Viksit Bharat- Guarantee For Rozgar And Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025

• 18 Dec 2025

For Prelims: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, PM Gati Shakti, Poverty 

For Mains: Rural employment policy in India, Rights-based vs supply-driven welfare models, Role of public works programmes in poverty reduction

Source:TH

Why in News?

The Ministry of Rural Development introduced the Viksit Bharat- Guarantee For Rozgar And Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025 in the Lok Sabha as an upgrade to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA).  

• The proposed law marks a fundamental shift from a rights-based, demand-driven rural employment scheme to a budget-capped, supply-driven framework aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047. 
• Rural poverty has declined sharply from 25.7% in 2011–12 to nearly 5% in 2023–24, reducing the need for MGNREGA as a pure distress-relief programme and warranting a shift towards productivity-linked employment.

Summary 

• The VB–G RAM G Bill, 2025 shifts from a universal, demand-driven right to work to a budget-capped, supply-driven model with planned asset creation. 
• While aimed at fiscal predictability and livelihood integration, it raises concerns over coverage, State finances, and income security for vulnerable rural households. 

What are the Key Provisions of the Viksit Bharat- Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025?

• Statutory Wage Employment Guarantee: Provides a legal guarantee of 125 days of wage employment per rural household per financial year to adult members willing to undertake unskilled manual work. 
• Conditional and Non-Universal Coverage: Unlike MGNREGA’s universal coverage, employment under the Bill will be available only in rural areas notified by the Union Government, making the guarantee conditional rather than nationwide. 
• Bottom-Up Planning through VGPPs: Mandates preparation of Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans (VGPPs) using spatial technology, aggregated at Block, District, and State levels, and integrated with PM Gati Shakti for coordinated infrastructure planning. 
• Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) Structure: Significantly increases the financial burden on States by revising the cost-sharing pattern to 60:40 for most States (from the earlier 10% share under MGNREGA), while retaining 90:10 only for North-Eastern and Himalayan States/UTs. 
  • State-wise allocations will be determined annually by the Union Government based on objective parameters, curtailing flexibility to expand spending in response to distress or rising demand. 

• Flexibility during Agricultural Seasons: The Bill empowers States to pause the programme for up to 60 days in a financial year during peak sowing and harvesting seasons, ensuring the availability of farm labour for agricultural activities. 
• Unemployment Allowance Provision: Mandates payment of unemployment allowance by State Governments if employment is not provided within 15 days of demand. 

What are the Expected Benefits of VB–G RAM G? 

• Labour Market Rationalisation: As per Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS 2022–23), nearly 45% of rural workers remain self-employed in low-productivity agriculture, with disguised unemployment persisting. VB–G RAM G Bill, 2025 supports farm productivity while balancing non-farm employment. 
• Fiscal Predictability and Better Planning: A budget-capped, supply-driven framework limits open-ended fiscal liabilities seen under MGNREGA. 
  • It enables advance planning of works, funds, and assets instead of reactive expenditure. 
• Improved Asset Quality and Productivity: The shift from distress-driven employment to planned asset creation through VGPPs, along with integration with PM Gati Shakti, can improve durability, convergence, and the long-term economic value of rural assets. 
• Greater State Ownership and Accountability: Higher State financial contribution may incentivise better supervision, timely completion, and quality control.  
  • It can also reduce moral hazard associated with a largely Centre-funded open-ended scheme. 
• Administrative Efficiency through Technology: Use of spatial planning, digital monitoring, and AI-based systems can reduce ghost beneficiaries and leakages, improving transparency and administrative efficiency when implemented inclusively. 

What are the Potential Challenges of VB–G RAM G? 

• Dilution of a Rights-Based Employment Guarantee: MGNREGA created a legal right to employment with unemployment allowance.  
  • VB-G RAM G shifts to administratively sanctioned, supply-driven work, weakening enforceability and labour security.risks becoming a discretionary welfare scheme, undermining predictability, and legal safeguards for workers. 
• Retreat from Progressive Welfare Commitments under Article 41: Article 41 places the right to work under Directive Principles, subject to State capacity. MGNREGA went beyond this by creating a statutory, justiciable right to work.  
  • VB–G RAM G aligns employment support more closely with State capacity, which critics see as a rollback of welfare guarantees. 
• Weakening of India’s Rural Shock-Absorber Mechanism: MGNREGA functioned as India’s largest rural safety net, especially during Covid-19, when employment peaked at ~389 crore person-days (2020–21).  
  • VB–G RAM G, with its budget-capped, supply-driven model, may weaken the shock-absorber role earlier provided by MGNREGA. 
• From Universal Entitlement to Selective Coverage: MGNREGA applied to all rural areas by default, ensuring universal access.  
  • VB–G RAM G restricts coverage to Union-notified rural areas, raising risks of exclusion, uneven development, and central bias.  
• Erosion of Year-Round Income Security: MGNREGA allowed demand-driven, year-round employment.  
  • However, VB–G RAM G introduces capped, time-bound work with “agricultural pause” provisions, potentially reducing income security for poor rural households.  
• Increased Fiscal Burden on States: VB–G RAM G increases the financial responsibility of States, which may strain poorer States, causing delayed wages, fewer workdays, and uneven implementation, and raising concerns of Union discretion in allocations.  
  • Centre argues that higher State stake improves ownership and accountability, replacing open-ended liabilities with predictable funding. 
• Cosmetic Expansion of Workdays without Structural Reform: Although VB–G RAM G raises the ceiling to 125 days, critics note that even under MGNREGA, most households did not receive 100 days, making the increase appear largely cosmetic without fixing implementation gaps.  
• Techno-Administrative Exclusion Risks: Mandatory biometrics, AI-based monitoring, and GPS-linked attendance under the VB–G RAM G risk excluding the poorest workers—especially older persons, migrants, and those in low-connectivity areas, by denying work for technical reasons rather than lack of need. 

Other Key Government Initiatives to Promote Rural Growth and Employment 

• Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM): Promotes self-employment through SHGs, financial inclusion, and livelihood diversification in rural areas. 
• Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY): Focuses on skill development and placement-linked employment for rural youth. 
• Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas: Provides property cards to rural households, enabling access to credit and investment. 
• PM Vishwakarma: Supports traditional artisans through skilling, toolkits, and credit linkage to generate rural non-farm employment. 

What Measures Can Be Adopted to Further Strengthen VB–G RAM G? 

• Hybrid Rights–Planning Model: Introduce a hybrid model where a minimum number of workdays remain demand-driven for vulnerable households, while additional employment is planned and supply-based. 
• Transparent and Inclusive Area Notification: Notify rural areas using transparent, data-driven criteria such as poverty pockets, climate vulnerability, and migration trends. 
  • Allow States limited discretionary expansion during localised distress, natural disasters, or agrarian downturns. Periodically review notified areas to avoid permanent exclusion. 
• Safeguards Against Tech Exclusion: Make technology assistive, not exclusionary, with offline alternatives and human oversight. Treat technical failures as administrative lapses, not worker defaults. 
• Outcome-Based Monitoring: Prioritise climate-resilient and income-generating assets under VGPPs rather than only infrastructure works. 
  • Track outcomes like income stability, asset durability, and skill transition, not just expenditure efficiency. 
• Crisis-Responsive Flexibility: Build automatic triggers for temporary expansion of workdays and budgets during economic or climate shocks. Preserve the scheme’s role as a rural stabiliser in extraordinary situations. 

Conclusion 

The reform reflects changing rural realities but risks weakening income security for the poorest. A balanced model that protects the right to work while creating productive, climate-resilient assets is crucial to achieve SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 8 (Decent Work). 

Drishti Mains Question: 

Evaluate the role of rural employment programmes in creating climate-resilient assets.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

1. What is the objective of the VB–G RAM G Bill, 2025?
It seeks to replace an open-ended, demand-driven employment guarantee with a budget-capped, supply-driven programme aligned with long-term rural development goals. 

2. How many days of wage employment are guaranteed per rural household under VB–G RAM G Bill, 2025?
The framework provides a statutory guarantee of125 days of unskilled wage employment per rural household per financial year.  

3. What are Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans (VGPPs)? 
VGPPs are bottom-up plans prepared using spatial technology, aggregated at higher levels and integrated with PM Gati Shakti for coordinated infrastructure planning.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)

Prelims 

Q. Among the following who are eligible to benefit from the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act”? (2011)

(a) Adult members of only the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households   

(b) Adult members of below poverty line (BPL) households   

(c) Adult members of households of all backward communities  

(d) Adult members of any household   

Ans: (d)

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Mains 

Q. “An essential condition to eradicate poverty is to liberate the poor from the process of deprivation.” Substantiate this statement with suitable examples. (2016)

Q. “Poverty alleviation programs in India remain mere showpieces until and unless they are backed up by political will.” Discuss with reference to the performance of the major poverty alleviation programmes in India. (2015)