VB-G RAM G Act, 2025: the rural job guarantee that replaced MGNREGA
Why in news: The Ministry of Rural Development notified a Schedule of 375 permissible works on 6 October 2026; the Opposition criticised the Act on 20 October 2026.
The Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, which replaced MGNREGA, guarantees every rural household whose adults volunteer for unskilled manual work 125 days of wage employment a year. The Centre and States share its cost. On 6 October 2026, the Ministry of Rural Development notified the list of works it permits.
Syllabus: GS3 · Indian Economy & Growth; GS2 · Federalism & Local Government; GS2 · Government Policies
Why this matters for UPSC
GS2 welfare schemes and GS3 rural employment: Prelims can ask the 125-day guarantee, the 60:40 cost sharing and the 60-day farm pause; Mains, whether normative allocation strengthens or dilutes the right to work.
In short
The VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 is the statutory rural wage-employment guarantee that replaced MGNREGA, 2005, tying a larger work entitlement to planned, durable village assets.
The Act widens the guarantee and its asset focus; its worth will rest on fair normative allocations and on States' capacity to fund their share.
Why it matters
For a landless labourer in a dry district, the Act decides how many days of paid work the village can offer and when. Twenty-five more guaranteed days mean more income in lean months, but works stop during the farm seasons a State notifies, so the household must find farm work then. For a State government, the change is fiscal: it now pays a fixed share of every rupee and anything spent beyond its allocation, so a poorer State with high demand faces a harder budget choice. The larger question is whether a capped budget can still honour a right that people claim by asking for work.
Prelims pointers
- Section 6: States may issue distinct pause notifications for districts, blocks or Gram Panchayats by agro-climatic zone; the full 125 days fall in the rest of the year.
- Section 11: the allowance is at least one-fourth of the wage rate for the first 30 days and one-half thereafter; the State Government bears it.
- Section 10: the Centre notifies the wage rate, which cannot be below the rate notified under Section 6 of MGNREGA, 2005.
- Section 4(2): four thematic domains: water security, core rural infrastructure, livelihood-related infrastructure and works to mitigate extreme weather events.
- Section 13: a State Council has up to 15 non-official members, at least one-third women and one-third from SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities.
- Section 17: the District Collector or an equivalent officer is the District Programme Coordinator; Section 18: the block Programme Officer ranks at least Block Development Officer.
- Section 7: on a State's recommendation, the Centre may relax norms in natural calamities, such as expanding permissible works or relaxing documentation.
Practise a UPSC-style question
With reference to the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, consider the following statements:
1. It guarantees at least 125 days of wage employment a year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer for unskilled manual work.
2. The Central Government notifies the period of up to 60 days in peak farming seasons when no works are taken up.
3. Wages must be paid weekly or, in any case, within a fortnight of the date the work was done.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer
Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only
Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only. The farm-season pause is notified by State Governments, not the Centre.
Statement 1: correct. Section 5(1) sets a guarantee of not less than 125 days in a financial year, up from MGNREGA's 100.
Statement 2: incorrect. Under Section 6, State Governments notify in advance the pause aggregating 60 days in peak sowing and harvesting seasons.
Statement 3: correct. Section 5(3) requires wages weekly or not later than a fortnight after the work; late payment draws delay compensation.
Eliminate: Judge statement 2 first: the pause is a State notification under Section 6, so statement 2 is incorrect. Out: (a), (b), (d).
Trap: Swapped attribution. A real power of the State Governments is pinned on the Central Government.
Remember: 125 days (Section 5(1)); the 60-day pause is notified by States (Section 6).
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