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VB G RAM G: A Reimagined Rural Employment Guarantee With A Development Thrust
VB G RAM G: A Reimagined Rural Employment Guarantee With A Development Thrust
As the Modi government introduced the VB G RAM G Bill — Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) in the Lok Sabha, replacing MGNREGA, the Opposition, including the Congress, vociferously protested and tore copies of the legislation in the well of the House, irked by the absence of Mahatma Gandhi's name. Realising its bankruptcy of issues, the Congress latched onto this matter hurriedly, without examining the fine print—where none existed. What the Congress fails to acknowledge is that rural employment schemes have existed since the 1960s, and even MGNREGA did not carry Mahatma Gandhi's name when the Bill was legislated in 2005.
Improvements to MGNREGA since 2014-15
The implementation of MGNREGA during the UPA years was riddled with weak oversight, patchy execution, and relatively shallow budget allocations. Since FY15, the cumulative budgetary allocation to MGNREGA has reached Rs 8.64 lakh crore, about 3.6 times that of the UPA period. This includes stepped-up expenditure of Rs 1.12 lakh crore during crisis periods such as the Covid pandemic.
This exponential increase in allocation translated into visible improvements in women's participation, person-days generated, and the creation of durable rural assets. Unlike the UPA era, digitisation and geotagging of photographs have aided in improving transparency and facilitating timely payment of wages.
However, despite the ramp-up in implementation, several irregularities and structural issues — such as fake job cards, chronic delays in wage payments, quality and durability deficits in assets, and accountability gaps — have been highlighted in various Departmentally Related Standing Committee reports.
The Bill: Differentiation across multiple dimensions
The new Bill represents a comprehensive revamp of MGNREGA while retaining the core employment guarantee. It raises the guaranteed wage employment from 100 days to 125 days per household per financial year, covering more than a third of the year. While convergence, saturation, and a whole-of-government approach existed operationally under MGNREGA, these principles have now been formally embedded in the legislation, reinforcing the commitment to rural resilience and prosperity.
The Bill also mandates that wage payments be made within seven days of completion of work, compared to the earlier ceiling of 15 days.
The most defining feature of the Bill is its emphasis on technology-enabled planning, transparency, and accountability. All Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans will be aggregated into the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack and integrated with the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan to enable spatially optimised infrastructure development. Artificial intelligence will also be leveraged for planning, audits, and fraud-risk mitigation.
Biometric authentication of workers, mobile application-based and dashboard-based monitoring systems providing real-time visibility of demand, works, workforce deployment, payments, and progress, along with weekly public disclosure mechanisms — both digital and physical — covering key metrics, muster rolls, payments, sanctions, inspections, and grievance redressal — form a robust technology-driven transparency and accountability framework.
Enhancing responsibility, predictability, flexibility, and accountability for states
Earlier, states received 32 percent devolution from central taxes. This was increased to 42 percent by the Fourteenth Finance Commission. In alignment with this shift, VB G RAM G will be implemented as a centrally sponsored scheme with a 60:40 Centre-state funding pattern, replacing the earlier central sector structure.
States will also have greater flexibility to allocate funds, based on Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans, to those gram panchayats that need them the most, thereby addressing regional disparities more effectively. The Bill introduces normative allocations, enabling states to better predict finances and plan works in advance.
With technology-driven governance and the liability resting on states to provide unemployment allowance if work is not provided within 15 days, states are firmly brought within the accountability framework. When analysed together, the employment guarantee and panchayat plans clearly reinforce the demand-driven character embedded in the Bill.
Relief for farmers and support to agriculture
Agriculture and allied activities play a critical role in food security and contribute significantly to GDP. As the annadata is a key stakeholder in the vision of Viksit Bharat, farmer welfare remains a core focus of the Modi government. Initiatives such as PM-KISAN, PMFBY, the announcement of 50 percent returns over cost in MSP, and GST 2.0 reforms, including a reduction in GST on key farm inputs to five percent, reflect this commitment.
Yet, persistent challenges remain in agricultural production, with implications for food security. One major issue is the chronic labour shortage during peak sowing and harvesting periods. This concern was also flagged by the Standing Committee on Rural Development in its 2012–13 report on MGNREGA, which noted that MGNREGA works during peak agricultural seasons adversely affect labour availability for farming. While the department acknowledged the issue, it had earlier rejected a blanket ban on works during peak periods.
Recognising this challenge, and considering that over 80 percent of farmers are small and marginal, farm mechanisation levels remain low, and more than 45 percent of the cost of cultivation is labour-related, the Bill empowers states to notify, in advance, a period aggregating up to 60 days in a financial year covering peak sowing and harvesting seasons during which works under the scheme will not be undertaken. This ensures adequate availability of farm labour during critical agricultural operations.
Another major concern is that over 50 percent of India's net sown area remains monsoon-dependent, exposing food production to high rainfall variability. With water security identified as one of the four thematic focus areas, water-related works such as irrigation support and groundwater recharge will strengthen agricultural resilience. Even the other three focus areas also aid farmers by providing better connectivity and storage along with protecting crops from extreme weather.
Conclusion
The transformative VB G RAM G Bill represents continuity rather than rupture, carrying forward the spirit embedded in MGNREGA while addressing its structural shortcomings. By raising the employment guarantee from 100 to 125 days, strengthening execution through technology-enabled planning, payments, and oversight, and enhancing state participation and accountability, the Bill seeks to elevate rural employment guarantees to the next level.
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In doing so, states are also poised to reap positive spillover effects across agriculture and rural infrastructure, making the VB G RAM G a more holistic instrument for rural development and expediting the journey towards Viksit Bharat.
(The author is an economist & columnist and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.)
Source: News18
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