The Narendra Modi-led government has introduced legislation to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005 with a new scheme titled the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, or VB–G RAM G. The Bill aims to establish a rural development framework aligned with the Viksit Bharat @2047 vision, providing a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in every financial year to each rural household.
This is for household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work, an increase from the 100-day guarantee under MGNREGA.
States to Share Costs
The new programme will focus on public works related to water security, core rural infrastructure, livelihood-linked infrastructure, and mitigation of extreme weather events, with projects aggregating into a proposed Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack. Unlike MGNREGA, which was fully funded by the Centre, VB–G RAM G will be implemented as a centrally sponsored scheme, increasing the financial burden on states.
Differential Funding, Farm Safeguard
The funding pattern will be 90:10 for North Eastern and Himalayan states and Union Territories such as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, and 60:40 for other states and Union Territories with legislatures. For the first time, the Bill bans scheme-related works during peak agricultural seasons to ensure the availability of farm labour.
