Why in news?
The VB–G RAM G Bill 2025, formally the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, proposes replacing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) of 2005 during Parliament's Winter Session.
Key Provisions
- The bill guarantees 125 days of wage employment per rural household annually, up from 100 days under MGNREGA.
- Works focused on four verticals: water security, rural infrastructure, livelihoods, and climate resilience.
- It introduces a 60-day pause during peak agricultural seasons (notified by states) to aid farming and shifts to normative central allocations based on objective parameters, capping funds beyond which states bear extra costs.​
Funding Changes
- Unlike MGNREGA's 100% central funding for wages, VB–G RAM G adopts a cost-sharing model: 90:10 (Centre:State) for Northeastern/Himalayan states and select UTs, 60:40 for others, and 100% central for UTs without legislatures.
- States handle unemployment allowances and additional material costs, raising fiscal burdens but promising digital payments and Aadhaar verification.​
Key Criticisms
- Critics argue the bill undermines MGNREGA's demand-driven right to work by imposing central allocations, potentially capping employment when funds deplete and reducing it to a "centrally managed publicity scheme."
- It sidelines panchayats and local planning in favor of GIS tools, PM Gati Shakti, biometrics, and AI audits, risking exclusion for rural workers due to tech failures without appeal options.​
- The bill eliminates unemployment allowances, universal entitlements, and decentralized Gram Sabha planning, reverting to pre-MGNREGA eras with minimal work days.
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