Lok Sabha passes G RAM G Bill amid opposition protest

Lok Sabha

Amid intense protest by the opposition, the Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, (VB-G RAM G) .

Before the passage of the bill, opposition members resorted to sloganeering in the well of Lok Sabha against G RAM G Bill, tearing papers and flung bits in House.

The discussion on the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025, concluded past midnight on Wednesday and saw the participation of 98 members.

The Union government, in its latest statement, has framed the Viksit Bharat–G RAM G Bill, 2025 as a “comprehensive statutory overhaul of MGNREGA” intended to match a changed rural India and the long‑term vision of Viksit Bharat 2047 as a reply to the scathing criticism from the Opposition leaders.

In a new PIB statement, the Centre argues that while MGNREGA stabilised rural incomes and created basic assets for nearly two decades, “the overall architecture... had reached its limits” and no longer aligned with falling poverty levels, diversified livelihoods and widespread digitalisation.

Instead of 100 days as per MGNREGA, the Centre notes that the new bill promises “125 days of wage employment per rural household in each financial year” with a legal right to unemployment allowance if work is not provided within 15 days.

The press note says this will “strengthen income security” while also helping farmers, because states can “notify up to 60 days in a FY when work will not be executed” during peak sowing and harvesting, ensuring labour availability and avoiding “artificial wage inflation in agriculture”. They also claim that the scheme now links employment more tightly with “durable rural infrastructure” across four priority areas: water security, core rural infrastructure, livelihood infrastructure and special works for extreme weather events.

The opposition leaders have alleged that the Bill “attacks the soul of rights‑based guarantee by replacing it with a scheme ‘stacked against’ the states and workers” and “defies the ideals of the Father of the Nation” by dropping Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the law.