Rural jobs fall nearly 50% in first month of VB-G RAM G scheme, official data shows
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This photograph taken on February 14, 2026 shows wage-labourers under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) toiling a dirt road at a road-construction site at Balapur Dolkarpada village in Maharashtra's Palghar district. Photograph: (AFP)
Rural employment under VB-G RAM G fell nearly 50% year-on-year in July 2026, with 7.67 crore person-days generated against 15.33 crore under MGNREGS in July 2025.
Rural jobs fell nearly 50 per cent in the first month of the VB-G RAM G scheme, official data reveals. The drop came as the Union Government shifted from the two-decade-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), or VB-G RAM G, on July 1.
Data available on the official rural employment dashboard shows that as of August 9, 7.67 crore person-days were generated under the VB-G RAM G in July 2026, compared to 15.33 crore person-days recorded under MGNREGS in July 2025. The number of participating rural households dropped by 51.45%, falling from 1.42 crore households last year to 68.94 lakh households. Despite the 7.67 crore number in the dashboard, the Union Rural Ministry says that around 9 crore person-days were generated in the first month of the implementation of the revamped VB-G RAM G scheme.
This is the lowest number in the last five years. The number of households that accessed the VB-G RAM G scheme is 40 per cent less than the average of the last four years. The in-person days of July 2026 were 35 per cent of the in-person days of the previous years.
The significant decline in July in-person days is worrying as employment generation under the VB-G RAM G was the alternate option amid the uneven rainfall. According to IMD data, half of India's 741 districts recorded deficit to serious deficit in rainfall between June 1 and August 3. The government is yet to issue a clarification on the nearly 50 per cent year-on-year decline in person-days, whether it was linked to the transition from MGNREGS, or a broader macroeconomic trend of slowdown in rural employment. According to an Indian Express report which cites anonymous sources from the Union Rural Ministry, 98 per cent of rural households demanding work have been offered work, and 63 per cent of the total person-days generated so far have been contributed by women, exceeding the statutory requirement of one-third participation.
