A scheme that helped Congress-led UPA win two elections – 2004 and 2009 – is now set to be replaced and the grand old party is not liking it. MNREGA or the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, provided 100 days of guaranteed employment to the rural workforce and ensured livelihood for many for over a decade. Now, the Narendra Modi government is bringing the VB-G-RAM-G Bill or Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025, to replace the populist MNREGA to address the realities of a transformed rural India.
The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025, proposed to be introduced in the Lok Sabha, is armed with AI-based fraud detection and has provisions for stronger social audits – twice a year for every Gram Panchayat – that promise to enhance transparency.
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Apart from generating rural jobs, the proposed legislation may also benefit farmers directly through both labor availability and better agricultural infrastructure, said the Rural Development Ministry official.
The VB-G RAM G Bill aims to fix structural weaknesses, enhance employment and ensure coordination in the creation of assets for national development, according to a copy of the Bill.
The Bill represents a major upgrade over MGNREGA, fixing structural weaknesses and establishing a modern statutory framework aligned with Viksit Bharat 2047, guaranteeing 125 days of wage employment per rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work, said an official.
The Bill aims to create both employment and durable rural infrastructure through four priority verticals: Water security through water- works; core rural infrastructure; livelihood- infrastructure, and special works to mitigate extreme weather events.
While MGNREGA guarantees 100 days of wage employment with central responsibility for unskilled wages and a strong role for Gram Panchayats, it lacks a unified national strategy and a formal pause window. In contrast, VB-G RAM G offers 125 days of employment, emphasizes localized planning through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans, adopts state cost-sharing for wages, allows notified pause periods, mandates weekly wage payments, and integrates institutional convergence with infrastructure planning, reflecting a more structured and decentralized rural development approach.
While Aadhaar-seeded active workers under MNREGA have increased from 76 lakh in FY 13-14 to 12.11 crore in FY 2025-26, the existing rural job scheme suffers from structural problems as misappropriation continues, digital attendance is bypassed, and assets often fail to match expenditure, said the official.
“The scale and persistence of these issues showed that MNREGA’s architecture had reached its limits, making a new, modernized VB–G RAM G Bill necessary,” an official told IANS.
To some extent, systemic failures in West Bengal and the corruption necessitated a change in the rural job scheme.
Investigations in 19 districts of West Bengal found non-existent works, rule violations, and fund misuse, leading to a freeze, said a report.
Monitoring across 23 states in FY 2025–26 revealed works “not found or not commensurate with expenditure,” machine use where labor was required, and large-scale bypassing of the MGNREGA Mobile Monitoring System for attendance.
In 2024–25, misappropriation totaled Rs 193.67 crore across states. Only 7.61 per cent of households completed 100 days in the post-pandemic period.
Officials said these entrenched issues, such as leakages, weak verification, and poor compliance, required a new framework, not minor tweaks.
Also, MGNREGA was enacted in 2005, but rural India has transformed in the past two decades. Poverty fell sharply from 25.7 per cent (2011–12) to 4.86 per cent (2023–24), supported by rising consumption, incomes and financial access recorded in MPCE and NABARD RECSS surveys.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge criticized the Government’s move to reframe the MNREGA scheme and said, “This is not just about renaming the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. This is a BJP-RSS conspiracy to end MGNREGA. Erasing Gandhi’s name on the centenary of the Sangh shows how hollow and hypocritical those are who, like Modi ji, offer flowers to Bapu on foreign soil. The government that retreats from the rights of the poor is the one that attacks. MGNREGA. The Congress Party will strongly oppose in Parliament and on the streets any such decision of this arrogant regime that is against the poor and workers,” Kharge said.
Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said, “The BJP, from the very beginning of the Jan Sangh, has harbored hatred towards the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi; they worship Godse… You hate the Gandhis, you hate the Father of the Nation, that’s why you’re changing the name of the scheme that was launched during the UPA government under Sonia Gandhi’s leadership, removing Gandhi’s name. This country will democratically and with full force oppose this for its Father of the Nation. Nation, and the Congress Party will strongly protest. Tomorrow, they will name it after Godse.”
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the truth is that in the garb of changing the name of the scheme, they (the Central govt) want to scrap this scheme. Why do they want to change the name of this scheme? Mahatma Gandhi is the father of the nation. She said no law should be passed based on someone’s “whim, ambition and prejudice”.
According to the officials, this will not impose an undue financial burden on states, as the funding structure is balanced and sensitive to variations in state capacity. Under the standard arrangement, costs are shared in a 60:40 ratio between the Center and the states, while north-eastern and Himalayan states and Union Territories receive enhanced support at a 90:10 ratio. Union Territories without legislatures are fully funded by the Centre. Moreover, states were already contributing 25% of material costs and 50% of administrative expenses earlier, making the new structure a continuation rather than a sharp departure. Predictable, normative allocations improve budgeting and fiscal planning, states can seek additional assistance during disasters, and stronger oversight mechanisms help reduce long-term losses arising from misappropriation. (With agency inputs)
