New Delhi, January 5 (ANI): Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Monday said the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB G-RAM-G) Act, 2025 marks a fundamental overhaul of India’s rural employment policy, promising more guaranteed workdays, higher wages, transparent payments, and the creation of durable assets, while eliminating corruption and inefficiencies that plagued the earlier MGNREGA framework.
Addressing a press conference, Saini said the new legislation is designed to support genuine labourers who were “betrayed under previous governments.” He said the Act ensures real-time monitoring, transparent wage payments, and higher guaranteed employment, allowing rural workers to contribute meaningfully to building a developed India rather than enriching corrupt contractors, officials, or politicians.
The Chief Minister said the law, introduced under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, replaces an outdated structure that no longer reflects the realities of India’s transformed rural economy.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 emphasized that the legislation is directly linked to the lives and livelihoods of crores of rural labourers, farmers, and working families across the country.
Saini noted that MGNREGA, launched nearly two decades ago, was conceived in a different economic and social context and, like all public welfare schemes, required reform as circumstances evolved. However, successive governments failed to address its structural weaknesses.
He said that over the past 20 years, India’s rural economy has undergone a fundamental shift. Rural poverty, which stood at over 25 percent in 2011–12, has declined to below 5 percent. At the same time, 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 Continuing with a flawed and outdated employment structure without reform, he said, was neither in the interest of labourers nor of the nation.
Under the new law, the employment guarantee has been increased from 100 to 125 days, significantly enhancing assured income for rural workers. This, Saini said, would lead to an average annual income increase of over ₹7,000 for an unskilled rural worker nationwide. In Haryana, where wage rates are the highest in the country, each worker would earn at least ₹10,000 more annually.
The Chief Minister said the Centre has allocated ₹1.51 lakh crore for the scheme this year, surpassing last year’s record allocation of ₹88,000 crore. Of this, the Central Government’s share alone exceeds ₹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, more than 52 percent of Scheduled Caste workers and over 65 percent of women workers received employment in Haryana under the scheme. Unlike earlier practices, he added, the work was actually performed by labourers rather than being executed through machines while workers remained unemployed.
Saini said the nature of permissible works has been redefined to ensure long-term benefits, with employment now generated in water security, rural infrastructure, livelihood resources, and climate-resilient asset creation. Gram Panchayat plans have been aligned with the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan to ensure village-level works contribute directly to national development goals.
He added that 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.
The Chief Minister said the new law incorporates biometric authentication, direct digital wage transfers, geo-tagging of assets, and satellite monitoring through ISRO’s Bhuvan portal. Weekly public disclosures and a multi-level grievance redressal system with a seven-day resolution timeline have been introduced to ensure accountability and transparency. Works have also been clearly categorised into priority sectors to prevent the creation of fake projects for financial manipulation. (ANI)
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