Lok Sabha Passes Landmark Bill: 125-Day Job Guarantee Amid Opposition Debate

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who had earlier introduced the bill, moved it for consideration and passing.

Speaking in the house Agri Minister Shivraj Chouhan defended renaming the bill and accused the opposition of deviating from Gandhi's ideals.

"Bapu is our ideal, our inspiration. We are committed to following the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi Ji, which is why the Bharatiya Janata Party has incorporated Gandhi Ji's social and economic philosophy into its Panchnischay. The opposition is murdering Bapu's ideals. Yesterday in the House, I listened to the honorable members until 1:30 at night. You listen to your own words and don't listen to ours; this too is violence," he said.

The Bill aims to provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment per financial year to every rural household, in line with the national vision of Viksit Bharat @2047. It also focuses on strengthening rural livelihoods and accelerating overall rural development.

On Wednesday, the House held a nearly 14-hour debate on the Bill, with the opposition demanding that the proposed legislation be referred to the Standing Committee, even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongly defended the Bill, calling it a decisive step towards achieving a Viksit Bharat by 2047.

Opposition members pressed for the bill to be referred to the standing committee for scrutiny. Congress leader KC Venugopal told reporters that the SHANTI Bill and the bill to replace MGNREGA should have been sent to the Standing Committee.

Moreover, the Bill envisions aligning rural development with the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, focusing on empowerment, growth, convergence and saturation to build a prosperous and resilient rural Bharat.

Under the Bill, public works will be aggregated to form the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack, prioritising water security, core rural infrastructure, livelihood-related projects, and climate-resilient initiatives. It also aims to ensure adequate farm-labour availability during peak agricultural seasons and to institutionalise Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans for integrated, saturation-driven planning.

These plans will be linked with PM Gati Shakti, powered by geospatial systems digital public infrastructure, and district- and state-level planning mechanisms.

The Bill mandates a modern digital governance framework that incorporates biometric authentication, GPS and mobile-based monitoring, real-time dashboards, proactive disclosures and Artificial Intelligence tools for planning, auditing, and fraud risk mitigation.

The major definitions under the Bill include adult members (aged one year or older), households, Blocks, implementing agencies, unskilled manual work, and the Viksit Gram Panchayat Plan.

The legislation also establishes Central and State Grameen Rozgar Guarantee Councils, as well as National and State-level Steering Committees to oversee implementation.

Highlighting the need for this strengthened framework, the Ball notes that over the past two decades, Mahatma Gandhi NREGA has provided guaranteed wage-employment, but rural transformations, including enhanced social security coverage, connectivity, housing, electrification, financial inclusion, and digital access, require an integrated and future-ready rural development strategy.

"To cater to the changing aspirations, stronger convergence is required to establish an integrated, Whole of Government rural development framework covering several complementary Government schemes. It is essential that rural infrastructure creation must transition from fragmented provisioning to a coherent and future-oriented approach, and it is also essential that resources are distributed in a fair manner to reduce disparities and promote inclusive growth across all rural areas of the country based on objective parameters," the Bill cites.

The Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission aims to transition rural infrastructure development from fragmented provisioning to a coherent, growth-oriented approach, while ensuring equitable resource allocation to reduce disparities and promote inclusive development.

Any Indian citizen aged 18 or above and residing in a rural area can apply to this scheme. The applicant receives guaranteed employment within 15 days of the application date.

- ANI