India rural jobs fall under VB-G RAM G
Analysis based on 6 articles · First reported Aug 09, 2026 · Last updated Aug 10, 2026
The sharp decline in rural employment under the new scheme could dampen rural demand and agricultural output, potentially slowing economic growth. The government's higher budget allocation of ₹95,692 crore may not offset the negative sentiment if employment generation continues to lag.
In July 2026, the first full month of India's new rural employment scheme, India — Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), employment generation fell by 49.94% year-on-year to 7.67 crore person-days, compared with 15.33 crore under the previous Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in July 2025. The number of participating households dropped 51.45% to 68.94 lakh. These figures are the lowest in five years. The scheme, which replaced MGNREGS on July 1, 2026, guarantees 125 days of work per rural household, up from 100, and allows states to pause work for up to 60 days during peak sowing and harvesting. The decline comes amid erratic monsoon, with 50% of districts reporting deficit rainfall, and a 26.5% drop in kharif crop coverage. The India — Ministry of Rural Development disputes the dashboard figures, claiming around 9 crore person-days were generated, and attributes the slowdown to the sowing-season pause. Five opposition-ruled states—India — Karnataka, India — Kerala, India — Punjab, India, India — Telangana, and India — Jharkhand—have passed resolutions opposing the new law and seeking restoration of MGNREGS.
Set up alerts, explore entity relationships, search across thousands of events, and build custom intelligence feeds.
Open Dashboard