VB-G RAM G: when a policy shift meets rural realities Premium

Explore the impact of VB-G RAM G on rural employment in Andhra Pradesh, highlighting concerns over job security and implementation disparities.

Bandarugudem village in Bapulapadu mandal of Krishna district sits at a distance from the restless churn of urban Andhra Pradesh. Its narrow mud roads are worn dark by years of use, flanked by shallow drains carrying sewage and spewing out a stench that hangs heavily in the humid air.

Elderly and middle-aged women in crumpled cotton saris walk along the lanes separating small, low-roofed houses in uneven rows, their talk punctuating the hum of rural living. Except for the occasional growl of two-wheelers, there is little to signal that the world beyond the village is changing rapidly.

It is in these quiet lanes that the debate over the future of rural employment has begun to echo. Sixty-year-old Barre Jayamma stands at the end of a street speaking animatedly with a group of women. “What good is the new scheme when we are unable to utilise the full benefits of the existing one?” she asks, referring to the Union government’s decision to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) or VB-G RAM G.

Jayamma and most women around her are unfamiliar with the finer points of the new Act. Their understanding comes from what local officials have told them, that the guaranteed number of workdays has been increased from 100 to 125 and that payment delays are being addressed. For them, the question is not about legislative nuance but about work. MGNREGA’s mandate was simple and legally enforceable - at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members were willing to do unskilled manual work. But in practice, the experience varied widely.

“My cousins in villages like Chavatipalli in Nellore district, Adavinekkalam in Eluru district and even in neighbouring Ampapuram get 100 days of paid employment every year. I have to fight with local officials to find work even for two weeks.”Medabalimi DhanalakshmiJob card holder at Bandarugudem village

Fifty-year-old Medabalimi Dhanalakshmi voices her frustration. “My cousins in villages like Chavatipalli in Nellore district, Adavinekkalam in Eluru district and even in neighbouring Ampapuram get 100 days of paid employment every year. I have to fight with local officials to find work even for two weeks,” she says. Her neighbour, Chintalapudi Aluvelamma (58), got 28 days of work last financial year. “I am healthy and willing to work, but there is no work around this village,” she laments.