Name changer or game changer? MGNREGA replaced with 125-day promise

President Murmu clears the Viksit Bharat Rozgar Act, raising guaranteed rural workdays to 125 and overhauling funding norms, seasonality rules, and budget limits

President Droupadi Murmu on Sunday gave her assent to the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, which replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by raising guaranteed workdays from 100 to 125 per year.  With the presidential assent, it now becomes the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025. Under  MGNREGA, only 7.04 per cent of households completed the 100-day promise in FY25. The new Act shifts to a supply-driven framework with budget caps, alters the Centre-state funding ratio from between 71:29 and 96:4 to 60:40, with exceptions in some states, and