OPINION | Why VB- G RAM G represents a superior version of India’s workfare program 

More days and greater security is one of the most straightforward improvements in VB-G-RAM-G, with an increase in guaranteed wage employment from 100 days to 125 days per rural household annually.

This 25% expansion directly translates into to higher potential income for millions of rural families, particularly those reliant on manual labor.

Full potential of MGNREGA was thwarted by bottlenecks

Under MGNREGA, despite the 100-day guarantee, data over the years showed that only a small fraction of households—often 7-9.5% in recent fiscal years, actually availed the full entitlement. Factors like administrative bottlenecks, limited project availability and seasonal mismatches contributed to this underutilization.

VB-G-RAM-G, in contrast, tackles this by retaining the core demand-driven element (households volunteer for unskilled manual work), while providing more days to meet evolving rural needs. Moreover, the bill maintains the unemployment allowance if work is not provided within 15 days, ensuring the guarantee remains enforceable.

Advantage of extra days

With India's rural population still facing seasonal unemployment, these extra 25 days could significantly boost household earnings, reduce migration distress and enhance consumption in local economies. In an era of climate variability and economic shifts, this extended safety net positions VB-G RAM G as a more robust buffer than the outdated MGNREGA.

Focus on durable assets

The focus on durable, productive assets from mere employment to lasting development is the highlight of VB-G RAM G. MGNREGA's asset creation prioritized quantity over quality, leading to non-durable works like temporary roads or ponds that silted up quickly.

VB-G RAM G shifts this paradigm by mandating that works focus on four priority domains– water security (e.g., recharge structures, irrigation channels), core rural infrastructure (roads, connectivity), livelihood-related infrastructure (markets, warehouses, drying yards), and extreme weather mitigation (flood control, drought-proofing). This targeted approach ensures that public works contribute to long-term productivity rather than short-term employment alone.

For instance, building climate-resilient water structures can enhance agricultural yields, while infrastructure like storage facilities reduce post-harvest losses, a major issue plaguing Indian farmers.

Enabling a coherent approach to asset creation

A groundbreaking feature is the integration of various assets into the "Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack," a consolidated national database linked to platforms like PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, under the VB-G RAM G. This allows for geospatial planning, aggregation of projects at district and national levels and avoidance of unwanted duplication.

Gram panchayats will retain their pivotal role in identifying and planning works through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans, but will now do so with national alignment. This convergence transforms isolated village projects into components of a larger, cohesive rural development ecosystem—something MGNREGA completely lacked in scope and coordination.

The result? Higher returns on public investment, improved rural productivity and tangible contributions to India's infrastructure goals under “Viksit Bharat” by 2047.

Getting real about seasonal pauses

Seasonal pauses were a persistent complaint under MGNREGA, given its interference with agricultural cycles. High wages during sowing or harvesting seasons drew labor away from farms, causing shortages, wage inflation in agriculture and inefficiencies.

VB-G RAM G, however, intelligently addresses this by allowing States to declare up to 60 days annually as "pause periods" during peak farming seasons. During these pauses, no public works will be undertaken, freeing labor for critical farm activities.

Importantly, the full 125-day guarantee applies to the remaining period, ensuring no loss in employment opportunities. This flexibility supports both wage earners and farmers. By preventing labor diversion, it will stabilize agricultural wages, reduce crop losses due to untimely harvesting and boost overall farm incomes. In States with intensive agriculture like Punjab or Tamil Nadu, this provision could resolve long-standing tensions, making rural employment complementary to, rather than competitive with, agriculture—a clear upgrade over MGNREGA's year-round model.

Transparency enhanced through digitalisation

Transparency, efficiency and leakage reduction by addressing implementation irregularities, including ghost beneficiaries that plagued MGNREGA, are the other big positives of VB-G RAM G. It mandates a comprehensive digital ecosystem to combat these. Key features include biometric authentication for attendance and payments, geospatial technology for planning and monitoring assets, AI-enabled analytics for fraud detection, real-time mobile app dashboards and weekly public disclosures of data. Geo-tagging of assets and GPS-based tracking will ensure, works are verifiable on the ground.

Shorter payment cycles

Additionally, wages must be paid weekly (or at latest fortnightly), a significant improvement over MGNREGA's 15-day cycle, which often stretched longer due to delays.

This enhances worker liquidity and trust in the system.

The VB-G RAM G bill also raises the administrative expenditure ceiling from 6% to 9%, allowing better staffing, training and technical support at the field level. Higher penalties (up to Rs 10,000) deter malpractices. These measures promise greater accountability, reduced corruption, and efficient fund utilization, making VB-G RAM G far more transparent and worker-friendly than its predecessor. Targeted support for vulnerable groups and inclusive growth under VB-G RAM G will be possible thanks to special provisions for marginalized communities, issuing dedicated cards to single women, persons with disabilities, the elderly, released bonded laborers and transgender individuals. This ensures prioritized access, addressing hitherto gaps under MGNREGA's general framework.

By linking employment to livelihood enhancement through infrastructure like production units or markets, the VB-G RAM G bill promotes inclusive growth, empowering women and disadvantaged groups with sustainable opportunities, beyond mere wages. Institutional strengthening and fiscal prudence will get a fillip with new steering committees at national and State levels to facilitate coordination, policy review and convergence with other schemes. This institutional robustness, combined with normative allocations, aims for predictable planning and fiscal discipline.

While funding shifts to a Centrally sponsored model (60:40 Centre-State ratio for most states), it encourages shared responsibility and efficient resource use. Proponents view this as sustainable long-term planning, ensuring the program's viability without unchecked expenditure growth by the concerned stakeholders.

Conclusion

Ultimately, VB-G RAM G elevates rural employment from a standalone welfare scheme to an integral part of India's development trajectory. By tying works to national priorities, it fosters self-reliant villages (Gram Swaraj in modern form) with modern infrastructure and technology.

MGNREGA simply focused on immediate distress relief, with little focus on durable, long-term asset creation. Two decades later, a far more modern and effective VB-G RAM G adapts to contemporary challenges like climate change, digital advancement, and ambitious growth targets, by promising not just jobs, but dignified, productive employment, leading to a prosperous rural India. Critics raise concerns about funding shifts and centralization, but the VB-G-RAM-G bill's enhancements—in days, quality, technology and alignment, position it as a highly progressive evolution.

Without doubt, VB-G RAM G offers a bolder, more effective tool for rural transformation, proving that timely reforms can build on legacies while charting new paths. When it comes to policymaking and projects, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the uncanny ability to marry grand vision with seamless execution and VB-G RAM G is yet another sterling example of precisely that.

(Sanju Verma is an Economist, National Spokesperson for BJP and Bestselling Author of "The Modi Gambit".)

Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.