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As is known by now, the Union government has introduced a new Bill titled ‘The Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (GRAMIN): VB—G RAM G (विकसित भारत—जी राम जी) Bill, 2025’, which, if passed, will repeal and replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005.

A preliminary reading of the Bill raises several concerns. We discuss some of the major issues here, while noting that this is not an exhaustive analysis and many details remain unclear at this stage.

Several issues plague MGNREGA implementation, particularly low wage rates and delay in wage payments. These are further exacerbated by the exclusions and delays caused by recent ‘reforms’ such as digital verification of attendance, Aadhaar-based bank payments and so on. Although it is a demand-based scheme, there are budgetary constraints and gaps in recording true demand with less-than-optimal amount of work being provided. Only around 7% households on average completed 100 days of work during the last few years and the average number of days worked per household has been around 45 per year. This does not mean that there is no requirement for more work, but the system of providing work and recording demand has been such that the scheme has not been responsive enough. 

The proposed Bill provides ‘not less than 125 days of guaranteed employment in a financial year’, increasing from 100 days in MGNREGA.

However, most of the issues raised by workers remain unaddressed while shifting the spirit of the legislation away from providing rights-based entitlements towards ‘enabling them (rural households) to participate more effectively in the expanded........

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