MP Biplab Kumar Deb Attends Parliamentary Standing Committee Meeting in Kochi
Lok Sabha Passes Viksit Bharat G RAM G Bill, Replacing MGNREGA
Dec 18, 2025The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, marking a major overhaul of India’s rural employment framework. The new legislation replaces the two-decade-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, and aims to align rural development with the national vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.
Under the Bill, every rural household will be entitled to a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in a financial year, provided adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work. The Centre and states will share the cost in a 60:40 ratio for most states, while North-Eastern and Himalayan states will follow a 90:10 funding pattern. State governments will continue to bear responsibility for paying unemployment allowance and compensation.
The legislation places strong emphasis on technology-driven governance. It provides for biometric authentication in transactions, the use of geospatial technology for planning and monitoring works, mobile application-based dashboards for real-time tracking, and weekly public disclosure mechanisms. All projects undertaken under the scheme will be consolidated into the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack, creating a unified national framework for rural public works.
Replying to the debate, Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said rural development remains central to government policy. He highlighted that the Narendra Modi-led government has significantly expanded the scale of rural employment spending and job creation. According to him, while the UPA government spent ₹2.13 lakh crore under MGNREGA and generated 1,660 crore man-days of employment between 2006–07 and 2013–14, the NDA government has spent over ₹8.53 lakh crore and created 3,210 crore man-days of employment.
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