Decks cleared for implementation of ₹12,642-crore VB-G RAM G in Tamil Nadu on July 1

Published 30 June 2026 · politics

The Tamil Nadu government has cleared the decks for the implementation of the ₹12,642-crore Vikshit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Gramin (VB-G RAM

The Tamil Nadu government has cleared the decks for the implementation of the ₹12,642-crore Vikshit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Gramin (VB-G RAM G) in the State on Wednesday, by notifying the scheme in its gazette. As part of the funding arrangement, which is 60:40 for the Union and State governments, the former’s contribution will be ₹ 7,585 crore and the latter’s ₹ 5,057 crore, said an official in the State government. The 23-page-long notification was issued by State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Secretary Prashant M. Wadnere on Monday. In the run-up to Parliament enacting a law in December last on the new rural employment guarantee scheme, the previous DMK government had stoutly opposed the move.

However, Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay told the Assembly last week his government was clear about the distinction between politics and maintaining an administrative relationship with the Centre. The scheme aims at providing an enhanced statutory wage-employment guarantee of 125 days in each financial year to such rural households whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work, enabling them to participate more effectively in the expanded livelihood security framework. It will focus on empowerment, growth, convergence and saturation through public works aggregating into forming Viksit Bharat Rural Infrastructure Stack, with a thematic focus on water security through water-related works, core rural infrastructure, livelihood-related infrastructure and special works to mitigate extreme weather events, says the notification.

The notification stated there would be a Rural Employment Guarantee Council, headed by the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj [N. Anand], with officials as members and non-official members to be nominated by the State government to represent Panchayat Raj Institutions, non-governmental organisations and weaker sections of the society. This will advise the State government on all matters concerning the scheme. There will be another body – Steering Committee – to provide “operational guidance, coordination, and monitor” the scheme’s implementation, This will be headed by the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Secretary. The scheme permits the prioritisation of works that seek to create individual assets on land or homesteads owned by a host of persons, including those from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, nomadic tribes, and De-notified Tribes, economically weaker sections of the society, women-headed households, and households shared by persons with disabilities.