Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has officially notified the Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM-G), replacing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the Union Territory. The new scheme will come into force across all notified rural areas from July 1, 2026, according to an official spokesman.
Enhanced Employment Guarantee
The VB-G RAM-G scheme guarantees 125 days of wage employment annually to every eligible rural household willing to undertake unskilled manual work, a significant increase from the previous 100-day guarantee under MGNREGA. Employment is to be provided within 15 days of demand; failing that, applicants will be entitled to an unemployment allowance. Wage payments will be made on a weekly basis or within a fortnight, with compensation for any delays, the spokesman added.
Agricultural Sensitivity and Asset Creation
To protect agricultural productivity, the scheme introduces a mandatory 60-day pause in public works during peak sowing and harvesting seasons, ensuring adequate labour availability for farming activities. Simultaneously, it prioritizes the creation of durable community assets and sustainable livelihood infrastructure. VB-G RAM-G focuses on four priority sectors: water security, core rural infrastructure, livelihood enhancement, and climate and disaster resilience.
Digital Governance and Planning
Planning under the scheme will be undertaken through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans (VGPPs) using GIS-based tools and PM Gati Shakti layers, ensuring convergence, saturation-based development, and avoidance of duplication. A key feature is its robust digital governance architecture, incorporating biometric and face-authenticated attendance, geofencing, GPS-enabled project monitoring, AI-driven analytics, real-time dashboards, bilingual electronic muster rolls, and mandatory public disclosures at worksites. Contractors and labour-displacing machinery are prohibited to preserve the employment-generation objective.
Targeted Support and Women Participation
The scheme provides special support for vulnerable groups, including single women, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, members of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), released bonded labourers, and transgender persons through dedicated Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Cards. At least one-third of beneficiaries under the programme shall be women, the spokesman said.
Implementation and Funding
Gram panchayats will continue to serve as frontline implementing agencies, responsible for registration of households, receiving work applications, issuance of guarantee cards, and execution of approved works. The scheme will operate as a centrally sponsored scheme with a 90:10 cost-sharing pattern between the Government of India and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Administrative expenditure has been enhanced to strengthen staffing, monitoring, grievance redressal, and accountability systems, with substantial resources earmarked for gram panchayat-level functionaries.
Transparency and Accountability
A time-bound grievance redress mechanism, mandatory social audits, independent evaluations, and multi-tier monitoring arrangements have been built into the framework to ensure transparency, efficiency, and citizen accountability, the spokesman added. The VB-G RAM-G scheme is expected to usher in a new era of inclusive, sustainable, and future-ready rural development in Jammu and Kashmir, aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047.
