Poonam Sharma
The introduction of Bill No. 197 of 2025, titled the Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin)—or VB–G RAM G—marks a pivotal moment in India’s legislative history. As the nation pivots toward the ambitious goal of becoming a developed economy by 2047, this Bill seeks to overhaul the bedrock of rural social security. By proposing an increase in the statutory guarantee of wage employment from 100 to 125 days, the government is not merely expanding a safety net; it is attempting to re-engineer the rural economy into a high-tech, high-productivity engine.
A New Philosophy of Growth: Convergence and Saturation
For nearly two decades, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) served as a “demand-driven” distress mitigator. The VB–G RAM G Bill shifts this paradigm toward a “vision-driven” model. The core of this transition lies in the Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans.
Unlike the fragmented project lists of the past, these plans are designed to be “future-ready” and “convergence-based.” The Bill mandates that every work undertaken must originate from a participatory, evidence-based process that aligns with the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan. This signifies a departure from “digging holes to fill them up” toward creating what the Bill calls the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack.
The Four Pillars of the Infrastructure Stack
The Bill moves away from generic “public works” to four specific thematic focus domains that reflect India’s 21st-century challenges:
Water Security: Prioritizing water-related works to drought-proof rural India.
Core Rural Infrastructure: Building the physical backbone of villages.
Livelihood-related Infrastructure: Creating assets that directly enhance the earning capacity of households.
Extreme Weather Mitigation: A forward-looking inclusion that acknowledges the climate vulnerability of the rural poor.
Navigating the “Peak Season” Dilemma
One of the most significant and potentially controversial features of the Bill is Section 6, which addresses the perennial tension between public work schemes and private agricultural labor needs. The Bill empowers State Governments to notify a 60-day “peak agricultural season” during which no VB–G RAM G works can be executed.
Historically, large farmers have often complained that government work schemes drive up labor costs during sowing and harvesting. By institutionalizing this 60-day “blackout period” for the scheme, the government is attempting a delicate balancing act: ensuring that the rural workforce is available for food production while maintaining their right to 125 days of guaranteed work during the lean months.
Technology: The New Arbiter of Accountability
Transparency in rural development has long been a challenge, often marred by “ghost workers” and middleman leakages. The 2025 Bill introduces a “comprehensive digital ecosystem” as a statutory requirement.
The Bill mandates:
Biometric Authentication: Ensuring that wages reach the actual person doing the manual labor.
Geospatial Monitoring: Using GPS and mobile-based tracking for real-time worksite verification.
AI-Driven Audits: For the first time, Artificial Intelligence is mentioned in the legislative framework for fraud-risk mitigation and planning.
This technological overlay is intended to create a “whole of government” delivery system where the District Programme Coordinator (usually the District Collector) and Programme Officers are held accountable through real-time MIS dashboards.
Constitutional Roots and State-Centre Synergy
Constitutionally, the Bill draws from the Directive Principles of State Policy, specifically the “Right to Work” (Article 41). However, the implementation framework is a masterclass in Cooperative Federalism. As a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, the financial liability is shared.
The Bill acknowledges the unique geographical challenges of the North-Eastern and Himalayan States by offering them an enhanced share of Central funding. Yet, it places a strict “normative allocation” cap on other States; any expenditure beyond the Central government’s prescribed objective parameters must be borne entirely by the State Government. This ensures fiscal discipline while providing a statutory floor for rural earnings.
The Human Element: Protection and Facilities
Beyond the macro-economics, the Bill retains a humanized approach to manual labor. Schedule II of the Bill (referenced in Section 9) ensures that workers are entitled to minimum facilities at worksites. Furthermore, Section 7 provides for “extraordinary relaxations” during natural calamities, allowing the government to expand permissible works or relax documentation norms when rural households are most vulnerable.
Perhaps the strongest pro-worker clause remains the Unemployment Allowance (Section 11). If an applicant is not provided work within 15 days, the State is legally bound to pay an allowance—initially at one-fourth of the wage rate, rising to one-half after thirty days. This puts a direct financial penalty on administrative inefficiency.
Towards Viksit Bharat @ 2047
The VB–G RAM G Bill, 2025 is more than just an employment scheme; it is a blueprint for rural resilience. By integrating local village plans with national geospatial masterplans and increasing the work guarantee to 125 days, the government is betting that a more prosperous rural Bharat is the only way to achieve a developed India.
The success of this Bill will depend on whether the “Digital Public Infrastructure” can truly eliminate the leakages of the past and whether the 60-day agricultural season notification can be implemented without depriving the landless poor of their bargaining power. As this Bill moves through the Lok Sabha, it represents a bold statement: the road to 2047 runs directly through the Gram Panchayats.
