New Delhi, Dec. 19 -- On Thursday the Union government passed the Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill 2025 in the Lok Sabha, proposing a sweeping overhaul of India's two-decade-old rural job guarantee programme. It has now been sent to the Rajya Sabha for discussion.

The new bill seeks to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005 and the scheme named after it, MGNREGS, which has 260 million registered workers and covers 26,9000 gram panchayats across India.

According to the government, the bill seeks to transform the nature of the scheme by bringing states in as partners, and resolve a longstanding problem in the rural job market-of MGNREGA jobs competing with ...