The VB-G RAM G scheme represents a paradigm shift from employment guarantee to livelihood guarantee. Critically examine its design features and potential to address structural rural unemployment.

Q. The VB-G RAM G scheme represents a paradigm shift from employment guarantee to livelihood guarantee. Critically examine its design features and potential to address structural rural unemployment. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

The Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, in force from 1 July 2026, repeals MGNREGA (2005) and reframes rural work from bare wage relief towards asset-creation and livelihoods [1]. Its design marks a genuine shift, though the livelihood promise remains conditional on execution.

Design features signalling the shift - Wider guarantee: statutory entitlement raised from 100 to 125 days per rural household, with unemployment allowance if work is not given within 15 days [1]. - Thematic works planning around four pillars — water security, core rural infrastructure, livelihood enhancement, and climate and disaster resilience — integrated with the PM Gati Shakti master plan, moving beyond unskilled earthwork [1]. - Fiscal recasting as a centrally sponsored scheme on 60:40 sharing (90:10 for Himalayan and North-Eastern States), with a record central outlay of about ₹95,692 crore for 2026-27 [2]. - Accountability tech: biometric authentication, geospatial monitoring and weekly public disclosure to curb fake job cards and wage delays [1]. - Targeted inclusion of PVTGs, single women, persons with disabilities, released bonded labourers and transgender persons [3].

Critical assessment of its potential - The scheme remains a demand-driven, unskilled-work programme; without skilling and non-farm enterprise linkages, "livelihood" risks staying nominal. - The provision allowing States to notify up to 60 days annually when works are suspended during sowing and harvesting can blunt the guarantee precisely in lean distress spells [1]. - 60:40 co-financing shifts a larger burden onto fiscally weaker States, risking uneven rollout and delayed wages. - Structural rural unemployment stems from low farm productivity and weak manufacturing absorption; a public works law can cushion, not cure, it.

VB-G RAM G is best read as an evolution — a self-selecting safety net upgraded into a durable-asset and climate-resilience instrument. Its success will hinge on timely wage payment, State fiscal capacity, and convergence with DAY-NRLM skilling, so that the promised livelihood guarantee genuinely advances the Viksit Bharat 2047 goal of inclusive rural prosperity.

(~330 words)

Sources: 1. The Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) VB–G RAM G Bill, 2025 — PRS Legislative Research — 125-day guarantee, four thematic pillars, Gati Shakti integration, 60:40 funding, up-to-60-day suspension window, technology and disclosure provisions 2. VB-G RAM G Act 2025 Guarantees 125 Days of Rural Employment to Drive Viksit Bharat Vision — PIB — ₹95,692 crore central outlay for 2026-27; repeal of MGNREGA and commencement from 1 July 2026 3. Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Gramin — India.gov.in Spotlight — scheme coverage and priority beneficiary categories