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Authored By: Neha, University Institute of Legal Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Research Writer at Law Audience®,

Edited By: Mr. Varun Kumar, Advocate, Himachal, Punjab & Haryana and Founder at Law Audience.

The Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), commonly known as the VB G RAM G Bill, 2025, represents the most fundamental restructuring of India’s rural safety net in twenty years. Enacted in December 2025, it repeals and replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005. The mission shifts rural employment from a “poverty relief” model to a “productivity-linked” mission, aligning with the national vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.

What is VB–G RAM G?

VB–G RAM G is a new statutory framework that seeks to:

• Replace MGNREGA with a development-oriented employment and livelihood mission
• Integrate wage employment with durable rural assets, infrastructure, and livelihood security
• Strengthen local planning through Panchayats
• Ensure convergence with agriculture, water conservation, and poverty-reduction programmes

Unlike MGNREGA, which primarily functioned as a rights-based safety net, VB–G RAM G is designed as a mission-linked, outcomes-focused rural employment system.

Historical Context

The journey of rural employment in India has moved from ad-hoc relief to a statutory right, and now toward integrated infrastructure creation.

Early Phase (1960s–1980s): Programs like the Rural Manpower Programme and Jawahar Rozgar Yojana provided wage employment but lacked legal backing and faced massive leakages.

MGNREGA Era (2005–2025): For 20 years, MGNREGA provided a statutory 100-day work guarantee. While it provided a safety net, it faced criticism for creating “unproductive assets” (e.g., pits that wash away in rain), causing farm labor shortages, low asset quality (unproductive works), corruption in muster rolls, and a growing disconnect with the modern digital economy.

The 2025 Pivot: The Bill was introduced by Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and received Presidential assent in late December 2025, marking the official birth of the “Mission Mode” era for rural livelihoods.

Overview of the Bill
The Act introduces five structural pillars that redefine rural work:

• Enhanced Guarantee: Increases the statutory entitlement from 100 days to 125 days of wage employment per financial year.
• Agricultural Pause: Empowers States to pause public works for up to 60 days during peak sowing and harvesting seasons. This ensures that farmers have enough labor and prevents wage inflation during critical periods.
• The “National Stack”: All works are integrated into the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack, linking village-level plans with the PM Gati Shakti national master plan.
• Four Priority Verticals:
  1. Water Security: Recharging groundwater and irrigation.
  2. Core Infrastructure: Rural roads and connectivity.
  3. Livelihood Assets: Warehouses, drying yards, and markets.
  4. Climate Mitigation: Works to counter extreme weather events.
• Tech-Driven Governance: Uses AI-enabled fraud detection, biometric authentication, and GPS-tagged monitoring to eliminate “ghost workers.”

The Political Landscape

The Bill has become a significant point of contention between the Treasury and Opposition benches:

• The “Name Change” Controversy: A major political flashpoint is the removal of “Mahatma Gandhi” from the statutory title. The government describes it as a move toward a broader “National Mission,” while the Opposition views it as an attempt to erase the legacy of the previous administration.
• Fiscal Federalism: Under the new 60:40 funding ratio (90:10 for Himalayan/NE states), States now bear a significant portion of the wage bill. Critics and some allies (like the TDP) have raised concerns that poorer states may struggle to pay workers, leading to regional inequality.
• “Right to Work” vs. “Budgetary Allocation”: The Opposition argues that by moving to a “Centrally Sponsored Scheme,” the government is replacing a worker’s legal right to demand work with a system dependent on pre-allocated budgets from the Centre.

• The “Rights vs. Budget” Debate: The Opposition (Congress, TMC, DMK) has criticized the shift from a “demand-driven” model to a “normative allocation” (budget-capped) model. They argue this dilutes the “Right to Work” by making it dependent on Union-notified funds.

Way Forward

The success of the mission depends on how well village-level projects (VGPPs) are integrated with the national spatial planning platform to ensure assets are useful for the broader economy. The Bill includes provisions for “Livelihood Missions,” suggesting that workers should eventually be skilled up to move from unskilled manual labor to semi-skilled technical roles in rural MSMEs. With mandatory biometric authentication and AI monitoring, the government must ensure that poor connectivity in “shadow areas” does not lead to the exclusion of the most vulnerable workers.

For the VB G RAM G Mission to succeed, the focus must shift from “man-days generated” to “asset quality” like, future works must prioritize climate-smart assets to protect rural incomes from the increasing frequency of floods and droughts; the mission should act as a bridge, helping unskilled workers transition into semi-skilled roles in the rural MSME and infrastructure sectors and; the Centre need to provide flexible “performance grants” to States that manage the 60:40 cost-sharing effectively without compromising on workers’ wages.

Conclusion: A Paradigm Shift in Rural Resilience

The VB G RAM G Bill, 2025 is more than a mere rebranding of a legacy scheme; it is a structural pivot from “welfare as relief” to “welfare as investment.” By expanding the work guarantee to 125 days, the Act acknowledges the growing aspirations of rural India while simultaneously imposing a stricter, productivity-first discipline through the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack.

However, the road to Viksit Bharat @2047 is not without its hurdles. The success of this legislative overhaul hinges on three critical factors: Fiscal Coordination, Technological Inclusion and Asset Quality.

Ultimately, the VB G RAM G Bill represents a bold bet that rural India is ready to move beyond a safety net and onto a springboard. If implemented with federal sensitivity and technical precision, it could transform the Indian countryside from a site of distress migration into a hub of productive, climate-resilient economic activity.

References

• Viksit_Bharat–Guarantee_for_Rozgar_and_Ajeevika_Mission_(Gramin)_VB–G_RAM_G_Bill,2025.pdf
• Press Release:Press Information Bureau
• VB–G RAM G Bill 2025 – The Prayas India
• Parliament Clears VB-G Ram G Bill – GKToday