MGNREGA Renamed as ‘Pujya Bapu Gramin Rozgar Yojana’: Cabinet Raises Guaranteed Work to 125 Days, Hikes Rural Wages

Delhi: In a significant policy shift aimed at strengthening rural livelihoods, the Union Cabinet has approved a comprehensive revamp of India’s flagship employment programme. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) will now operate under a new name — Pujya Bapu Gramin Rozgar Yojana — reflecting a renewed focus on rural employment and income security.

Alongside the renaming, the government has expanded the scope of guaranteed employment under the scheme. The minimum assured workdays per household have been increased from 100 to 125 days annually, a move expected to provide extended income support to rural families facing economic uncertainty.

Sources familiar with the decision said the Cabinet has also cleared a revision in wages, raising the daily minimum payment to ₹240 per day. This enhancement is likely to directly benefit crores of rural workers, particularly landless labourers and marginal farmers who depend heavily on public employment programmes during lean agricultural seasons.

The rural employment scheme was first introduced in 2005 as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, with the objective of providing legal backing to wage employment in villages. It was later renamed to honour Mahatma Gandhi, whose vision of rural self-reliance inspired the programme’s framework. Over the years, the scheme has evolved into a critical pillar of India’s rural economy.

Under the programme, beneficiaries are offered unskilled manual work on projects such as rural road development, water harvesting, irrigation support, pond digging, afforestation and other community-focused infrastructure works. The scheme has also been credited with boosting women’s participation in the workforce and reducing large-scale migration from villages to cities.