1. Rural Employment Scheme Overhauled with VB-G RAM G Bill
India's Parliament has passed the "Viksit Bharat- Guarantee For Rozgar And Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025" (VB-G RAM G Bill), marking a significant shift in the country's rural employment landscape. This new legislation replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a cornerstone policy for rural job creation. The VB-G RAM G Bill increases the guaranteed employment days per rural household to 125 days annually. However, it transitions from a demand-driven model to a budget-capped, supply-driven framework, with 40% of the financial burden now allocated to state governments. The central administration in New Delhi will dictate job availability and allocate work. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has defended the overhaul as an attempt to modernize the existing framework, ensuring weekly or fortnightly wage payments. The government plans to launch a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about the benefits of this new scheme. Opposition parties, however, have criticized the bill, with the Congress party reportedly planning a nationwide stir against what they term a "diluted" job law.
2. Ladakh Launches STP Incentive Scheme for Sustainable Tourism
To promote sustainable tourism and protect its fragile ecological balance, the Union Territory of Ladakh launched the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) Incentive Scheme–2025. Lieutenant Governor Kavinder Gupta introduced the scheme, which offers financial assistance to hotels and guesthouses with 10 to 19 rooms for installing decentralized STPs. Eligible units can receive financial assistance covering 75% of the equipment cost, up to a maximum of ₹5 lakh. An additional 10% incentive will be provided to establishments owned by women residents of UT Ladakh. The scheme aims to encourage scientific wastewater treatment, prevent pollution, and foster responsible tourism practices in the region.
3. Digital Governance Boosted by AI-Enabled SabhaSaar Initiative
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has introduced the "SabhaSaar Initiative," an AI-enabled voice-to-text meeting summarization tool. Built on the government's Bhashini AI-powered language translation platform, SabhaSaar aims to streamline documentation and enhance transparency in Gram Sabha and Panchayat meetings. The tool generates transcriptions from video or audio recordings, translates them into chosen output languages, and prepares summaries. It supports major Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, and Gujarati, in addition to English. This initiative is expected to bring uniformity to the minutes of Gram Sabha meetings nationwide and empower stakeholders with instant access to meeting insights.
4. Enhanced Focus on Farmers' Income and Agricultural Growth
The Government of India is implementing an integrated strategy with a significantly enhanced budget allocation of Rs. 1,27,290.16 crore for the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare during 2025-26 to boost farmers' income and achieve comprehensive growth in the agriculture sector. Major schemes contributing to this include Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), and the Formation and Promotion of 10,000 new Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs). The strategy also emphasizes increasing crop production and productivity, reducing production costs, ensuring remunerative returns, promoting agricultural diversification, developing post-harvest value addition, and adapting to climate change for sustainable agriculture.
5. Progress in Tribal Development and Urban Infrastructure
Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Jual Oram, held a high-level interaction with Tribal Members of Parliament and Ministers, emphasizing a collective push for the holistic development of tribal communities. Flagship initiatives like PM-JANMAN, Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan, Eklavya Model Residential Schools, and the strengthened implementation of the Forest Rights Act are driving saturation-based development in tribal and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG)-dominated areas. Significant gains have been reported in housing, drinking water, electrification, healthcare, education, livelihood generation, and cultural preservation.
Separately, Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah addressed the CREDAI National Conclave 2025, highlighting the government's substantial progress in developing next-generation infrastructure over the past 11 years. He mentioned flagship initiatives such as the National Infrastructure Pipeline, Bharatmala, Sagarmala, and Parvatmal, which have strengthened urban development and laid a roadmap for India to achieve world-class infrastructure. Shah urged real estate developers to prioritize responsible development, including green building norms, energy-efficient designs, water recycling, rainwater harvesting, and scientific waste management, especially as the urban population is projected to reach about 50% by 2047.
6. India-Oman Collaboration and Digital Public Infrastructure
During the India-Oman Business Forum on December 18, 2025, the Prime Minister emphasized India's ongoing policy and process reforms, along with Production-Linked Incentives (PLI) to promote the 'Make in India' initiative. He highlighted India's Digital Public Infrastructure as the world's largest "inclusion revolution," making governance paperless, the economy more cashless, and systems more efficient, transparent, and predictable. The Prime Minister also proposed creating an "Oman–India Innovation Bridge" and collaborating on five major green projects in areas like green hydrogen, solar parks, energy storage, and smart grids over the next five years, aiming to connect 200 startups from both countries within two years.