Funds for two job schemes

The Union budget for FY27 has allocated a total of ₹1.26 trillion for the new and existing rural jobs guarantee schemes.

- Vijay C Roy

Of this, ₹95,692 crore has been earmarked for the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Gramin (VB-G RAM G) scheme, while the government has set aside ₹30,000 crore for the outgoing Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). In the FY26 budget, MGNREGA was allocated ₹86,000 crore.

Mint had reported on 21 January that the government was mulling dual allocation for the two schemes in the transition year.

The VB-G RAM G scheme, to be notified by the Centre, will give states six months to transition from the two-decade-old MGNREGA. Till then, both will operate as usual, necessitating separate allocations, rural development and agriculture and farmers' welfare minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told Mint.