New Delhi: The Centre has legislated a sweeping overhaul of India’s rural employment framework with the passage of the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, formally replacing the two-decade-old MGNREGA programme. The new law increases the annual employment guarantee to 125 days per rural household and aligns wage employment with long-term infrastructure and development priorities under the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.
The Bill introduces a redesigned statutory architecture that links rural wage employment with the creation of durable assets across four priority areas—water security, core rural infrastructure, livelihood infrastructure and climate resilience works. Planning will be decentralised through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans, while assets will be integrated into a national rural infrastructure stack to enable coordinated monitoring and execution.
A key shift under the new framework is the move from a central sector scheme to a centrally sponsored structure, with a standard Centre-state cost-sharing ratio of 60:40, enhanced to 90:10 for northeastern and Himalayan states. The estimated annual outlay stands at ₹1.51 lakh crore, with the Centre’s share pegged at about ₹95,700 crore.
The government said the reform addresses structural weaknesses observed under MGNREGA, including leakages, weak accountability and limited asset outcomes, while strengthening administrative capacity by raising the ceiling on administrative expenditure to 9%. The Bill also mandates weekly or fortnightly wage payments and provides for unemployment allowance if work is not provided within 15 days.
According to the government, the revamped framework seeks to balance labour availability for agriculture with income security for rural households, reduce distress migration and reposition rural employment as a strategic instrument for infrastructure-led growth and climate resilience.