"VB-G RAM G implementation shows sharp decline in rural employment generation"
Demand-driven guarantee
a scheme where the state's obligation to provide work is triggered by the worker's demand, not pre-allocated supply targets.
Normative allocation
the Centre's self-defined financial ceiling beyond which it claims no further fiscal obligation, regardless of actual programme demand.
India's rural employment guarantee framework is grounded in Article 41 of the Constitution — a Directive Principle directing the state to secure the right to work — and in the participatory architecture of Part IX (Panchayati Raj institutions). The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005 operationalised this aspiration by providing a statutory, demand-driven guarantee of at least 100 days of unskilled wage employment per rural household per year. Over two decades, MGNREGA became one of the world's largest public works programmes, functioning simultaneously as a social safety net, a rural wage floor, and a mechanism for community asset creation. The Centre bore approximately 90% of wage costs, with states contributing the remainder — a structural fiscal dependency that shaped Centre-State relations in welfare delivery and gave the Centre disproportionate leverage over programme design.
Criticisms of MGNREGA accumulated over time: chronic wage payment delays, under-budgeting relative to demand, administrative bottlenecks in the Management Information System, and a 100-day ceiling argued to be insufficient for households in agrarian distress. The VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 (Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission, Gramin) was enacted as a legislative overhaul, raising the statutory entitlement from 100 to 125 days per household annually and embedding rural employment within the broader 'Viksit Bharat' development vision. The Act came into force on 1st July, 2026, replacing MGNREGA, which was formally repealed on 19th December of the preceding year.
VB-G RAM G retains the demand-driven architecture of MGNREGA — adult members of rural households volunteering for unskilled manual work are entitled to the statutory guarantee — but introduces significant structural changes in funding, implementation, and accountability. The central government's total budgetary allocation stands at ₹95,692 crore, complemented by a mandatory 40% co-contribution from state governments. This revised cost-sharing model represents a departure from the earlier ~90:10 Centre-State ratio and is a critical point of contention: critics argue it imposes an unfunded mandate on fiscally constrained states, effectively shifting financial risk downward without commensurate resource transfer.
The scheme also introduces a floor-level wage of ₹300 per day, which, while nominally higher than MGNREGA wages in many states, remains below the minimum wage prevailing in most states and falls short of the Satpathy Committee's recommendation of ₹375 per day at June 2018 prices — a benchmark set by a government-appointed body. …
With reference to the Indian Parliament, consider the following statements:
1.A bill pending in the Lok Sabha lapses on its dissolution.
2.A bill passed by the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha lapses on the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.
3.A bill in regard to which the President of India notified his/her intention to summon the Houses to a joint sitting lapses on the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
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