India Overhauls Rural Employment with Viksit Bharat Bill 2025

The Union government has approved the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, widely referred to as the Viksit Bharat – G RAM G Bill, marking a comprehensive overhaul of India’s rural employment guarantee framework and laying out a new statutory regime to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005.[1][3]

From MGNREGA to Viksit Bharat – G RAM G

MGNREGA has, since 2005, provided a legally backed guarantee of 100 days of wage employment to rural households willing to undertake unskilled manual work, financed as a central sector scheme with the Union government bearing all wage costs and most of the material expenditure.[1][3] Over time, the scheme was credited with expanding rural employment, promoting transparency through digitisation, and supporting village-level infrastructure, while also facing persistent concerns about delays in payments, asset quality, and the adequacy of wage rates.[1]

The Viksit Bharat – G RAM G Bill, 2025 has been framed as a response to these longstanding structural and implementation challenges, while aligning rural employment policy with the government’s stated long-term vision of “Viksit Bharat 2047”.[1] It replaces the earlier legal framework with a new statutory guarantee that integrates employment generation more tightly with rural infrastructure, climate resilience, and livelihood assets.

According to the Ministry of Rural Development, the Bill represents “a comprehensive statutory overhaul” designed to modernise rural employment guarantees, strengthen accountability, and link wage work to durable asset creation in villages.[1] It was passed in the Lok Sabha by voice vote and subsequently cleared as the new principal law governing rural employment guarantees, thereby repealing MGNREGA.[3]

Core Employment Guarantee: 125 Days with Seasonal Pause

At the heart of the Viksit Bharat – G RAM G framework is an enhanced legal guarantee of wage employment for rural households.[1][3][5]

Under the new law, every eligible rural household will be entitled to a guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in a financial year, an increase from the earlier 100-day entitlement under MGNREGA.[1][3][5] Adult members of rural households who volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work will continue to form the core target group for this guarantee.[1] The employment will be provided on demand, with the statutory obligation on the implementing authorities to furnish work within a prescribed period or pay an unemployment allowance.[1]

The Bill introduces a new feature in the form of a mandated cumulative pause of up to 60 days in public works during peak agricultural seasons.[1][5] These “no-work” periods are to be notified by states to coincide with sowing and harvesting cycles, with the objective of ensuring the availability of labour for farm operations and preventing wage distortions in local agricultural labour markets.[1][5] The guarantee of 125 days will continue to apply within the remaining days of the year, ensuring that both agricultural employers and rural workers have clarity on work availability and timing.[1]

Payment timelines are legally specified. Wages are to be disbursed on a weekly basis and, in any case, not later than 15 days after the date on which the work was performed.[1] Where employment is not provided within the stipulated period after a valid demand, a daily unemployment allowance becomes payable after 15 days, with the liability resting on state governments, and further details to be prescribed in the rules.[1]

New Financial Architecture: Shift to Centrally Sponsored Model

The Viksit Bharat – G RAM G Bill introduces a significant change in the fiscal design of rural employment guarantees.[1][3][5]

Under MGNREGA, the Union government bore 100 per cent of the wage costs and 75 per cent of the material costs, while states were responsible for one quarter of material expenditure, administrative expenses, and the unemployment allowance.[3][5] The scheme operated as a central sector programme, with unit costs and financial norms set at the national level.[3]

Under the new law, the programme shifts to a centrally sponsored framework in which the Centre and states share all categories of expenditure, with the Union government covering 60 per cent and states covering 40 per cent of the total cost.[3][5] The Ministry of Rural Development has described this as a move designed to recognise the “inherently local nature of rural employment and asset creation” and to strengthen state-level accountability and ownership.[1]

The financial architecture includes a system of state-wise “normative allocations” to be determined each financial year by the Union government.[3] Within these allocations, states are expected to plan and implement works in line with the statutory guidelines. Any expenditure above the normative allocation is to be borne by the respective state, which is expected to act as an incentive for prudent planning and prevention of misuse.[1][3]

The new framework also envisages stronger links between financial flows and performance indicators, including adherence to digital attendance requirements, timely wage payments, quality standards for assets created, and compliance with social audit and transparency norms.[1]

Priority Work Categories and Infrastructure Focus

One of the defining features of the Viksit Bharat – G RAM G Bill is its explicit alignment of wage employment with four priority verticals of rural infrastructure and resilience.[1][5]

The Bill categorises admissible works into four broad groups:

• Water security and water-related works
• Core rural infrastructure and connectivity
• Livelihood infrastructure and productive assets
• Disaster resilience and climate adaptation

Water-related works, including water harvesting, groundwater recharge, irrigation support, and conservation structures, receive explicit priority, reflecting their central role in agriculture and rural livelihoods.[1][5] Investment in such assets is intended to improve medium-term agricultural productivity and reduce vulnerability to rainfall variability.

Core rural infrastructure includes roads, village connectivity, basic public utility infrastructure, and facilities that ease access to markets and essential services.[1] By linking wage employment to construction and upgradation of such infrastructure, the Bill seeks to ensure that the labour deployed under the programme contributes directly to long-term rural development outcomes.

Livelihood infrastructure broadly covers assets such as storage facilities, small markets, processing units, and other production-linked structures that can help rural households diversify income sources beyond casual wage labour.[1] These works are expected to support self-employment, micro-enterprises, and farm and non-farm value chains in villages.

Disaster resilience and climate adaptation works include flood drainage measures, soil and land conservation, drought mitigation structures, and related interventions intended to strengthen the resilience of rural areas to extreme weather events and environmental stress.[1][5] This reflects growing policy attention to climate risks in the rural development agenda.

Planning Framework: Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans

The planning architecture under the Viksit Bharat – G RAM G Bill is designed to deepen decentralisation and local participation, while standardising processes through digital tools.[1]

Gram Panchayats remain the primary planning units for identifying and prioritising works. The Bill mandates the preparation of integrated “Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans”, which are to consolidate employment demand, local development needs, and the four priority work categories within a medium-term planning horizon.[1]

These plans are expected to draw on village-level consultations, sectoral inputs from line departments, and data on resource gaps and climate vulnerabilities. They also link to district and state-level rural development strategies, creating a multi-tiered planning chain from village to state.[1]

The Bill further integrates planning with digital platforms. Work identification, approval, and monitoring will rely heavily on geotagging of assets, real-time attendance records, and electronic measurement and verification systems.[1] This approach is aimed at reducing duplication of works, ensuring geographical balance, and enabling more precise tracking of outcomes and financial utilisation.

Digital Governance, Transparency, and Social Accountability

Building on the digitisation achieved under MGNREGA, the new law embeds several measures intended to strengthen transparency, reduce leakages, and enhance monitoring.[1]

Digital attendance at worksites through time-stamped, geo-referenced systems is a core requirement, with the objective of ensuring that wage payments are tightly linked to verified days of work.[1] Wage disbursement will continue to be made directly into workers’ bank accounts through electronic platforms, with real-time tracking of transaction status.[1]

All sanctioned works are to be geo-tagged and photographed at multiple stages of completion, with data integrated into a central management information system that can be accessed by supervisory authorities and auditors.[1] The use of remote sensing and satellite imagery is envisaged for verifying asset creation and maintenance in selected works, particularly in the water and climate resilience categories.[1]

The Bill reiterates the importance of social audits and citizen oversight, drawing on the experience of social audit units created under MGNREGA.[1] States are required to maintain or strengthen independent social audit structures, which will regularly review records, verify worker registers and muster rolls, check asset quality, and publicly disclose findings at Gram Sabha meetings.

The statutory framework also provides for grievance redress mechanisms and timelines for response at multiple administrative levels, along with provisions for accountability where delays or irregularities are established.[1]

Implications for States and Local Governments

The shift from a fully centrally funded programme to a cost-sharing model has significant administrative and fiscal implications for state governments.

Under the 60:40 cost-sharing arrangement, states are expected to make regular budgetary allocations to meet their share of wage, material, administrative, and unemployment allowance costs.[3][5] This increases states’ exposure to programme expenditure but also grants them a more direct role in setting priorities within the national framework.

The normative allocation formula and the requirement that states bear expenditure beyond these limits are expected to shape how aggressively states expand works and how they phase projects across the financial year.[1][3] States with higher demand for wage employment may need to make policy choices on additional allocations if they intend to go beyond the central norms.

For local governments, particularly Gram Panchayats, the framework emphasizes greater responsibility for planning, record-keeping, and on-the-ground supervision. Panchayats will need to integrate Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans with other local development schemes, coordinate with multiple line departments, and maintain digital records that align with central information systems.[1]

Capacity building of Panchayat officials, technical staff, and community functionaries is therefore a central administrative requirement. The Bill envisages training programmes, standard operating procedures, and technical support systems to enable effective implementation at the village level.[1]

Impact on Rural Workers and Households

For rural workers and households, the Viksit Bharat – G RAM G Bill alters both the scale and structure of the employment guarantee regime.[1][3][5]

The increase in guaranteed days from 100 to 125 offers higher potential annual earnings for households that are able to access the full entitlement, subject to demand and availability of works.[1][3][5] Weekly or fortnightly wage payments through digital channels are intended to provide more predictable cash flows and reduce delays that have been a recurring concern in the earlier framework.[1]

The introduction of a mandated pause during peak agricultural seasons affects the timing of employment but is designed to ensure that rural households can combine farm labour and public works without conflict, and that wage rates across the two segments remain stable.[1][5] For landless labourers, the availability of wage work outside the agricultural peak period may help smooth incomes over the year, while for small and marginal farmers, the assurance of labour availability during sowing and harvesting is expected to support timely farm operations.[1]

The unemployment allowance mechanism continues in the new law, with states liable to pay a daily allowance if employment is not provided within 15 days of a valid demand, though the exact quantum and formulas are to be prescribed in subordinate legislation.[1] This provision retains the “on-demand” character of the guarantee and embeds a financial incentive for timely provision of work.

The integration of employment with productive and climate-resilient assets is expected, in policy terms, to yield indirect benefits for rural households through improved irrigation, storage, connectivity, and local infrastructure, which can support higher productivity and diversified livelihoods over time.[1]

Asset Quality, Maintenance, and Long-Term Outcomes

The new statute places particular emphasis on the quality, durability, and maintenance of assets created under the programme, responding to repeated concerns that some earlier works did not generate sustained economic or social value.[1]

Works are to be more tightly selected, with technical vetting, design standards, and cost norms that reflect longer life cycles and clear utility.[1] The four priority categories of works are structured to ensure that labour expenditure translates into assets with a measurable impact on water security, connectivity, productivity, and resilience.

Maintenance responsibilities are to be integrated into the planning stage. Gram Panchayats and line departments will be required to make explicit provisions or linkages for the upkeep of assets, particularly water structures, roads, and livelihood facilities, so that the benefits of public investment are preserved over time.[1]

The government’s policy narrative presents this focus on asset quality and maintenance as a key differentiator of Viksit Bharat – G RAM G compared to the earlier framework, aiming to shift from a predominantly consumption-oriented safety net towards a more infrastructure-linked, growth-supportive rural employment system.[1]

Administrative Preparation and Implementation Roadmap

The approval of the Viksit Bharat – G RAM G Bill triggers a series of administrative steps required for full implementation across the country.

Central rules under the Act will need to be notified, detailing operational guidelines on wage rates, unemployment allowance, worksite facilities, digital processes, social audit procedures, and grievance redress arrangements.[1] State governments will then issue their own rules and government orders to align existing structures, staff, and systems with the new statutory requirements.

Existing MGNREGA institutions such as state employment guarantee councils, social audit units, and district-level implementation machinery are expected to be re-purposed or reconstituted to function under the new law.[1] Field-level personnel, including Gram Rozgar Sevaks, Panchayat secretaries, engineers, and data entry operators, will undergo training on revised processes, new digital tools, and the expanded asset categories.

Information, education, and communication campaigns are anticipated to inform rural households about the revised entitlements, application procedures, and work categories under Viksit Bharat – G RAM G, ensuring continuity of access during the transition from the earlier framework.[1]

The central and state governments are also expected to synchronise Viksit Bharat – G RAM G planning and implementation with other flagship rural development and infrastructure schemes, so that works under the programme complement and fill gaps in broader sectoral investments.

Policy Positioning within the Viksit Bharat 2047 Vision

The government has located the Viksit Bharat – G RAM G Bill within its larger vision of achieving a “developed India” by 2047, with rural transformation as a core pillar of that objective.[1][3]

In the statement of objects and reasons, the Ministry of Rural Development notes that rural employment guarantees are being repositioned as a “strategic instrument” for sustainable growth, resilient livelihoods, and infrastructure-driven rural development.[1] The law seeks to combine the core element of guaranteed wage employment with a more explicit emphasis on outcomes such as water security, connectivity, climate resilience, and livelihood diversification.

Public statements emphasise the twin aims of income security and village-level development. The Union Rural Development Minister has stated in Parliament that the G RAM G framework is intended to ensure “all-round development of villages” and to support their “growth journey” towards the broader Viksit Bharat objective.[2][3]

The scheme guarantees employment while using public investment to create fully developed villages, thereby contributing to the vision of a developed India through developed villages.

In administrative terms, the Bill embeds this vision through its planning norms, asset categories, and the requirement that Gram Panchayat Plans and state implementation strategies align with long-term infrastructure and climate resilience goals.[1]

Key Distinctions from the Earlier Framework

The Viksit Bharat – G RAM G Bill introduces a set of notable changes relative to the MGNREGA framework in force since 2005.[1][3][5]

• Statutory guarantee increased from 100 to 125 days of wage employment per eligible rural household each financial year.
• Funding pattern shifted from a central sector scheme to a centrally sponsored model with a 60:40 Centre-state sharing ratio across all major cost components.
• Introduction of a cumulative 60-day pause in public works during state-notified peak agricultural seasons, while retaining the annual guarantee.
• Clear prioritisation of four work categories focusing on water security, core rural infrastructure, livelihood infrastructure, and disaster resilience.
• Greater reliance on digital attendance, geotagging, and real-time information systems for planning, monitoring, and payment processes.
• Reinforced role for Gram Panchayats through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans that integrate employment demand with long-term infrastructure and resilience needs.
• Enhanced performance-linked financial architecture through normative state-wise allocations and cost-sharing responsibilities.

Taken together, these elements constitute a reconfiguration of the rural employment guarantee framework, combining continuity in the legal right to work with new fiscal, planning, and asset-creation mechanisms.[1][3][5]

As implementation proceeds, the programme’s administrative impact will be shaped by how effectively central and state governments coordinate the transition, sustain timely wage payments, uphold transparency standards, and ensure that the assets created under Viksit Bharat – G RAM G contribute measurably to income security, infrastructure quality, and rural resilience.