NEW DELHI: The Centre is expected to introduce the Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025 (VB–G Ram G Bill) in the Lok Sabha this week. The proposed legislation seeks to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
The Bill proposes to increase guaranteed wage employment for rural households from 100 days to 125 days in a financial year. A major shift under the new framework is a revised fund-sharing pattern, under which states will be required to bear a larger share of the scheme’s financial responsibility.
Another clause in the proposed bill says , “The Central Government shall determine the State-wise normative allocation for each financial year, based on objective parameters as may be prescribed by the Central Government.”
As per the Bill, the Centre and states will share costs in a 60:40 ratio for all states and Union Territories with legislatures. However, for North-Eastern and Himalayan states, including Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir, the funding pattern will remain 90:10 between the Centre and the states.
Under the existing MGNREGA framework, the Central Government bears the full cost of wages for unskilled manual work, up to three-fourths of material costs, and three-fourths of wages for skilled and semi-skilled workers. While the new Bill alters the funding structure, it retains the existing wage rates as notified under Section 6 of the MGNREGA.
The proposed legislation also provides for the constitution of a Central Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Council and State Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Councils to oversee, review, monitor, and effectively implement the scheme. In addition, steering committees at the Central and state levels will be set up to recommend matters related to normative allocations, convergence, and other operational issues.
Another significant provision allows states to pause implementation of the scheme during peak agricultural seasons. The Bill empowers states to notify specific periods covering sowing and harvesting seasons during which works under the scheme will not be undertaken, to ensure adequate availability of farm labour.
The Bill also proposes a special schedule of rates for vulnerable groups, including women, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and those with debilitating ailments, to enable their participation in suitable categories of work.
Further, it retains the provision for a daily unemployment allowance if employment is not provided within 15 days of application. State governments will bear the cost of the unemployment allowance and delay compensation. In cases where wages are not paid within 15 days of closure of the muster roll, workers will be entitled to compensation at the rate of 0.05 per cent of unpaid wages per day beyond the sixteenth day.
Responding to the proposed bill, CPI (M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas said that the government removed the soul of a rights-based guarantee law and replaced it with a conditional, centrally controlled scheme stacked against States & workers.
“125 days” is the headline. 60:40 is the fine print - MGNREGA was a fully centrally funded one for unskilled wages; G RAM G downgrades it with States to bear 40%. States will now have to shell out around Rs. 50,000+ crore. Kerala alone will have to bear an additional 2,000–2,500 crore. Cost-shifting by stealth, not reform. This is the new federalism: States pay more, Centre walks away, yet claims the credit,” he wrote on X.
Brittas pointed out that the MGNREGA was demand-driven: if a worker asked for work, the Centre had to pay while G RAM G replaces it with Centre’s pre-fixed normative allocations and ceilings. “When funds run out, rights run out. A legal employment guarantee is reduced to a centrally managed publicity scheme at the expense of States.
Panchayats sidelined, dashboards empowered - MGNREGA trusted Gram Sabhas & Panchayats to plan works based on local needs - G RAM G mandates GIS tools, PM Gati Shakti layers & central digital stacks. Local priorities are filtered through a Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack. It makes biometrics, geo-tagging, dashboards & AI audits statutory. For millions of rural workers, tech failures mean exclusion without appeal,” he said.
“Decentralisation replaced by centralised templates; People become data points.
Worse, G RAM G mandates suspension of work for up to 60 days every year in the name of agricultural seasons. Employment guarantee or labour control? Scheme labourers are legally told: Don’t work. Don’t earn. Wait. Stopping public works to push labour into private farms is not welfare - it is state-managed labour supply, stripping workers of wages, choice and dignity.
G RAM G stands for central control, State funds & conditional rights. Same workers. Less rights. More burden. This Bill doesn’t reform MGNREGA - it dismantles it fiscally, institutionally and morally,” he added.
In the name of RAM, the states and poor are penalised, short-changed and fiscally sacrificed, he said.
