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Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin)
Copy link to Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin)Prelims and Mains
LeadFrom MGNREGA to VB-G RAM G: the new rural employment guaranteeJuly 2026
Why in news
On 1 July 2026 the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (VB-G RAM G) replaced the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA). The first wage rates under it were notified the same day.
Background
- The 2005 Act gave every rural household that asked for it 100 days of unskilled manual work a year.
- It was demand driven: work had to be given to whoever asked, and central funds followed the demand.
- The Centre paid the whole wage bill; only the cost of materials was shared with the States.
- It served as a floor under rural wages and as a fallback in a bad season.
What changes
- Days: 125 in place of 100.
- Wage: a floor of ₹300 a day, which raises pay in the States that paid less.
- Cost: wages and materials together are now shared 60:40 between the Centre and most States, and 90:10 for the north eastern and Himalayan States.
- Allocation: the Centre fixes a ceiling for each State, in place of funds that follow demand.
- A pause: no work for 60 days in the peak farming seasons.
The case for the change
- More days and a higher floor wage.
- A State that pays part of the bill has reason to watch for leakage.
- The pause meets the farmers' complaint that the scheme drew labour away at harvest.
The worries
- A right or a scheme? If the money is capped, work may be rationed, and a guarantee that can be rationed is no longer a right.
- Poorer States have the most demand for work and the least room in their budgets. Several raised this before the start.
- The pause removes the fallback in the months when a failed crop hurts most.
- The first year began with a weak monsoon, when demand for such work rises.
The way forward
- A clear formula for each State's allocation, with room to add when distress rises.
- Timely release of central funds, since delayed wages defeat the purpose.
- Keep social audit by the gram sabha.
- Build durable assets: water, soil and roads.
Prelims facts
- The new Act is of 2025; it took effect on 1 July 2026.
- Guarantee: 125 days for each rural household in a year.
- Cost sharing: 60:40; 90:10 for north eastern and Himalayan States.
- The ministry in charge is the Ministry of Rural Development.
- Under the 2005 Act the Centre bore the full cost of unskilled wages.
The 2005 Act gave every rural household that asked for it 100 days of unskilled manual work a year.