{"id":26603,"date":"2025-12-18T21:35:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T21:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/midnight-shift-vb-g-ram-g-bill-clears-rajya-sabha-after-stormy-debate-set-to-replace-mgnrega-politics-news\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T21:35:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T21:35:07","slug":"midnight-shift-vb-g-ram-g-bill-clears-rajya-sabha-after-stormy-debate-set-to-replace-mgnrega-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/midnight-shift-vb-g-ram-g-bill-clears-rajya-sabha-after-stormy-debate-set-to-replace-mgnrega-politics-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Midnight Shift: VB-G RAM G Bill Clears Rajya Sabha After Stormy\u00a0Debate, Set To Replace MGNREGA | Politics News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Last Updated:<\/span>

Opposition leaders termed the move a ‘blow to the poor’\u00a0and an ‘insult to the Father of the Nation’, while the government said the older scheme had become ‘riddled with corruption’<\/h2>\n
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\"India<\/p>\n

India will elect its 15th Vice President today, with members of both Houses of Parliament casting their votes in a high-stakes contest. (PTI photo)<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The passage of the Viksit Bharat\u2014Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, marks a seismic shift in India\u2019s social security landscape, effectively repealing the two-decade-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)<\/a>. Pushed through both Houses of Parliament within a mere forty-eight hours, the legislation was met with unprecedented turbulence. In the Lok Sabha, the debate stretched past midnight until 1.30 am, while the Rajya Sabha witnessed a walkout by opposition members in the early hours of Friday. The scenes were marked by vociferous protests, with opposition MPs tearing copies of the VB-G RAM G Bill and storming the well of the House, accusing the government of dismantling a landmark rights-based framework.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the new bill is an increase in the statutory guarantee of wage employment from 100 to 125 days per rural household. However, this expansion comes with structural changes that the opposition describes as a dilution of the \u201cright to work”. Unlike the original MGNREGA, which was a demand-driven scheme where the Centre bore the entire wage bill, the new mission operates as a centrally sponsored scheme with a 60:40 fund-sharing ratio between the Centre and most states. Furthermore, the bill introduces a \u201cnormative allocation” model, moving away from the open-ended funding of its predecessor to a more budget-capped approach aligned with the government\u2019s Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.<\/p>\n

A notable and controversial feature is the introduction of a sixty-day \u201cagricultural pause”. This provision allows state governments to suspend public works during peak sowing and harvesting seasons to ensure the availability of farm labour. While the government argues this will stabilise the rural economy and prevent labour shortages for farmers, critics argue it curtails the autonomy of workers to seek employment when they most need it. The mission also shifts focus towards creating durable, high-impact assets through the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack, prioritising water security, climate resilience, and livelihood infrastructure over simple manual labour tasks.<\/p>\n

\u201cChouhan ji, think again. There is still time to withdraw the law. There is still time\u2026 many laws have been withdrawn by the government. Did the government suffer any setback? You withdrew three black laws related to agriculture. If you withdraw this law, you will become a hero,” Rajya Sabha\u2019s Leader of Opposition and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said, addressing Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t have \u2018Ram\u2019 on your lips and a dagger in your hand! You keep saying \u2018Ram Ram\u2019 for the poor, but you have a dagger hidden behind your back.”<\/p>\n

Chouhan defended the overhaul, asserting that the original Act had become \u201criddled with corruption” and siphoned funds away from productive asset creation. He countered the opposition\u2019s fury over the removal of Mahatma Gandhi\u2019s name from the title by stating that the government is fulfilling Gandhi\u2019s vision of self-reliant villages through modern, tech-driven governance. Conversely, opposition leaders termed the move a \u201cblow to the poor” and an \u201cinsult to the Father of the Nation” warning that shifting the financial burden to states would eventually make the scheme ineffective in poorer regions.<\/p>\n

First Published:<\/span><\/p>\n
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December 19, 2025, 01:20 IST<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

News<\/a> politics<\/a> Midnight Shift: VB-G RAM G Bill Clears Rajya Sabha After Stormy\u00a0Debate, Set To Replace MGNREGA<\/span><\/div>\n
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Last Updated:December 19, 2025, 01:23 IST Opposition leaders termed the move a ‘blow to the poor’\u00a0and an ‘insult to the Father of the Nation’, while the government said the older scheme had become ‘riddled with corruption’ India will elect its 15th Vice President today, with members of both Houses of Parliament casting their votes in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}