ITANAGAR, 6 Jan: Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Tuesday asserted that the VB-G RAM G Act would strengthen rural livelihoods, improve accountability and align grassroots development.
The Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Grameen) Act, or VB-G RAM G, replaced the MGNREGA enacted by the UPA government in 2005.
“It brings transformative reforms to MGNREGA by extending guaranteed employment to 125 days in comparison to the 100 days employment, prioritising durable rural infrastructure, and strengthening gram panchayat-led planning with clear accountability,” Khandu told reporters here.
Khandu said the scheme “goes beyond welfare and reflects true nation-building at the grassroots, empowering farmers, securing livelihoods, strengthening villages, and aligning rural India with the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’.”
“There was no proper monitoring in the MGNREGA scheme, which had many loopholes. These will be corrected through VB-G RAM G,” the CM claimed.
Khandu said it focuses on four core areas – water security, strengthening rural infrastructure, livelihood infrastructure, and climate resilience.
For farmers, the scheme provides flexibility by allowing a 60-day break during the agricultural harvesting season, he said.
“This will enable farmers to complete their farming activities without losing livelihood support,” Khandu said.
Responding to queries, the chief minister said the funding pattern would be 90:10 for the Northeastern states, while it would be 60:40 in the rest of the country – 60 percent by the Centre and 40 percent by the states.
Slamming the opposition for criticising the scheme, Khandu asserted that programmes under the Congress regime were “riddled with loopholes and lacked strong verification mechanisms, leading to misuse of funds through fake and duplicate job cards, ghost beneficiaries and inflated or fabricated muster rolls.”(PTI)
