Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025: A New Era in Rural Employment

 

Introduction

 

In December 2025, India witnessed a landmark legislative transformation with the passage of the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, commonly known as VB–G RAM G (or "Viksit Bharat – G RAM G"). Introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 16, 2025, and passed by Parliament on December 18, 2025, this legislation represents a decisive shift in the nation's rural employment policy. The Act replaces the nearly two-decade-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, reframing India's approach to rural livelihoods in alignment with the ambitious Viksit Bharat @2047 vision.

 

The Evolution from MGNREGA to VB–G RAM G

 

India's journey toward structured rural employment began in the post-independence era with schemes like the Rural Manpower Programme and later evolved through the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana. MGNREGA, enacted in 2005, was a watershed moment as the world's largest rights-based employment programme, guaranteeing 100 days of wage employment to rural households. While MGNREGA achieved significant milestones in participation, digitisation, and transparency, persistent structural weaknesses—including delayed wage payments, administrative bottlenecks, and misaligned incentives—limited its effectiveness.

 

The VB–G RAM G Act addresses these challenges through a comprehensive legislative reset, designed to transform rural employment from a pure distress-relief mechanism into a productivity-linked framework that contributes meaningfully to India's developmental goals.

 

Key Features and Enhancements

 

Enhanced Employment Guarantee

 

The most notable change is the increase in guaranteed employment days from 100 to 125 days per financial year for every rural household whose adult members volunteer for unskilled manual work. This enhancement directly responds to the persistent demand for extended employment opportunities, particularly in drought-prone and resource-constrained regions.

 

Planning Framework Aligned with National Priorities

 

Unlike its predecessor, the VB–G RAM G Act institutionalises a structured, participatory planning process. Gram Panchayats are now mandated to prepare Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans (VGPPs) that aggregate into the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack. These plans focus on four thematic domains:

 

Water Security – Emphasising water-related works, including watershed development, groundwater recharge, and irrigation infrastructure

Core Rural Infrastructure – Roads, connectivity, and essential community assets

Livelihood-Related Infrastructure – Supporting farm and non-farm productivity

Climate Resilience – Works addressing extreme weather events and climate adaptation

 

Critically, these plans are integrated with the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, ensuring coordination across sectors and eliminating siloed development efforts.

 

Institutional Reforms

 

The Act establishes a multi-tiered governance structure:

 

Central and State Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Councils provide policy guidance and oversight

National Level Steering Committee offers high-level oversight and recommends normative allocations to states

State Level Steering Committees ensure convergence with other programmes and coordinate with national priorities

 

This framework ensures that decentralised planning is no longer ad hoc or episodic but becomes a structured, continuous process with clear accountability mechanisms.

 

Financial and Administrative Changes

 

Centrally Sponsored Scheme Structure

 

The VB–G RAM G Act transitions the programme to a centrally sponsored scheme with a revised fund-sharing pattern. The Central and State Governments now share costs (wages, materials, and administrative expenses) in a 60:40 ratio for most states, while North-eastern and Himalayan states continue with the more favourable 90:10 arrangement. This represents a shift from MGNREGA's previous framework, where the Centre bore the entire wage burden.

 

Normative Allocation and State Responsibility

 

The Central Government determines state-wise normative allocations each financial year based on prescribed parameters. Crucially, State Governments must bear any expenditure exceeding these allocations, incentivising efficient planning and implementation while ensuring fiscal discipline.

 

Increased Administrative Flexibility

 

Recognising that administrative constraints often hamper MGNREGA's effectiveness, the Act increases the administrative expenditure ceiling from 6% to 10%, providing states with greater resources for programme management, monitoring, and capacity building.

 

Agricultural Season Considerations

 

The Act introduces a provision requiring States to announce in advance a 60-day pause period during peak agricultural seasons (sowing and harvesting). This ensures that employment generation does not compete with farming activities, preventing labour shortages during critical agricultural periods.

 

Technology and Transparency

 

The VB–G RAM G Act embraces technological innovation to enhance transparency and efficiency:

 

Biometric authentication for all transactions

Geospatial technology for planning and monitoring assets

Mobile application-based dashboards for real-time tracking of work and payments

Weekly public disclosure systems ensure transparency

 

These measures build upon MGNREGA's successes in digitisation while addressing persistent gaps in implementation monitoring.

 

Significance and Forward Vision

 

The VB–G RAM G Act, 2025, marks more than a legislative upgrade—it represents a philosophical shift in India's rural development approach. With rural poverty declining from 25.7% in 2011–12 to nearly 5% in 2023–24, the context for rural employment has fundamentally changed. The Act acknowledges that while safety nets remain essential, the focus must now expand toward empowerment, convergence, and saturation-based delivery.

 

By aligning rural employment with the broader Viksit Bharat @2047 vision, the legislation ensures that every work created contributes to durable asset formation, climate resilience, and sustainable livelihoods. The emphasis on water security, in particular, addresses India's most pressing rural challenge while creating productive infrastructure.

 

Conclusion

 

The Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, stands as a testament to India's commitment to evolving its welfare architecture in response to changing realities. By enhancing the employment guarantee to 125 days, strengthening institutional frameworks, and embedding rural employment within a comprehensive national development strategy, the Act paves the way for a more resilient, self-reliant rural Bharat.

 

As this legislation takes effect across India's villages, its success will ultimately be measured not merely by person-days generated, but by the transformative impact on rural livelihoods, infrastructure, and the dignity of work. The journey from MGNREGA to VB–G RAM G reflects India's ongoing endeavour to balance social protection with economic productivity—a balance essential for realising the dream of a truly developed nation by 2047.