The Central government is set to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) with a new rural jobs law, ‘Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025,’ according to media reports.
The Bill is likely to be introduced in Parliament today. It has been listed in the Lok Sabha in the supplementary list of business issued for the day.
The new job scheme seeks to provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members are willing to undertake unskilled manual work. In contrast, MGNREGA under the Ministry of Rural Development provides 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year.
The VB-G RAM G Bill 2025 aims at building a rural development framework aligned with the government’s long-term vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. The Bill focuses on empowerment, growth, convergence and saturation to build a prosperous and resilient rural Bharat.
Priyanka Gandhi slams the government over MGNREGA name change
The move to scrap or rename MGNREGA has drawn criticism from the opposition. Earlier today in Parliament House complex, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra questioned the government’s intention behind removing the name of Mahatma Gandhi from the employment scheme.
She said, “Why is Mahatma Gandhi’s name being removed. Mahatma Gandhi is considered the tallest leader not just in the country but in the world, so removing his name, I really don’t understand what is the objective? What is their intention?”
Responding to the reports of a new bill scrapping MGNREGA, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged that the decision was politically motivated.
She said, “…Because of the frustration, such decisions are being made. This is another way to distract attention… The discussion on Vande Mataram has made the public understand which is the WhatsApp version of history and which is the real version. That is why those who believe in WhatsApp will be annoyed with the Gandhi family. Those who know the true history will always respect the Gandhi family for their contributions.” (12.12.2025)
Rajya Sabha TMC MP Derek O’Brien has also criticised the Centre’s decision to replace MGNREGA scheme, calling it an insult to Mahatma Gandhi. He posted on social media platform X: “Union govt’s plan to rename MGNREGA. Removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name. This is an insult to Gandhiji. But then are you surprised! These are the same people who hero-worshipped the man who killed Mahatma Gandhi. They want to insult Gandhiji. We will never allow this to happen.”