient to shocks.
• Water-related works are given top priority, which supports agriculture and helps in groundwater recharge.
• Investment in core rural infrastructure such as roads and connectivity improves access to markets and services.
• Livelihood-related infrastructure like storage facilities, local markets, and production assets allows households to diversify their sources of income.
• Climate resilience is improved through works focused on water harvesting, flood control, drainage, and soil conservation.
• The guarantee of 125 days of employment increases annual household earnings.
• Higher incomes lead to greater consumption at the village level, boosting the local economy.
• Assured work opportunities help reduce distress-driven migration.
• The system is supported by digital attendance, timely wage payments, and data-based planning, which together improve transparency and effectiveness.

Farmers benefit from assured labour availability through state-notified pauses in public works during peak sowing and harvesting seasons, prevention of wage inflation, and improved irrigation, storage, and connectivity. Labourers gain from higher potential earnings, predictable work through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans, secure digital wage payments, direct benefits from the assets they help create, and a mandatory unemployment allowance. Where work is not provided, a daily unemployment allowance becomes payable after 15 days, with liability resting on the States. The rates and conditions are to be prescribed through rules, ensuring flexibility while safeguarding workers’ rights and promoting the timely provision of employment.

Implementing and Monitoring Authorities

The Bill establishes a clear institutional framework to ensure coordinated, accountable, and transparent implementation of the Mission across national, State, district, block, and village levels.

• Central and State Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Councils provide policy guidance, review implementation, and strengthen accountability.
• National and State Steering Committees drive strategic direction, convergence, and performance review.
• Panchayati Raj Institutions lead planning and execution, with Gram Panchayats implementing at least half of the works in terms of cost.
• District Programme Coordinators and Programme Officers manage planning, compliance, payments, and social audits.
• Gram Sabhas play a strengthened role in conducting social audits and ensuring transparency through access to all records.

Transparency, Accountability, and Social Protection

The Bill equips the Central Government with clear enforcement powers to ensure compliance and protect public funds. It authorises the Centre to investigate complaints relating to implementation, suspend fund releases where serious irregularities are detected, and direct corrective or remedial measures to address deficiencies. These provisions strengthen accountability across the system, maintain financial discipline, and enable timely intervention to prevent misuse.

The Bill also establishes a comprehensive transparency framework covering every stage of implementation. It enables the use of artificial intelligence and biometric authentication to identify irregularities early, supported by Central and State Steering Committees that provide continuous guidance and coordination. A focused approach through four clearly defined rural development verticals allows closer tracking of outcomes. Panchayats are assigned an enhanced role in supervision, complemented by GPS and mobile-based monitoring of works in real time. Real-time MIS dashboards and weekly public disclosures ensure public visibility, while social audits mandated at least once every six months reinforce community participation and trust.

Conclusion

The Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025 marks a clear and purposeful shift in India’s approach to rural employment. While MGNREGA delivered important achievements over the years—such as higher participation, greater inclusion of women, increased digitisation, and improved transparency—its impact was constrained by long-standing structural and administrative limitations. Issues related to implementation capacity, monitoring, and the inability to consistently provide full employment revealed the limits of the earlier framework.

The new Bill builds carefully on these experiences. Instead of discarding past gains, it strengthens them by correcting systemic weaknesses and introducing a more modern, accountable, and outcome-oriented design. By expanding the guaranteed number of workdays, linking employment more closely with productive and climate-resilient asset creation, and prioritising infrastructure that directly supports agriculture and livelihoods, the Bill moves beyond short-term relief towards long-term rural transformation.

At the same time, the emphasis on robust digital governance—through attendance systems, wage payments, and data-driven planning—aims to improve efficiency, reduce leakages, and enhance accountability at every level. By aligning rural employment with broader national development priorities, the Bill repositions wage employment not merely as a welfare measure, but as a strategic tool for sustainable economic growth, reduced migration, and resilient rural livelihoods. In doing so, it fully aligns rural employment policy with the long-term vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, where inclusive growth and strong village economies form the foundation of national progress.