The shift from MGNREGA to VB–G RAM G marks a move from a demand-driven wage guarantee to outcome-oriented asset creation. Critically examine.

The VB–G RAM G Act, 2025 replaced MGNREGA. It raises the work guarantee from 100 to 125 days [2] and ties wage work to a 375-item Schedule of durable assets [1]. The shift towards outcomes is real. The cost is that the legal right to work becomes weaker in return for predictable budgets.

Shift towards outcome-oriented assets: Strengths

• Thematic Schedule: there are 375 permissible works, up from 266. They fall under four pillars: Water Security (128 works), Core Rural Infrastructure, Livelihood, and a new Disaster Preparedness category (38 works) [1].
• Livelihood focus: livelihood works rise from 1.1% to 26% of the list. They include cold storage, market yards and dairy structures, which link wages to value chains [1].
• Bottom-up planning: works are chosen through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans approved by the Gram Sabha and tracked on a National Rural Infrastructure Stack. This strengthens Part IX decentralisation [1].
• Honest budgeting: MGNREGA was demand-driven only on paper. In 2023-24 it got Rs 60,000 crore against a demand of Rs 98,000 crore [4]. A fixed normative allocation makes the limit visible and lets States plan.
• Capacity: the cap on administrative spending rises from 6% to 9% of funds [3].

Dilution of the demand-driven guarantee: Concerns

• Capped entitlement: the Centre fixes a normative allocation for each State, and States pay for everything above it [2]. Poorer States with high demand therefore have a reason to stop opening new works.
• Fiscal federalism: the Centre used to pay the full unskilled wage bill. Wages are now shared 60:40, with 90:10 only for North-Eastern and Himalayan States [2][3]. States alone pay unemployment allowance and delay compensation [3], which weakens enforcement of the guarantee.
• 60-day pause: States can stop all work for up to 60 days in peak farm seasons [2]. This removes the landless worker's fallback when their bargaining power is highest.
• Leakage and capacity: only 32% of Gram Panchayats had a social audit in 2023-24 [4]. Works that need more material raise the risk of machines replacing manual labour [3].
• Wages: the Standing Committee recommended 150 days and an updated wage base [4].

VB–G RAM G improves what rural work builds, but it weakens who is assured of work. Four steps would help outcome-oriented work support the right to work rather than replace it:

• publish the formula for normative allocation;
• have the Centre share the cost of delay compensation;
• make social audits universal;
• use the 9% administrative funds to place technical staff in Panchayats.

This would serve Article 41 (right to work) and SDG 8 (decent work).