The Union government is preparing to bring a major change to India’s rural employment framework, with plans to repeal the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and replace it with a new law, according to sources cited in media reports.
The proposed legislation, titled Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), is expected to be introduced in Parliament during the ongoing session. The draft Bill has already been circulated among Lok Sabha members and has been included in the supplementary list of business.
MGNREGA, launched in 2006, has been one of India’s largest social welfare programmes, legally guaranteeing 100 days of wage employment every year to rural households willing to do unskilled manual work. The new Bill seeks to go a step further by offering a statutory guarantee of 125 days of employment per financial year to rural families.
According to the government, the proposed law is aligned with the long-term vision of “Viksit Bharat 2047” and aims to reshape rural development by focusing on infrastructure creation, livelihood security and economic resilience. The framework places emphasis on convergence of schemes, saturation of benefits and empowerment through large-scale public works.
Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in the statement of objectives attached to the Bill, acknowledged MGNREGA’s role over the past two decades in providing employment security to rural India. However, he noted that changing socio-economic conditions, expanded social security coverage and the saturation of welfare schemes have made it necessary to redesign the approach to rural employment.
The new mission proposes to integrate public works into a broader National Rural Infrastructure Stack, with the goal of creating durable assets while ensuring steady income opportunities for rural households.
If passed, the move would mark one of the most significant shifts in India’s rural employment policy since MGNREGA was enacted in 2005, potentially redefining how job guarantees and development goals are pursued in the countryside.
