The Union Cabinet is likely to approve a proposal to rename the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) as the Pujya Bapu Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, 2025. The change
is expected to be taken up for clearance soon, according to Moneycontrol report.
Sources told Moneycontrol that the proposed new name is meant to give the employment guarantee scheme a fresh identity and signal a plan to strengthen its scope. Along with the renaming proposal, the Union Cabinet is also expected to take up the Vikas Bharat Shiksha Adhisthan Bill 2025, which aims to introduce major reforms in the education sector.
MGNREGA has been one of the Centre’s key welfare programmes for rural India. The scheme provides a legal guarantee of 100 days of wage employment every year to any rural household willing to take up unskilled manual work. It is a rights-based programme that includes rules on transparency, social audits and timely wage payments.
The scheme became especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the demand for jobs spiked and MGNREGA absorbed a large number of returning migrant workers. It has also been praised for increasing women’s participation in the workforce by offering paid work close to home and reducing their reliance on informal labour markets.
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