New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu has given her assent to the Viksit Bharat – Gramin Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Rural) (VB–G RAM G) Bill 2025, paving the way for a new legal rural employment framework to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
With the President’s approval, the VB–G RAM G Act will increase the legal employment guarantee to 125 days in every financial year, further strengthening the legal assurance of work under the rural employment program. The bill was earlier passed by Parliament. What are its features?
This Act provides a statutory guarantee of at least 125 days of wage employment to every rural household in each financial year. This increase, compared to the previously available 100 days of employment entitlement, provides greater livelihood security to rural families, makes work more predictable, and stabilizes their income.
Balanced provisions between agriculture and rural wages
To facilitate the availability of agricultural labor for agriculture-related activities during peak sowing and harvesting seasons, this Act empowers states to notify a consolidated break period of up to 60 days in a financial year.
The Act mandates that wages be paid on a weekly basis or, in any case, within fifteen days of the completion of work. It removes the previously disqualifying provisions regarding unemployment allowance and reinstates it as a meaningful statutory safeguard.
Changes in the bill’s funding mechanism
This bill also brings about a significant change in the funding mechanism. Unlike MGNREGA, where the wage component was entirely borne by the central government, the VB-G RAM G framework mandates shared financing between the center and the states. Under this, the wage burden will be shared 60 percent by the central government and 40 percent by the state government. This includes livelihood-related infrastructure, rural infrastructure, water, and climate, in order to develop a framework for rural development.
