MGNREGA Replaced: Govt’s VB-G-RAM-G Bill Promises More Workdays, Triggers Welfare Debate

One of India’s most significant social welfare laws over the past two decades has been the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, or MGNREGA. Enacted in 2005, it guaranteed 100 days of paid unskilled work each year to rural households and created a legally enforceable right to employment. The government has now introduced a new framework — the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, or the VB-G RAM G Bill — to replace MGNREGA. The proposed law raises guaranteed workdays to 125 per year but changes the funding model, introducing Centre-state cost sharing and fixed annual allocations instead of demand-based funding. It also allows temporary pauses during peak agricultural seasons and revises wage payment schedules. The government says the reform aims to modernise rural employment and link it to long-term livelihood creation. Critics argue it weakens the rights-based guarantee that defined MGNREGA and shifts more financial burden to states, sparking a wider political debate over the future of rural welfare.