New Delhi
The launch of the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (VB-G RAM G), which is set to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) from July 1, is grappling with issues such as backlog of unfinished works and opposition from the state governments.
The new law was originally scheduled to be launched on April 1, but it was pushed back because the portal and technical infrastructure were not ready. States and district administrations have now been given until June 30 to complete all pending MGNREGA works. The law promises 125 days of statutory wage employment to rural households. Till now, 19 states have officially notified the scheme.
For example in Rajasthan’s Dungarpur district alone, 5,735 MGNREGA works — excluding PM Awas Yojana and plantation works — remain physically incomplete. Every block in the district has a backlog — Sagwara at 821 pending works, Dovda at 683, Dungarpur at 592, Chikhli at 590, Galiyakot at 573, Sabla at 544, Semalwara at 532, and Bichiwara at 522. Thirty-eight works have been suspended outright.
MGNREGA’s Dungarpur executive engineer Mahesh Ojha, however, said, “Pending works would be completed by June 30 and new categories would continue under VB-G RAM G. District data indicates otherwise.”
MoRD officials have acknowledged that ponds, anicuts, grazing lands, rural roads and community buildings have remained incomplete across panchayats for years.
Claiming that several states have raised concerns over the Act, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday that the only guarantee the new law offered is that of “extreme centralisation” and “weakening of the bargaining power of rural labour”.
