The Viksit Bharat – G RAM G Act, 2025 represents a structural shift in India's rural employment guarantee framework. Critically examine its key departures from MGNREGA, the implementation challenges it faces, and the Centre-State tensions it has exposed.

Q. The Viksit Bharat – G RAM G Act, 2025 represents a structural shift in India's rural employment guarantee framework. Critically examine its key departures from MGNREGA, the implementation challenges it faces, and the Centre-State tensions it has exposed. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

The VB–G RAM G Act, 2025, which received Presidential assent on 21 December 2025 and came into force across rural India from 1 July 2026, replaces MGNREGA, 2005 — shifting rural employment from an open-ended demand-driven entitlement to a planned, allocation-bound mission. The shift widens the guarantee but narrows fiscal discretion.

Key departures from MGNREGA - Statutory guarantee raised from 100 to 125 days per rural household per financial year [1]. - Works consolidated into four verticals — water security, core rural infrastructure, livelihood infrastructure and extreme-weather mitigation — answering the "make-work" criticism of MGNREGA assets [1][2]. - Normative allocation under Section 4(5): the Centre fixes a state-wise annual ceiling; spending beyond it is the State's burden — a break from MGNREGA's demand-driven open-ended funding [1]. - Cost-sharing formalised at 60:40, with 90:10 for North-Eastern and Himalayan States [1]. - Planning through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans with technology-based monitoring and public disclosure [2].

Implementation challenges - The Bill was passed within two days of introduction without standing committee referral, limiting deliberative scrutiny. - Draft Rules were issued for public consultation only on 22 May 2026 (comments till 21 June 2026), leaving States a compressed window to notify their schemes before rollout [3]. - Social audit compliance now conditions part of the allocation, yet Gram Panchayat audit capacity remains uneven [3].

Centre–State tensions - The allocation formula is contested: better-performing States sought credit for past MGNREGA performance, while the draft Rules anchor allocation to 16th Finance Commission devolution parameters [3]. - The 40% State share strains fiscally weaker States, prompting sustained Centre–State consultations on rollout preparedness [4].

The Act's real test is not its enhanced guarantee but whether normative allocation preserves the right to work in distress years. Transparent, need-responsive parameters, a demand-based top-up window, and swift operationalisation of social audits can reconcile fiscal discipline with the Directive Principle of Article 41 — making the shift a genuine upgrade rather than a rationing device.

(~330 words)

Sources: 1. The VB–G RAM G Bill, 2025 — PRS Legislative Research Bill Track — 125 days, four work verticals, Section 4(5) normative allocation, 60:40 and 90:10 cost-sharing 2. Reforming MGNREGA for Viksit Bharat — PIB, Ministry of Rural Development (22 December 2025) — rationale, Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans, technology-based monitoring and public disclosure 3. PRS Monthly Policy Review, May 2026 — Draft Rules under the VB–G RAM G Act, 2025 — draft Rules published 22 May 2026, comments till 21 June 2026, 16th Finance Commission devolution parameters, social-audit-linked allocation 4. Secretary, Department of Rural Development Reviews States' Preparedness for Rollout of VB–G RAM G Act, 2025 — PIB — Centre–State consultations on rollout and State readiness