"VB-G RAM G launch triggers 40–85% employment generation crash in rural India"
VB-G RAM G
Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin); the 2025 Act replacing MGNREGA, effective 1 July 2026
Demand-driven guarantee
a statutory entitlement where the state must provide work to any eligible applicant who demands it, not a fixed quota
India's rural employment guarantee rests on Article 41 of the Constitution — a Directive Principle obligating the state to secure the right to work — and on the participatory infrastructure of Panchayati Raj institutions under Part IX. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005 gave statutory, demand-driven form to this aspiration: any rural household whose adult members volunteered for unskilled manual work was entitled to at least 100 days of wage employment per year, with the Centre bearing roughly 90% of wage costs. Over two decades, MGNREGA became one of the world's largest public works programmes, functioning simultaneously as a rural wage floor, a social safety net, and a mechanism for community asset creation — durable goods such as water conservation structures, rural roads, and land development.
Criticisms of MGNREGA accumulated over time: chronic wage payment delays, persistent under-budgeting relative to demand, administrative bottlenecks in the Management Information System, and a 100-day ceiling argued to be insufficient for households in deep 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 to 125 days per household annually and embedding rural employment within the broader 'Viksit Bharat' development vision. The Act was passed in December 2025 and came into force on 1 July 2026, formally replacing MGNREGA.
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. The most consequential is the revised cost-sharing model: states are now mandated to contribute 40% of total programme costs for most states, compared to the roughly 10% they bore under MGNREGA. This shifts the legal guarantee obligation substantially toward states while the Centre retains control over the 'normative allocation', creating a structural accountability gap: if a state cannot mobilise its 40% share, the Centre's allocation alone cannot fund the guarantee, and workers bear the cost.
The wage floor was set at ₹300 per day — framed as a significant increase from MGNREGA's ₹100 per day at 2009-10 prices, but critics note that in real terms the increase is marginal, and the floor remains below both prevailing state minimum wages and the Satpathy Committee's recommended floor of ₹375 per day. …
Which among the following steps is most likely to be taken at the time of an economic recession?
With reference to the Indian economy after the 1991 economic liberalization, consider the following statements:
1.Worker productivity (₹ per worker at 2004-05 prices) increased in urban areas while it decreased in rural areas.
2.The percentage share of rural areas in the workforce steadily increased.
3.In rural areas, the growth in non-farm economy increased.
4.The growth rate in rural employment decreased.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
With reference to the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, consider the following statements:
1.It raises the statutory rural employment guarantee from 100 to 125 days per household annually.
2.States are required to contribute 40% of total programme costs under the revised cost-sharing model.
3.The minimum wage floor under VB-G RAM G is ₹375 per day.
4.The Act came into force on 1 April 2026, replacing MGNREGA.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Consider the following assertion and reason:
Assertion (A): The shift from MGNREGA's ~90:10 Centre-State cost-sharing to VB-G RAM G's 60:40 model creates a structural accountability gap in the employment guarantee.
Reason (R): When states bear a larger share of costs, fiscally stressed states face a disincentive to scale up work provision, even when worker demand is high.
Which of the following is correct?
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