Parliament winter session: The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, reframing MGNREGS to provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment to rural households
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan at Lok Sabha while presenting the bill. Pic/PTI
The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025. The bill has reframed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) with an employment guarantee scheme.
As reported by news agency ANI, the Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who had earlier introduced the bill during the ongoing Parliament Winter Session, further moved it for consideration and passing.
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, while defending the renaming of the bill, also accused the opposition of deviating from Gandhi's ideals.
The Union Agriculture Minister asserted that "Bapu is our ideal, our inspiration. We are committed to following the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi Ji, which is why the Bharatiya Janata Party has incorporated Gandhi Ji's social and economic philosophy into its Panchnischay. The opposition is murdering Bapu’s ideals,” as cited by news ANI.
Shivraj Singh Chauhan further added, “Yesterday in the House, I listened to the honourable members until 1:30 at night. You listen to your own words and don't listen to ours; this too is violence."
Bill aims to provide an employment guarantee of 125 days
The Bill aims to provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment per financial year to every rural household, in line with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.
The Viksit Bharat G RAM G bill 2025 also focuses on strengthening rural livelihoods and accelerating overall rural development.
Earlier on Wednesday, the House also held a nearly 14-hour debate on the Bill, with the opposition demanding that the proposed legislation be referred to the Standing Committee, even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongly defended the Bill, calling it a decisive step towards achieving a Viksit Bharat by 2047, reported ANI.
Opposition members pressed for the bill to be referred to the standing committee for scrutiny
On the contrary, the Congress leader KC Venugopal, while talking to the media, asserted that the SHANTI Bill and the bill to replace MGNREGA should have been sent to the Standing Committee.
Moreover, the Bill envisions aligning rural development with the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, focusing on empowerment, growth, convergence and saturation to build a prosperous and resilient rural Bharat.
Under the Bill, public works will be aggregated to form the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack, prioritising water security, core rural infrastructure, livelihood-related projects, and climate-resilient initiatives.
The bill presented by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan also aims to ensure adequate farm-labour availability during peak agricultural seasons and to institutionalise Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans for integrated, saturation-driven planning.
The bill mandates a modern digital governance framework that incorporates biometric authentication, GPS and mobile-based monitoring, real-time dashboards, proactive disclosures and artificial intelligence tools for planning, auditing and fraud risk mitigation.
(With inputs from ANI)
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