New Delhi [India], January 22 (HBTV): Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has said that the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB G-RAM-G) Act, 2025 represents a fundamental overhaul of rural employment policy in India, ensuring more guaranteed workdays, higher wages, transparent payments and the creation of durable assets, while ending the ‘corruption and inefficiencies’ associated with the earlier MGNREGA framework.
Addressing a press conference, Saini said the Viksit Bharat G-RAM-G Act has been designed to support genuine labourers who were betrayed under previous governments. He said the law ensures real-time monitoring, transparent wage payments and higher guaranteed employment, adding that rural workers would now contribute to building a developed India rather than enriching corrupt contractors, officials or politicians.
The Chief Minister said the new law, introduced under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, replaces an outdated structure that no longer reflects the realities of India’s transformed rural economy. He said the legislation is directly linked to the lives and livelihoods of crores of rural labourers, farmers and working families across the country.
Referring to MGNREGA, launched nearly two decades ago, Saini said it was conceived in a different economic and social context and required reform as circumstances evolved. However, he said successive governments failed to address its structural weaknesses, according to an official release.
He said that over the past 20 years, India’s rural economy has undergone a fundamental shift. Rural poverty, which stood at over 25 per cent in 2011–12, has declined to below 5 per cent. He added that the past decade has seen unprecedented expansion in digital connectivity, banking access, Aadhaar coverage, Direct Benefit Transfer systems and infrastructure development. Continuing with a flawed and outdated employment structure without reform was neither in the interest of labourers nor the nation, Saini said.
The Chief Minister said that under the new law, the employment guarantee has been increased from 100 to 125 days, significantly enhancing assured income for rural workers. He said this would result in an average annual income increase of over INR 7,000 for an unskilled rural worker across India. In Haryana, where wage rates are the highest in the country, each worker would earn at least INR 10,000 more annually, he added.
Saini said the Centre has allocated INR 1.51 lakh crore for the scheme this year, surpassing last year’s record allocation of INR 88,000 crore. He said the Central Government’s share alone exceeds INR 95,000 crore, with a commitment to further increase funding in the coming years to strengthen rural employment security.
He said that in the current year, over 52 per cent of Scheduled Caste workers and more than 65 per cent women workers received employment in Haryana under the scheme. Unlike earlier practices, he said the work was actually carried out by workers rather than being executed through machines while labourers remained unemployed.
The Chief Minister said the nature of permissible works has been redefined to ensure long-term benefits, with employment now being generated in water security, rural infrastructure, livelihood resources and climate-resilient asset creation. He added that Gram Panchayat plans have been aligned with the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan, ensuring village-level works contribute directly to national development goals.
He further said the scheme includes a 60-day pause during peak agricultural seasons, allowing labourers to support farming activities and earn higher market wages, while farmers receive timely labour support. Mandatory weekly wage payments, with a maximum delay of 15 days, would ensure timely income, financial independence and empowerment for rural workers, he added.
Saini said the new law incorporates biometric authentication, direct digital wage transfers, geo-tagging of assets and satellite monitoring through ISRO’s Bhuvan portal. He said weekly public disclosures and a multi-level grievance redressal system with a seven-day resolution timeline would ensure accountability and transparency, while clear categorisation of works would prevent the creation of fake projects for financial manipulation.
(ANI)