Opinion Between the myth and reality of VB-G RAM G, the tragic human cost

An Indian Express report (‘In its first month, VB-G RAM G sees almost 50% y-o-y dip in rural jobs,’ August 10) reveals that in the first month of the implementation of VB-G RAM G, the government’s own statistics show a sharp decline in work being provided — almost 50 per cent less compared to the same period last year.

Ever since MGNREGA was repealed on December 19 and replaced with VB-G RAM G, the critical metric of employment generated per month has been closely watched. In a press conference held in June by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, agricultural workers’ unions and labour-rights groups, department statistics were used to show that in a comparison of work provided from January to June 2026, with the same period in 2025, total person days fell from approximately 335.4 million to 215.2 million, a decline of 35.8%.. A similar decline can be seen when compared to the average of the previous three years.

When this decline was pointed out, the government asserted that all would be well once the new law was implemented from July 1. As evidenced by the Indian Express report, the month of July shows the person-days of employment provided have dropped even further, and almost breached the 50 per cent mark compared to the same period last year. The number of households reporting for work has also reduced by 50 per cent. This is in a country currently reeling from pervasive unemployment and distress from drought.

The idea of 125 days of guaranteed employment is a “jumla”, and the human cost of this deprivation on people and rural households is hard to imagine. Every day of work matters. Every household demanding work matters. Converting this living reality into data and statistics running into lakhs and crores allows us to paper over the pain.

The new law was not welcomed by anyone except the ruling party. It was introduced and passed without any consultation with workers, elected state governments, political parties, Standing Committees of Parliament or indeed in Parliament itself. The law was bulldozed through Parliament, with the Opposition appealing for consultation and re-examination, if not withdrawal. The government used its brute majority to override objections while asserting strongly that this was, in fact, an improved version of the landmark MGNREGA. VB-G RAM G would provide 125 days of guaranteed employment at enhanced wages, with better digital and tech-based monitoring and delivery. Despite continuing strong objections from workers’ groups, civil society and opposition parties, the central government persisted with the revamped law and rolled it out on July 1.

It is important to look at the provisions of the new law and the details of its implementation to understand the myths being propagated that have undermined the 20-year employment guarantee that served as an imperfect but critically important lifeline for India’s rural workforce. There are at least five myths that have been propagated by the government that help the BJP assert that it is strengthening the work entitlement, even as it deliberately and cynically weakens it.

The 125-day myth: Right across the country, the government has advertised the enhanced number of days it is providing under VB-G RAM G. Billboards, announcements in railway stations, radio ads, panchayat meetings, official press releases and full-page advertisements dramatically announced this increase. However, in most parts of the country, people are being turned away from work, and there is little evidence of guaranteed employment being provided. The central government has cleverly passed a law making it obligatory for the state government to “guarantee” 125 days of work. But it has not bound itself to provide the huge financial resources required beyond its own conveniently drawn “normative allocation”, and thereby ensure the so-called “guarantee”.

The myth of adequate allocation: The Centre has asserted that it has made the largest allocation of Rs 95,000 crore this year. Along with the mandatory allocation of 40 per cent by the states, the available resources would be a total of Rs 1,55,000 crore. But this is all in the realm of fantasy. If work is not provided in the first place and the state is not incentivised to run the programme, then whatever notional allocation that may be made will only remain on paper. The diabolical objective of this notional allocation with complex, untenable cost-sharing arrangements seems to be that the Centre will have succeeded in creating an impression that it is either the state or the people who don’t want the programme.

The myth of higher wages: The central government has supposedly set a floor-level wage of Rs 300 per day. This floor wage remains below the minimum wage in most states and is far below the BJP-appointed Satpathy Committee recommendation of a floor-level minimum wage of Rs 375 per day at June 2018 prices.

The myth of digital efficiency: The tech-driven VB-G RAM G implementation system has caused immense exclusion and pain for workers across the country. E-KYC requirements have led to crores of job cards being deleted, which might explain, in part, why the number of households coming to work has dropped so dramatically. In addition, the facial recognition system, NMMS, causes subsequent exclusion even for those who do manage to find a way to get work against all odds. It should take little imagination to understand how difficult it must be to capture the photograph of every one of the approximately 11 crore registered active workers twice a day, “geotagged and geofenced” to a particular spot. As MGNREGA workers have themselves demanded, this monitoring and attendance mechanism should be enforced for every public servant so that they can understand what it means to be harassed by tech solutions that steal your salary and wages.

The myth of the new Viksit Bharat: By mandating a 40 per cent contribution of the state to VB-G RAM G, the government claims to have ushered in a new era of cooperative federalism. In fact, without taking the states’ agreement, the funding mechanism imposed under the VB-G RAM G is a violation of Article 258 of the Indian Constitution — a safeguard that requires the Centre to pay for any financial burden that may have to be borne by states for the implementation of a central law. While the opposition states did object in the beginning, they have all seemingly fallen in line.

There is a tragic human cost to all this sophistry of narrative-building. The political Opposition seems to have also absolved itself of its moral obligation to stand with the working poor, and has done woefully little beyond making a noise. The states have not mobilised. Neither have they legally challenged the VB-G RAM G, nor have they tried to enact an alternative guaranteeing work in their states. All this while, India’s most vulnerable set of workers, most of whom are women, are paying the price and losing even this imperfect but critically important lifeline of the right to work. The ruling party would do well to remember that behind the protest of the young on the streets is their need for work and employment. VB-G RAM G has undermined the only framework of guaranteed employment that India had. Who benefits from this is a question that India’s composite political and economic ruling elite needs to answer.

Dey and Roy are social activists and founder members of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)