Modi Government to Abolish MGNREGA, New Rural Employment Law Planned

The Central Government has circulated a bill among Lok Sabha members with the aim of abolishing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and introducing a new law for rural employment.

The Central Government has taken a significant step towards phasing out the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and introducing a new law in its place. A new bill has been distributed among Lok Sabha members, which is likely to be presented in Parliament soon. The proposed law will be named the ‘Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Employment and Livelihood Mission (Rural) Bill, 2025’. This bill aims to create a new framework for employment and livelihood security for rural India, aligning with the national vision of ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’.

100 Days of Employment, Now 125 Days

The new bill proposes to provide a constitutional guarantee of 125 days of wage employment to every rural household in each financial year. This guarantee will be provided to those rural households whose young members are willing to voluntarily undertake unskilled physical labour. Currently, under the MGNREGA Act, 2005, rural households are given a legal guarantee of only 100 days of employment. Therefore, this new proposal is considered to further strengthen rural employment security.

Objective of the New Law

The objective of this new law is to create a prosperous, empowered, and resilient rural India. The bill emphasizes the holistic development of rural areas, promotion of livelihood generation, and self-reliance. The government believes that this law could prove to be a historic shift in rural development policy.

Preparation for Presentation in Parliament

According to sources, this bill will be presented in Parliament soon. Once implemented, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, could be formally repealed. If this happens, it will be the biggest policy change in the field of rural employment and social security in the last two decades.

What is MGNREGA?

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a major labour law and social security programme in India, implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development in 2005.

Features of MGNREGA

• Legal guarantee of 100 days of employment to every rural household
• Mandatory to provide employment within 15 days of demanding work
• Unemployment allowance if work is not provided
• At least 33% beneficiaries are women
• Significant role of Panchayats and Gram Sabhas
• One of the world's largest work guarantee programmes