Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI:The Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill 2025 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 16 which will replace the 20-year-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA).
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan moved the Bill to establish a modern statutory framework aligned with Viksit Bharat 2047, guaranteeing 125 days of wage employment per rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
He said during the UPA Government, an amount of Rs 2,13000 crore was spent on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), while the Modi Government has spent over Rs 8,53000 crore on the scheme and has made sustained efforts to further strengthen it. Chouhan said through this new Bill, the Government has proposed to increase the guaranteed days of employment from 100 days to 125 days. He said a provision of more than Rs1,51000 crore has been made under this Bill.
He emphasised that the Bill will ensure comprehensive development of villages and help in building self-reliant and developed rural areas. He said the Government is working towards realising Mahatma Gandhi’s vision and establishing the Ram Rajya that Bapu had envisioned.
The Opposition staged a protest outside Parliament, holding placards and raising slogans against the Centre over its move to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Raising slogans such as “Gandhiji ka ye apman, nahi sahega Hindustan” and “Mahatma Gandhi Amar Rahe”, Opposition parliamentarians accused the BJP-led Centre of removing the name of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, from the rural employment scheme.