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The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, a major reform of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The bill was approved during the ongoing winter session of Parliament.

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who introduced the legislation, moved it for consideration and passage. The bill aims to provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment per year for every rural household, while strengthening rural livelihoods and supporting overall rural development.

Speaking in the House, Chouhan defended the decision to rename the scheme and criticised opposition members.

"Bapu is our ideal, our inspiration. We are committed to following the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi Ji, which is why the Bharatiya Janata Party has incorporated Gandhi Ji's social and economic philosophy into its Panchnischay. The opposition is murdering Bapu's ideals. Yesterday in the House, I listened to the honorable members until 1:30 at night. You listen to your own words and don't listen to ours; this too is violence," he said.

The debate on the bill lasted nearly 14 hours on Wednesday, with the opposition calling for it to be referred to the Standing Committee. Congress leader KC Venugopal said the bill, along with the SHANTI Bill, should have undergone detailed scrutiny.

The rural development legislation has been brought into connection with Viksit Bharat 2047 vision by the government, and it will be mainly focused on the factors of empowerment, growth, and integrated planning. The bill has the following provisions:

The Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack will be the new home for all public works, which will be done in the order of water security, rural infrastructure, livelihood projects, and initiatives that are climate-resilient, amongst others.

The government will provide employment during the agricultural season peaks.

At the village council or gram panchayat level, Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans will be the basis for the development of the district and state, and they will be connected with PM Gati Shakti and geospatial digital infrastructure.

An advanced digital governance framework will supervise the work by using biometric authentication, GPS, mobile tools, AI for planning and audits, and real-time dashboards, amongst others.

Moreover, the bill mentions the creation of Grameen Rozgar Guarantee Councils at both the Central and State levels along with steering committees for the supervision of the implementation process.

The bill notes that while MGNREGA has provided guaranteed wage employment for two decades, rural areas now require a more integrated and future-ready development strategy.

"To cater to the changing aspirations, stronger convergence is required to establish an integrated, Whole of Government rural development framework covering several complementary Government schemes. It is essential that rural infrastructure creation must transition from fragmented provisioning to a coherent and future-oriented approach, and it is also essential that resources are distributed in a fair manner to reduce disparities and promote inclusive growth across all rural areas of the country based on objective parameters," the bill states.

To avail the scheme, any Indian citizen aged 18 or above living in rural areas can apply. Employment will be guaranteed within 15 days after application.