Secretary, Department of Rural Development Reviews States' Preparedness for Rollout of VB–G RAM G Act, 2025

📌 Summary:

• The Secretary, Department of Rural Development (DoRD), chaired a meeting with States/UTs to review preparedness for rolling out the VB–G RAM G Act, 2025, which will replace the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS from 1 July 2026

• States/UTs were advised to complete preparatory measures: notifying State VB–G RAM G Schemes, framing State-specific Rules, technical integration of DBT-SPARSH and SNA-SPARSH, and preparing a shelf of works via the Yuktdhara portal approved by Gram Sabhas through participatory planning

• Eight sets of draft Rules under the Act were issued on 22 May 2026 and published in the e-Gazette for 30 days of public consultation, covering wages and unemployment allowance, grievance redressal, the National Level Steering Committee, normative allocation and transitional provisions

• An indicative framework to categorise Gram Panchayats into A/B/C categories has been shared with States/UTs to aid planning

• To ensure continuity, MGNREGS will run uninterrupted until 1 July 2026; a Labour Budget of over 45 crore persondays has been approved for June 2026

• Mother sanctions of ₹26,971 crore have been issued under MGNREGS towards wage, material, administrative and social audit components to ensure uninterrupted fund flow

• The Ministry holds weekly consultative meetings with States/UTs and described the transition as a major reform of the rural employment and livelihood framework

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 (Governance & Social Justice) — rural employment guarantee, the transition from MGNREGS to a new statutory framework, and Centre-State coordination in welfare delivery.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• The VB–G RAM G Act, 2025 will replace the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS from 1 July 2026

• Eight sets of draft Rules were published in the e-Gazette on 22 May 2026 for a 30-day public consultation

• A Labour Budget of over 45 crore persondays was approved for June 2026; ₹26,971 crore in mother sanctions was issued under MGNREGS

🔑 Key Term: Mother Sanction — a consolidated, top-level financial sanction released by the Centre under a scheme, against which subsequent component-wise expenditure is drawn.