Government Schemes★ Must Know

Centre Launches VB-G RAM-G Rural Jobs Scheme, Replacing MGNREGA with 10% Higher Wages

By TestNeeti Editorial TeamPublished Thursday, 2 July 2026 2 min readSource: The Economic TimesArticle 8 of 21

The government has overhauled India's rural employment guarantee by launching the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission-Gramin (VB-G RAM-G), which replaces MGNREGA from 1 July 2026, according to the Economic Times. The new scheme raises rural wages by over 10%, with daily wages now starting at ₹300 and an average of ₹327.4. It also extends the annual employment guarantee to 125 days. States with historically lower wage rates are set to see the sharpest increases, though some critics have called the hike insufficient.

Key Facts & Details

8 points

1
VB-G RAM-G (Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission-Gramin) replaces MGNREGA from 1 July 2026.
2
The scheme raises rural employment wages by over 10%.
3
Daily wages now start at ₹300, with an average of ₹327.4.
4
The annual employment guarantee has been extended to 125 days.
5
States with historically lower wage rates will see the most significant increases.

Deep Dive

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Rebranding under the Viksit Bharat umbrella aligns the flagship rural-jobs programme with the government's 2047 development framing.
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Extending the guarantee to 125 days widens the rural social-security net beyond MGNREGA's earlier 100-day norm.
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Some critics argue the wage hike is insufficient against rural cost-of-living pressures, a point aspirants should note for balanced answers.

Exam Focus

The new scheme's name and full form, the wage it replaces (MGNREGA), the daily/average wage figures and the extended number of guaranteed days.

Exam Relevance & Angle

Flagship government schemes, their full forms and their exact numbers are core general-awareness material for banking, SSC, NABARD and UPSC exams. A newly launched scheme replacing MGNREGA, with fresh wage and guaranteed-days figures, is exactly the kind of high-yield fact examiners convert into questions.

Target Exams

SBI POIBPS POIBPS RRB OfficerNABARD Grade ASBI ClerkIBPS ClerkIBPS RRB AssistantSSC CGLRRB NTPCUPSC CSE

Background & Context

India's rural employment guarantee began as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), enacted in 2005 and implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development. It legally guaranteed 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adults volunteered for unskilled manual work, and became one of the world's largest such programmes. Wage rates under the scheme were notified state-wise and revised periodically. Rural employment guarantees function as a demand-driven safety net that supports incomes during agricultural lean seasons and cushions distress.