The Lok Sabha on Thursday (December 18) passed the Viksit Bharat – Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Guarantee Bill, 2025, a sweeping piece of legislation that seeks to replace the two-decade-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), sparking a sharp political confrontation in the Lower House of Parliament.
The proposed law, also referred to as the VB-G Ram G Bill, aims to overhaul India’s flagship rural employment scheme by expanding guaranteed wage employment from 100 to 125 days per rural household every year. The government says the legislation is designed to strengthen income security while creating lasting assets that increase productivity in villages through a centrally coordinated development framework.
But the law faced stiff opposition from the opposition, with Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra leading the charge against what she described as a dilution of MGNREGA’s fundamental guarantees.
Participating in the debate in the Lok Sabha, the Wayanad MP argued that the proposed law would weaken the original job guarantee and should not be rushed through Parliament without wider consultation. She accused the government of pushing the bill through “personal obsession” or “bias” and called for it to be referred to the Standing Committee for detailed scrutiny.
“The bill should not be rushed through without proper consultation with the House or any discussion. It should be withdrawn and the government should bring a new bill,” Gandhi said. “Though Mahatma Gandhi was not personally related to me, he was like family. This is the emotion of the entire nation. This Bill should be referred to the Standing Committee for detailed consideration. No legislation should be pushed through merely because of personal obsession or bias.”
She also highlighted the persistent problems with payment of wages under the existing MGNREGA framework and warned that changing the nomenclature and structure would not solve the long-standing gaps in implementation.
“I don’t understand the name change thing. This new bill will weaken the right to income for at least 100 days. Wherever you go, MNREGA employees will tell you that they have not been paid,” she said.
Earlier in the day, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan sought the House’s permission to introduce the bill, calling it a reform-oriented successor to MGNREGA. The new legislation will guarantee 125 days of wage employment per rural household for adult members willing to do unskilled manual work, while aligning job creation with the creation of sustainable rural infrastructure, according to the government.
With the bill passed in the Lok Sabha, the proposed rural employment policy review now moves to the next stage of the legislative process, even as opposition parties continue to question both its intent and its potential impact on one of India’s most important social welfare programs.
