The Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act, 2025 is a major social welfare legislation that guarantees the 'right to work' for rural households in India. It was created to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA), which was repealed when the new Act came into force on July 1, 2026. The new framework was introduced to align rural employment with contemporary development priorities, infrastructure creation, and the long-term national vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.
The VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 was passed by Parliament on December 18-19, 2025, after being introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 16, 2025, and received the President's assent on December 21, 2025. The Act provides a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer for unskilled manual work, an increase from the 100 days guaranteed under the previous Act. Key provisions mandate that workers retain the right to demand work and are entitled to an unemployment allowance if employment is not provided within the prescribed period. The works permitted under the scheme are outcome-oriented, focusing on creating durable assets like water-related projects, core rural infrastructure, and livelihood assets. A significant change from MGNREGA is the funding mechanism: most states must now share the cost with the Centre in a 60:40 ratio, whereas the Centre previously bore the full cost of unskilled wages. The Act represents a comprehensive statutory overhaul, shifting the focus from solely wage-based work to integrating employment with infrastructure outcomes and the Viksit Bharat @2047 vision.