Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act 2025

Viksit Bharat‑Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act 2025 (commonly abbreviated VB‑GR‑M 2025) is a central legislation that obligates the Union Government to secure both wage employment and sustainable livelihood opportunities for every rural household across India. Enacted in early 2025, the Act expands the earlier National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 by coupling guaranteed workdays with a structured pathway to self‑employment, thereby addressing the twin challenges of seasonal under‑employment and chronic poverty in agrarian regions. Its uniqueness lies in the statutory guarantee of a minimum of 150 days of wage work and a parallel commitment to create at least one viable micro‑enterprise per household within a five‑year horizon. ## Origins / Historical Background The constitutional foundation for the Act rests on Article 41 (right to work) and Article 46 (promotion of educational and economic interests of weaker sections), which have long guided India’s rural welfare agenda. The 2005 National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) pioneered the concept of guaranteed wage employment, but by the late 2010s policymakers recognised that short‑term jobs alone could not lift families out of poverty. A series of expert committee reports—most notably the 2019 “Rural Livelihoods Review” chaired by former Planning Commission member Dr R. K. Singh—recommended a hybrid model that combined employment with skill‑based entrepreneurship. The VB‑GR‑M 2025 emerged from the 2023 “Rural Revitalisation Blueprint” presented by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and received bipartisan support in Parliament, reflecting a consensus that rural distress required a more durable solution. ## How It Works / Mechanism Implementation follows a three‑tiered architecture. At the centre, the Ministry of Rural Development administers the National Rural Livelihood Authority (NRLA), which disburses a centrally allocated fund estimated at approximately ₹12,000 crore over the first five years. State Rural Development Agencies (SRDAs) receive proportional shares based on the latest Census of Agriculture (2021) and are tasked with tailoring interventions to local agro‑ecological conditions. At the grassroots level, each Gram Panchayat establishes an Ajeevika Cell that coordinates two parallel tracks: (i) the “Rozgar” stream, which continues the NREGA‑style work‑allocation through a digital job‑matching platform, and (ii) the “Ajeevika” stream, which delivers skill‑training modules through the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and facilitates access to micro‑credit via the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY). Beneficiaries are required to complete at least 120 hours of certified training before transitioning to the micro‑enterprise phase, ensuring that the shift from wage labour to self‑employment is skill‑driven. ## Key Provisions - Section 3 mandates that every rural household receive a minimum of 150 days of guaranteed wage employment per financial year, with a ceiling wage of ₹210 per day adjusted for inflation. - Section 5 obliges the creation of at least one micro‑enterprise per household, targeting sectors such as agro‑processing, renewable energy services, and digital handicrafts. - Section 7 earmarks a cumulative fund of roughly ₹12,000 crore, of which 60 % is allocated to skill‑training infrastructure, 25 % to direct wage subsidies, and 15 % to enterprise‑development grants. - Section 9 establishes a quarterly monitoring framework overseen by the NRLA, requiring each SRDA to submit performance dashboards that include metrics on employment days, number of enterprises launched, and gender‑disaggregated outcomes. - Section 12 introduces a grievance redressal mechanism through the Rural Grievance Redressal Portal (RG‑Portal), enabling beneficiaries to lodge complaints within 30 days of any service lapse. ## Current Status / Implementation The Act entered into force on 15 March 2025, and a pilot phase was launched in twelve states representing 45 % of the rural population, including West Bengal, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. By the end of the 2025‑26 financial year, the pilot reported that 2.3 million households had accessed guaranteed work, while 1.1 million individuals completed the prescribed skill‑training and subsequently formed 850 000 micro‑enterprises. Early impact assessments by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) indicate a 7.4 percentage‑point reduction in the Rural Poverty Ratio within the pilot districts, and a notable rise in female labour‑force participation from 19 % to 24 %. The central government has announced a phased national rollout beginning July 2026, with an additional allocation of ₹4,500 crore earmarked for the next five‑year cycle. ## Significance VB‑GR‑M 2025 represents a policy shift from episodic wage subsidies to