President gives assent to Viksit Bharat–G RAM G Act, raises rural job guarantee to 125 days
With the President’s approval on Sunday, the legislation replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, and positions rural employment as an integrated development instrument aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.
New Delhi, December 22: President Droupadi Murmu has given her assent to the Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, formally bringing into force a major overhaul of India’s rural employment framework and enhancing the statutory wage employment guarantee to 125 days per rural household per year.
With the President’s approval on Sunday, the legislation replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, and positions rural employment as an integrated development instrument aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat @2047. The Act seeks to strengthen livelihood security while linking wage employment with the creation of durable, productive and climate-resilient rural assets.
Union Minister for Rural Development and Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the new law represents a decisive step forward and dismissed claims that it weakens employment guarantees. “My labourer brothers, now there is a legal guarantee of 125 days of work, not just 100,” he said, adding that attempts were being made to mislead the public in the name of MGNREGA.
Key reforms and guarantees
Under the Act, rural households whose adult members volunteer for unskilled manual work are legally entitled to not less than 125 days of wage employment each financial year. Wages must be paid on a weekly basis or within 15 days of completion of work, failing which delay compensation will be payable. The Act also restores and strengthens the provision for unemployment allowance if work is not provided within the stipulated period.
To balance farm labour needs during peak sowing and harvesting seasons, states are empowered to notify an aggregated pause period of up to 60 days in a year, without reducing the overall 125-day employment entitlement.
Panchayats at the centre of planning
A central feature of the law is the strengthening of decentralised governance. All works will originate from Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans, prepared through participatory processes and approved by Gram Sabhas. While planning remains local, projects will be digitally integrated with national platforms such as PM Gati Shakti to ensure convergence, avoid duplication and enable saturation-based development outcomes.
Wage employment will be aligned with asset creation across four priority areas—water security, core rural infrastructure, livelihood-related infrastructure, and mitigation of extreme weather events. All assets created will be mapped into a national rural infrastructure stack to improve visibility and coordination of public investments.
Funding and implementation
The programme will operate as a centrally sponsored scheme with a 60:40 Centre–State cost-sharing ratio, 90:10 for northeastern and Himalayan states, and full central funding for Union Territories without legislatures. State-wise allocations will be based on objective, rule-based norms, without diluting the statutory right to employment.
The administrative expenditure ceiling has been raised from 6% to 9%, enabling better staffing, training and technical support at the grassroots level. According to the government, an allocation of over ₹1.51 lakh crore has been proposed for the scheme in the current year to ensure timely provision of work and wages.
A shift in rural employment policy
The government said the Act transforms rural employment from a standalone welfare measure into a development-led framework focused on empowerment, convergence and resilience. Technology-enabled transparency measures such as geo-tagging, real-time dashboards and biometric authentication have been incorporated, alongside strengthened social audits by Gram Sabhas to ensure inclusion and accountability.
Calling the legislation a reaffirmation of the government’s commitment to inclusive growth, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the Act guarantees employment, fair wages and community-driven assets, laying the foundation for “developed villages as the building blocks of a developed India.”
The Viksit Bharat–G RAM G Act, 2025 is expected to play a central role in strengthening rural livelihoods, boosting infrastructure creation and advancing the long-term goal of a self-reliant and resilient Rural Bharat, the government added.
