It seeks to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005.

Key Objectives

• Providing 125 days of guaranteed wage employment to rural households, aligning livelihood security with the Viksit Bharat @2047 vision.
• Use of public works to build water, livelihood, and climate-resilient infrastructure through convergence and saturation.
• To avoid labour shortages in farming during peak seasons while retaining wage-employment support.
• Promoting Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans linked with PM Gati Shakti for coordinated, multi-level planning.
• Strengthens oversight through biometrics, GIS-based planning, real-time monitoring, public disclosures, and social audits.

Funding

• It is a centrally sponsored scheme.
• Provides objective, rule-based fund allocation to States with excess expenditure borne by States and equitable intra-State distribution mandated.

Other Provisions

• Establishes Central and State Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Councils and steering committees for monitoring and policy guidance.
• Authorises the Centre to notify wage rates.
• Mandates States to notify their implementation schemes within six months of the commencement of the Act.
• Obliges States to pay unemployment allowance if work is not provided on time, preserving minimum legal guarantees for labour.

Source: The Hindu