Over Rs 95,000 crore allocated for VB-G RAM G; MGNREGA gets Rs 30,000 crore in Budget

New Delhi: As the VB-G RAM G scheme is set to be rolled out, the Centre has allocated Rs 95,692.31 crore for it, while an allocation of Rs 30,000 crore has been made for the MGNREGA.

Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the overall Budget of the Department of Rural Development has increased by around 21 per cent, and stressed that the allocations made in the Budget, including that for the VB-G RAM G scheme, will take the nation towards “self-reliant and developed villages”.

The Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar Aajeevika Mission (Grameen) (VB-G RAM G), which promises 125 days of work in a year, will replace the two-decade-old UPA-era rural employment scheme framed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005.

The MGNREGA scheme will continue till the VB-G RAM G is implemented, and the pending works are completed, Rural Development Ministry officials have said.

The total expenditure on the MGNREGA programme, as per the revised estimate from 2025-26, was Rs 88,000 crore, while initially, a sum of Rs 86,000 crore was allocated.

Chouhan said along with the Centre’s allocation, the states would also earmark funds to the VB-G RAM G scheme, and the total expenditure on it is expected to be to the tune of Rs 1,51,000 crore.

He also said that based on the recommendation of the 16th Finance Commission, panchayats will get another Rs 55,990 crore, which would together help in building “developed, self-reliant” villages.

“Today’s Budget is historic and unprecedented. It is the Budget for creating a developed India. It will lay the foundation for the creation of self-reliant India by 2047... The emphasis is on reforms,” he said.

According to the Budget documents, the total allocation for the Department of Rural Development is Rs 1,94,368.81 crore, with an increase of around 3.5 per cent compared to last year’s allocation of 1,87,754.53 crore. When compared to the revised estimate, the amount for this year shows an increase of 3.94 per cent.

The allocation for the Department of Land Resources for 2026-27 is Rs 2,654.33. In 2025-26, Rs 2,651 were allocated for this department, while the revised estimate puts the expenditure figure at Rs 1,757.4 crore.

The allocation for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for 2026-27 is Rs 19,000 crore, the same as in 2025-26. As per the revised estimate, the spending in the last fiscal was Rs 11,000 crore.