0:03 [music] Namaskar viewers hello and welcome to Senset TV. I'm Tina Ja. You're watching Perspective. The Vixid Bharat guarantee for Rosegar and Ajivika mission Grammine referred to as the Vikid Bharat Grammj bill 2025 was introduced in Lok Sabha on Tuesday by Union Minister of Rural Development and Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivat Singh Choan aligned with the national vision of Vixid Bharat by 2047. The bill seeks to provide a guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer
0:49 to undertake unskilled manual work thereby promoting empowerment, growth, convergence and saturation for a prosperence for a prosperous and resilient rural bat. Madra Mahatma Gandhi.
1:39 Let's now take a quick overview of some of the key provisions in the bill. It says all works undertaken under this bill will be aggregated into the Vixid Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack Creating a unified national framework for rural public works. All works will be identified through Vixid Graham Panchchayat plans which are bottomup convergence-based and saturation oriented. These will be prepared using spatial technology and integrated with the PMG gati shaky to enable coordinated and efficient planning. States will be empowered to notify in advance periods aggregating to 60 days in a financial year during which works under the bill shall not be undertaken in order to facilitate the availability of farm labor during peak
2:24 sewing and harvesting seasons. Every state government is required to prepare a scheme for giving effect to the guarantee proposed under this bill within six months of the commencement of the act. It will operate as a centrally sponsored scheme with a fund sharing pattern of 90s to 10 for the northeastern and the Himalayan states as well as the union territories and 60 is to 40 for all other states. Besides there are several other provisions aimed at benefiting the rural economy, the farmers and the laborers. So we'll explore these as well as the changes proposed in the bill that make it different from the existing manora. Joining us are two distinguished guests. So let me begin by introducing them to you. It gives me immense pleasure to welcome on this edition of perspective Dr. Vive Kumar, professor, center for
3:10 rural development and technology IIT Delhi. Professor thank you for joining us. Welcome to the program. Also with us is Mr. Binodand. is an expert in rural employment and rural development with over a decade of experience in monitoring and evaluation of grassroots development programs. He was part of the drafting member team during the inception of key rural and agricultural policy initiatives and he's currently a member of the prime minister's committee on minimum support price. Mr. Anand, thank you for your time. Welcome to the program. So before we delve into the details of the provisions in the bill and the benefits that it is expected to have on the rural economy uh let's begin the program with your thoughts uh Mr. Anand on what you see as the core objective of the Vix Bharat G Ramji bill but also to add to that question as someone who's closely associated with
3:57 issues of rural development and rural employment. Uh why do you think the government felt the need for a new legislation at this point in time? See this is the time uh Tina to create a nassan building through self-reliance innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. This is what makes it bat by 2047 vijan age. >> It's an adhune bat where innovation and inclusive growth will be at the center. So the deep water exploration was certain when the honorable prime minister was talking about you know removing the colonial mindset vixed bharat resolve the pride in roots strengthening our unity and fulfilling the duties of citizens. This cannot be done with a with an act of 206. We
4:43 cannot have a mandrea act of 206 and think about 2047 and to the net zero emission villages. So that is why the need of this bill watch and and this is not a time where the poverty is been you know it's this accidental poverty cannot be tickled in this way. It has to be designed properly. The mind so to speak and it the institutional you know act in institutional steps are required and that's why this model is the economic justice. This is economic justice model not the charity model. This is a community institution empowering model and therefore uh this bill was we must understand that the lines what has been you know talked about. See this is the
5:29 employment growth convergence and saturation scheme for 125 days not 100 days that's the first thing and this convergence of a scheme will be used by PM gati saki so it will be it it is just not giving money cr of money to the state government and then they will decide it in it will be predecided by the ganchayat it will be pre decided on saturation basis >> and it will integrated with big bharat national that's what the changes are this is to facilitate the availability of farm labor during peak agricultural season you know a robust system will be there the digital public infrastructure is at place so the efficient and high
6:15 integrity implementation is on card through this BP grams scheme which is Jam G scheme so that is why this is more than that what the MA is talking about 100 miles ahead of what MGA was talking narga and mandrega and now this is a jam gi bill. So this is a very very visionary one. It will overall change the rural you know rural infrastructure the stack. It is not like just gadak hodo and burough. It is not like just you know doing the watershed activity. It is in a planned way the livelihood related infrastructure and a special works would be there. So that is why this bill is different. Okay. So, we'll talk about the long-term outcomes and also all aspects related to the technology, the planning and the data aspects uh uh in due course of the
7:02 program. But, professor, your opening remarks on uh one of the biggest questions that is being asked today is how is this bill different or better than Manura. Uh so in terms of the structural changes if you could uh uh tell us in our viewers about what are the most substantive differences that you see in the Jam bill and the existing Mandrea. >> We have to see the evolution of Mandrea or the changes happening in Mandrea after 2014. And if we look at this Jamji bill uh we can understand that it is it was eventuality right and this structural change was very much needed as pointed out by binoji also uh if you look at the sustainab if you do the sustainability
7:48 assessment of Mandrea you'll there is a C difference between Mandrea achievement before 2014 and after 2014. So in 2015 some new works were included and now we are talking about very structured intervention through Mandrea. We are talking about water security what we are talking about core rural infrastructure livelihood related infrastructure right we we are talking all about it and in 2015 some of these components were added and what we see across the states uh those have paid right for example Amratar over yoja so now it is a time to include all these things in a very
8:34 structured form you also have to see the difference between 2014 5 and 2025. 2025 now you know at that time 20 we were actually fighting with extreme poverty. We were fighting with uh multi-dimensional poverty. Now very recently you must have seen the data from who uh world bank uh and of course Indian government also published that data. Now it is a time to strengthen. So we are coming out. So the population of large significant population of India has come out of that extreme poverty or multi-dimensional poverty. So now we need to you know utilize that thing and uh give prosperity to this population.
9:21 So instead of just as uh my fellow panel also panelist also mentioned gada abhan we should look at we should utilize this scheme for you know building vixit bharat connecting it with uh pmgati shaki national master plan I think it's a wonderful move uh to make mandrea more structured with the name of and re make it gramm >> okay so from From a vixid bharat point of view uh it's uh quite empowering and it's empowering the rural economy in more ways than one. Coming to the specifics now Mr. Anand the bill allows states to pause work for up to 60 days during peak agricultural season. Uh talk
10:07 to us about how does this balance the interest of the farmers and the wage laborers. You see during uh agriculture harvesting season and sewing season there was a darth of labor and that is not uniform that was varied in each each and every state. >> Mhm. >> Say for for say Punjab. So there are farmers there are people who are migrating to the Punjab you know. So there was so many uh different kind of uh challenges when it is availability to you know labor ag labor in agriculture. So that is why this 60 days when the whenever the sewing and harvesting will be there mga scheme mandrega activities or else the new jamg bill you know those
10:54 rural employment programs will be at a stall. So this is a great thing this uh this is what the demand of uh the rural India this is the demand from the the people who are into the agricultural you know arena see the the very foundation of this strengthening uh of this scheme is the uh what the critics were talking about see this is an era of again I'm I'm coming back after answering your question is of dbt janadhar you know jandhan mobile connectivity the even the mobility of uh has mobility has gone by. The trains are now too many the transportation is not that much tough. So the this scheme has become cleaner, more transpol transparent and more
11:40 accountable. So that's why this is a kind of dignified and very important uh uh uh step which government has taken. Now >> so certainly it's aimed at improving income stability uh reducing distress migration among rural laborers that you pointed out but given the concerns and the apprehensions uh professor it's important to make people understand uh about the benefits for the farmers for the laborers for the rural economy holistically where do you see the biggest gains coming from? See uh as far as uh you know primary stakeholder is concerned that is you know uh the rural folks for them everything is positive in this bill. For example the number of days has been
12:26 announced from 100 to 125. Secondly if you look at the structure the way uh the focus is been on infrastructure. Now the biggest achievement as I said earlier also uh of Mandrea in last five six years is creation of Amraat servers. Now we are going to strengthen it more. We are going to focus on storage structures. So we are actually talking about core rural infrastructure. Now if all it happens then ultimately it provide the boost to the rural economy. So for uh rural population it is a win-win situation. So number of days are
13:12 increasing uh the productivity is going to increase and the assets which are which will be created under Mandrea or under Jiram they will also improve the economic productivity of rural population. So it's a win-win situation and even for this 60 days pause as rightly mentioned by my fellow panelists that there was a demand huge demand of farmers. So they were facing artificial you know inflation in the wage rate of labor. So and it is not that so so everything will be uh so 125 days are separate than the 60 days all is very good for uh rural population
13:58 >> okay so significant tangible benefits for farmers laborers on the ground but uh Mr. Anand how do you see this convergence of infrastructure creation of employment of the manner in which the agricultural planning is happening to improve the farm productivity but most importantly also the resilience especially in the rainfed the vulnerable regions of our country >> you see I will take you to the two I will give you two examples through you means to the you know the the larger policy maker and and to the farmer community either so this is a time of pax to ae X approach. This is the kind of wage work to wealth creation and that's what this Jir scheme is all talking about. You know we are going to invest uh the we are going to invest the
14:45 world largest amount in creation of uh rural godowns. That's what through every packs will have a godown. We are going to have 2.5 lakh of packs. The whole economy of the rural India is going to change. It's not only the digging of the watershed bodies. It is it is going to be the different kind of you know schemes the institutional spine of the rural economy is going to be uh on cooperative economic framework and that's why this scheme is very very important this is the scheme of natural convergence when it when we talk about the point of rural employment right it is just shifting from the fragmented approach now it is a very planned asset oriented employment will be created right so that's how the sustaining of institution is basically the cooperative
15:31 system and through Panchi the convergence of tax with a Punchayat ecosystem would be handling of credit input supply storage procurement everything require labor and a skilled labor. So mind you this is not the only will be uh uh this is the this is the time when the rural people especially the rural youths now we are having the the financial inclusion is not a dream now it's almost 100% everybody is included so this vixit bharat schemes would be a different one so there will there though there will be a very very strong focus on durable estates like water road irrigation climate resilience but the rural level will be converted into the national capital formation that is the through the rural areas by the
16:19 FBO by the PS and there the skill level is required. This is what the speciality in this uh you know this Jamg scheme there would not be any distress migration there would no fragile livelihood now nowadays and it's a temporary relief this we do not require temporary relief see in 10 years the from 2005 2006 inception to 2014 it was investment of around 2 lakh cr and this government that is from 2014 until now it is around 8 lak 50 crores almost four times. This is what the investment has been done. So where the money is that money need to be channeled to the productive rural estates which will confident the rural citizen in the era of climate change when people are
17:04 talking about you see this is the time when parali and all those management is required the compressed bio gas and you know the bioethanol policies those are at framework this requires a skill level in Mandrea in in in in in this through this scheme so the state government will come up with a different kind of job card different kind of planning different kind of arrangement and that's how this this is going to address the labor will build the storage go downs the drying yards the compost units milk processing infrastructure and I can go on and go on about talking about this kind of this is the improved bargaining power what the farmers will get and the rural people will get through this schemes so this is a new one this is something like vixit bharat we are
17:51 envisioning and certainly if the 10 year down the line the people will see the change. >> Okay. So, uh in addition to uh ensuring better asset creation, the focus this time is more on improving the efficiency for better long-term outcomes. Uh a question on long-term outcomes uh uh to you professor uh because this bill places a strong emphasis on uh spatial technology. It talks about data integration uh and the Vix Bat National Rural Infrastructure Stack is something that I read while preparing for the bill. So if from a systems and technology perspective if you could also explain to uh our viewers how transformative is this shift for the rural public works in in the country. >> Uh so I think this is a great step
18:38 actually. So if you look at the idea in this in this bill, it talks about the vixith gram panchayat plan and then it is uh uh there is a provision for special integration from punchai to block blog to district and state and then all has to be integrated through ne national national master plan. So you know with this integrated approach uh what will happen that each district each state each block each uh grand panchayan will have a integrated planning and those plans will be executed through this uh GR. So I think this is a very good approach uh GMG has
19:23 adopted. Secondly, if you talk about the technology, technology is also going to be used in this uh whole framework for bringing the transparency, accountability. So in Mandrea, one of the uh you know one of the shortcoming I would say was uh transparency and accountability. We know there had been cases of fake muster role and everything. So we were doing some analysis of Mandrea in few districts. We found that there had been such cases but now and there were delays in the payment. Now look at this G Ram G bill. It talks about weekly wages and everything will be linked with or everything will be monitored through
20:08 technology. So technology integration plus uh you know integration through geospacecial planning. I think that's a very very good very good idea. and uh as I said earlier also that uh this is going to make the whole rural India very very productive. >> Okay. So towards implementation and accountability there are several steps uh there are various provisions that take care of this aspect to ensure transparency in the process. Uh but Mr. Anand as someone who understands the system so well how critical is the capacity of the states to make this program a success? You see Tina the thing is that we must understand in the vix bat when we are marching that our developed India now we
20:54 cannot rely on waste guarantees without product productivity. So productivity need to be ensured. So if there is a dhanhan yoja in 100 districts say in Bihar there are four districts. So the productivity need to be ensured then only base guarantees would be there cannot be subsidies without ownership. So state has to take the ownership. Earlier it was just like that and there were assets without institutions. We cannot just create assets. We have to create assets for the institutions. So we this Jamg schemes when will be aligned with a cooperative economic framework then the cooperative being an estate subject it will be kind of the suppose the labor required for packs. It will required for the packs. So it will
21:41 be accurate the planning would be accurate. So labor would create national wealth here. The asset will be community owned because the people it will be created through their own village manage. So the the kind of asset will be created will be community owned. The incomes will be recurring just like just now you said weekly income would be there and the villagers will be the beneficiaries to the producers. So this is the sarcas true sarcast in action and the very line where I'm so happy with this this thing is this new work new framework will give the right to build institutions this is just not only right to work so that's what where the changes be required so here the worker here the
22:29 the people who will have the custodians of the rural assets so the worker will be become will become a stakeholders rather And the villages villages will become an enterprise and that's how the economy the whole the cooperative economic framework will be at place and the vixit bharat will just not be just in the boardroom things but it will in the collective hands through cooperative strength through villages and here the role of the state government is very crucial because the state government the panchayat they know what exactly needs to be done to fulfill all these roles. So when it comes to the financial inclusion network and when it comes to the cooperative economic framework where we are going to have 2.5 lakh packs every packs will be in godown and there could be uh so many different kind of
23:16 rural assets. This is a win-win situation for us >> certainly for effective implementation there has to be coordination among all stakeholders at different levels. uh as we wrap up the conversation professor uh what kind of multiplier effect do you see this kind of a technologydriven rural employment program have on the broader rural economy? India is still an a greater economy and this is going to contribute majorly towards Avik Sid Bharat's vision. So how do you see this uh uh if implemented effectively how do you see this scheme uh adding to the momentum that's already been built? So uh I have great hopes if it is implemented you know as such uh I have great hopes because it is going to give
24:01 lot of productive assets to the villages right >> so right from uh water structures or water security to the post-h harvesting management things and you know other livelihood uh you know infrastructure assets but besides that I also see a kind of competitiveness in this uh in this bill. So for example, if states come forward and since they have uh now they also have the stake in in in in this whole thing in the whole framework and and if they come up with a very good plan and say that okay we are we are having this plan and then now the
24:47 central government because it is all supply driven and this supply has to be linked with the plan which state government are going to make. So the state who is going to make a good plan, better plan, they will be able to get major share. So there will be a competitiveness and ultimately it all will be adding to the productivity. It all will be adding to the rural economy. So I have great hopes with this bill if it is implemented. This is uh this is a rider which >> absolutely I think the key the key lies in effective implementation. Let's all hope that what the framework promises is implemented effectively for the desired outcomes. Uh for now, we'll have to wrap up this conversation. Time allows us to
25:33 take up only that much on the program. Thank you once again to both of you for joining in, sharing your thoughts, your views with us and our viewers. And to you viewers, thank you very much for your time as well. >> [music] [music] >> Sunset TVs YouTube channel like or share
