VB-G RAM G: Centre Notifies 375 Permissible Works for the New Rural Job Guarantee
The Ministry of Rural Development notified a new list (schedule) of 375 permissible works under the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, called VB-G RAM G. "Permissible works" means the types of projects on which rural workers can be employed under the law.
The old MGNREGA framework allowed 266 works. The new list is about 41% larger.
The works fall in four groups: water security (128 works), core rural infrastructure (111), livelihood-related infrastructure (98) and special works for extreme weather and disaster preparedness (38). The disaster category is new.
Livelihood works now make up 26% of the list, up from just 1.1% earlier. They include mini flour mills, cold storage, dairy and aquaculture structures, mushroom sheds, market yards and worksheds for self-help groups (SHGs).
181 works relate to agriculture and allied activities; 107 works are tagged for Antyodaya (the poorest) and vulnerable households; 36 works each relate to women and youth.
Works will be planned through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans, approved by the Gram Sabha (the meeting of all adult voters of a village), and tracked digitally.
Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar aur Ajeevika Mission, Gramin (VB-G RAM G) Act, 2025
The VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 is India's law that guarantees paid work to rural families. Every rural household whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual work (simple physical work like digging, carrying soil or building a pond) can ask for work. The government must then give them up to 125 days of paid work in a year. Its official name is the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025. It replaced the famous MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005).
The new schedule of 375 works is how the VB-G RAM G Act turns its four focus areas into real, allowed projects. By shifting a quarter of the list to livelihood assets and adding a separate disaster category, the government wants the 125 days of work to build assets that raise village incomes and protect against floods and droughts.
Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS)
A Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) is a government programme that the Centre designs and part-funds, but the states carry out and also part-fund. For example, under a 60:40 scheme, the Centre pays ₹60 and the state pays ₹40 out of every ₹100 spent. Many of India's biggest welfare programmes in health, education, housing, water and rural jobs are run as CSS.
VB-G RAM G turned India's rural job guarantee into a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with 60:40 sharing, unlike MGNREGA where the Centre paid almost the whole wage bill. So every one of the 375 new works will now be paid for partly from state budgets, which is why states closely watch both the list of works and their yearly normative allocation.
- 375 permissible works notified under VB-G RAM G, up 41% from 266 works under MGNREGA
- Water security 128 · Core rural infrastructure 111 · Livelihood infrastructure 98 · Disaster preparedness and extreme weather 38
- Livelihood works: 26% of the list (earlier 1.1%)
- 181 works related to agriculture and allied activities (52 individual-beneficiary works)
- 107 works for Antyodaya and vulnerable households (68 individual-beneficiary works); 36 works each for women and youth
- Planning through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans, approved by Gram Sabha; digital tracking through the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack
- VB-G RAM G in force from 1 July 2026: 125 days of work, 60:40 funding for most states, 60-day agricultural pause
- Repair and maintenance of Jal Jeevan Mission water-supply assets is a permissible work