Parliament on Friday cleared the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) or VB-G Ram G Bill, 2025, with the Rajya Sabha passing the legislation hours after its approval in the Lok Sabha, amid strong opposition protests and repeated demands for scrutiny by a parliamentary committee. Earlier, the lower house passed the Bill on Thursday.Replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha, Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the new law substantially improves upon MGNREGA, which he described as having been “riddled with corruption and inefficiency”. He said the revamped scheme seeks to move beyond wage payments to focus on creation of durable rural assets, while also making implementation more transparent.Opposition members, led by Congress MPs, protested against the bill, alleging that the government had removed Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the rural employment guarantee framework.Also Read: MGNREGA to be replaced with VB–G Ram G: What it is and how it’s different — key FAQs answered As demands to refer the bill to a committee were rejected, opposition MPs entered the well of the House, tore copies of the bill and continued demonstrations until its passage.Rejecting the criticism, Chouhan said Mahatma Gandhi’s name was not part of the original 2005 legislation and was added only in 2009. Turning the charge back on the Congress, he said numerous schemes, institutions and awards had been named after members of the Nehru-Gandhi family, citing figures to underline his point.The minister said the government has allocated over Rs 1.5 lakh crore for the scheme, with the Centre’s share exceeding Rs 95,000 crore. Addressing concerns over states bearing 40% of the expenditure, he said both the Centre and states share responsibility for development.Chouhan accused the opposition of turning parliamentary debate into “bheedtantra and goondatantra” and criticised the conduct of Congress leaders during the discussion. Speaker Om Birla said 99 MPs participated in the eight-hour debate before the bill was passed.
