From MNREGA to VB–G RAM G: Why the government is changing the rural jobs model and how it will work

A 125-day employment guarantee, tighter planning, and an infrastructure-first push mark the most sweeping overhaul of rural jobs policy in two decades.

The Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), or VB–G RAM G 2025, is the government’s most ambitious reset of rural employment policy since MNREGA was launched in 2005.

At its core, the new law guarantees 125 days of wage employment per rural household, up from 100 days under MNREGA, for adults willing to do unskilled manual work. But the bigger shift is philosophical: this is no longer just about short-term wage support. It is about using public employment to build durable rural infrastructure, aligned with the government’s long-term Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.

The Act channels all work into four priority verticals:

• Water security and water-related works
• Core rural infrastructure
• Livelihood-related infrastructure
• Special works to mitigate extreme weather events

Every asset created is mapped into a single digital backbone, the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack, linking village-level works with national planning systems.

The government is pitching VB–G RAM G as a structural upgrade, not a cosmetic tweak.

100 days becomes 125 days, a 25 percent increase in income potential for rural households.

MNREGA allowed a long list of permissible works, often resulting in scattered assets with limited long-term value. VB–G RAM G narrows this to four infrastructure-heavy verticals, explicitly prioritising durability, productivity, and climate resilience.

Every Gram Panchayat must prepare a Viksit Gram Panchayat Plan, spatially integrated with national platforms like PM Gati-Shakti. The intent is to stop 'dig–fill–repeat' projects and replace them with coordinated, location-specific planning.

The scheme shifts to normative funding, using objective parameters for budgeting. Crucially, the legal guarantee remains: if work is not provided, the state must pay unemployment allowance.

MNREGA was designed for a very different rural India.

Since 2011–12, official data shows sharp declines in poverty, rising consumption, deeper financial inclusion, and more diversified rural livelihoods. Against that backdrop, the government argues that MNREGA’s open-ended, demand-driven model became misaligned with today’s rural economy.

There were also hard governance problems:

• Investigations in 19 districts of West Bengal flagged non-existent works and fund misuse, triggering a funding freeze.
• Monitoring across 23 states in FY26 found works 'not commensurate with expenditure,' machine use where labour was mandated, and routine bypassing of digital attendance.
• In 2024–25 alone, misappropriation was pegged at Rs 193.67 crore.
• Fewer than 8 percent of households completed 100 days of work in the post-pandemic period.

If implemented as designed, the economic impact could be broader than wage support.

Water-related works sit at the top of the priority list. The government points to Mission Amrit Sarovar, which has created or rejuvenated over 68,000 water bodies, as proof that asset-led employment can lift farm productivity and groundwater availability.

Roads, connectivity, storage facilities, and local markets are meant to reduce transaction costs, boost rural enterprise, and link villages more directly to markets.

Flood drainage, soil conservation, and water harvesting are no longer add-ons. They are central to the scheme, reflecting the growing economic cost of extreme weather.

An extra 25 days of guaranteed work raises household earnings and consumption, while stronger local infrastructure is expected to reduce migration driven purely by distress.

Farmers were often vocal critics of MNREGA during peak agricultural seasons. The new law tries to address that friction.

States can now notify up to 60 days, aggregated over the year, when public works stop during sowing or harvesting. The idea is to:

• Ensure labour availability for farms
• Prevent artificial wage inflation driven by guaranteed public works
• Keep food production costs in check

At the same time, farmers benefit from better irrigation assets, storage, connectivity, and climate-proofing — infrastructure that MNREGA often promised but delivered unevenly.

For workers, the gains are tangible but conditional on execution.

• 125 days of guaranteed work, up from 100
• Predictable work schedules, thanks to advance village-level planning
• Near-universal digital wage payments, building on the current 99.9 percent electronic transfer rate
• Mandatory unemployment allowance if work is not provided

Workers also gain indirectly from the assets they help create, roads, water systems, and livelihood infrastructure that shape daily life in villages.

The move from demand-based to normative funding is the most controversial change.

The government argues this aligns rural employment with how most Union schemes are budgeted, improves predictability, and avoids last-minute cash crunches. It insists the legal guarantee remains intact, backed by:

• Centre–state cost sharing
• Disaster-related relaxations
• Mandatory unemployment allowance

Critics, however, will be watching whether budgeting discipline quietly becomes a cap in practice. The test will be whether workers actually receive work when they ask for it.

VB–G RAM G becomes a centrally sponsored scheme, not a purely central one.

• Cost sharing is 60:40 for most states
• 90:10 for north-eastern and Himalayan states
• 100 percent central funding for UTs without legislatures

On paper, VB–G RAM G is sharper, more targeted, and more ambitious than MNREGA. It promises more work, better assets, tighter monitoring, and cleaner governance.