Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is set to table the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025 (VB-G Ram G Bill) in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The Union government is believed to have already circulated a draft of the VB-G Ram G Bill—aimed at replacing the decades-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)—among members of the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The draft Bill presented to the MPs, according to reports, has been framed as a measure to establish a rural development framework, and the government's goal to make India a developed economy by 2047. According to reports, the VB-G Ram G promises 125 days of employment; MGNREGA offers 100 days. But Section 22 of the Bill reportedly specifies that "for States other than those in the Northeast, Himalayan States, and three Union Territories, the States will now bear 40% of the total expenditure incurred".

Apart from the 40% expenditure that the states have to bear, the VB-G Ram G Bill also gives the Union government greater control over where and how the scheme will be implemented. Section 4(5) of the new Bill reportedly states that “the central government shall determine the State-wise normative allocation for each financial year, based on objective parameters as may be prescribed by the central government.” This essentially means that unlike the demand-based MGNREGA which allowed flexibility to increase the budget based on need, the new Bill has fixed allocations by the Union government.

The VB-G Ram G Bill focusses on creating employment through infrastructural development related to water supply and rural roads as well as measures to mitigate the impact of extreme weather, news agency Reuters reported, quoting a government source. The Bill also reportedly allows for a pausing of the programme during peak agricultural seasons to “facilitate availability of labour”.

According to Sheshkumar P, a former director general of audit at the comptroller & auditor general (CAG) of India, the VB-G Ram G Bill presents a "rare opportunity" to correct the structural weakness of MGNREGA which has been subject to only sporadic and infrequent performance audits by the CAG.

"These audits exposed deep-rooted deficiencies: inflated person-days, delayed wage payments, weak asset quality, poor convergence outcomes, ghost beneficiaries, and ineffective grievance redressal. Yet these audits (of MGNRENA) were episodic rather than institutionalised, often reactive than embedded into the scheme's governance design," Sheshkumar wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

Opposition leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor, among others, have voiced their criticism about the VB-G Ram G Bill. John Brittas, a CPI (M) MP in the Rajya Sabha from Kerala, wrote on X: "States will now have to shell out around ₹50,000+ crore. Kerala alone will have to bear an additional ₹2,000–2,500 crore.."

Sheshkumar pointed out that one of the most striking omissions in the proposed VB-G Ram G Bill is the absence of a statutory mandate for periodic performance audits by the CAG. According to him, rather than mandating CAG performance audits at fixed intervals nationally and state-wise with compulsory action-taken reports before Parliament, the proposed VB-G Ram G Bill appears to rely heavily on internal dashboards, administrative reviews, and technology-driven compliance monitoring, all of which are necessary, but insufficient substitutes for independent constitutional oversight.

He suggests four measures. First, the CAG audits should be mandated with fixed timelines, and compulsory legislative follow-up. Secondly, independent third-party outcome evaluations-separate from implementing ministries must also be instituionalised to assess income stability, asset durability, and migration outcomes. Thirdly, the funding architecture must be recalibrated to prevent states from being the weakest link in a nationally guaranteed entitlement. And finally, transparency must evolve from digital compliance to democratic accountability, where performance failures trigger corrective action.

parliament of india

VB-G Ram G Bill to be tabled in Parliament today

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