By Admin 
The central government seems to be preparing for major changes in the rural employment policy. A proposal has come forward to repeal the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and bring a new law for rural employment. Copies of a bill in this regard have been distributed to Lok Sabha MPs. According to sources, this bill can be introduced in the current winter session of Parliament.
Proposal to bring a new law in place of MNREGA
According to the draft of the bill, the government is preparing to repeal the MNREGA Act of 2005 and replace it with ‘Developed India-Employment and Livelihood Guarantee Mission (Rural) Bill, 2025’. Its objective is said to be to redefine the rural employment system.
New mission related to the vision of ‘Developed India 2047’
The bill states that its objective is to create a strong rural development framework in line with the national vision of ‘Developed India 2047’. Under this, it is proposed to provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in every financial year to the adult members of every rural family who voluntarily do unskilled manual labour.
The goal of rural India empowered by employment and prosperous
The objective of the new law is to promote rural empowerment and overall development through guaranteed employment and livelihood, so as to create a prosperous and capable rural India.
Bill may be presented in Parliament soon
This bill has been made available to the Lok Sabha members and it is expected to be introduced in the House soon. The winter session of Parliament will begin on December 1 and end on December 19.
MNREGA: The world’s largest work guarantee program
MNREGA was started by the Ministry of Rural Development in the year 2005. This is one of the largest employment guarantee programs in the world. By 2022-23, 15.4 crore active workers were registered under it. The objective of this scheme has been to address the root causes of poverty through a rights-based framework. There is a provision under MNREGA that at least one-third of the beneficiaries should be women. This has promoted women empowerment in rural areas.
Legal guarantee of work in 15 days
The most important feature of MNREGA is that there is a legal guarantee of providing employment to any rural adult within 15 days of seeking work. If this does not happen, there is also a provision for giving unemployment allowance. Panchayati Raj institutions were given a central role in the planning and implementation of works under MNREGA. Gram Sabhas got the right to suggest works and implementation of at least 50% of the works was made mandatory at the local level, which strengthened decentralization.