MGNREGA job cards to be used for work under new law to ensure smooth transition: Official

New Delhi, Jan 15 (PTI) Workers with MGNREGS job cards would be able to get work under the new rural employment scheme Viksit Bharat- Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) as it unrolls, government sources said on Thursday.

According to officials in the Rural Development Ministry, the VB-G RAM G scheme, which was passed by the Parliament in the Winter Session of Parliament and got the President's assent soon after, would come into force in the coming fiscal year after the Centre frames rules and notifies them.

An exact timeline for the law coming into force, however, was not specified.

Once the Act is notified, states will have six months to come on board and frame and notify their own schemes. The Centre has also prepared a 'model template' for the scheme for states that want to use it.

To ensure a smooth transition from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the job cards issued to workers under it can be used by them to demand work under the new scheme.

According to the official, around 75 per cent of the job cards have been verified under the ongoing scheme and would be used to employ workers under the new scheme. The source also said the ongoing projects under MGNREGS would stay on course even after the commencement of the new scheme.

"The idea is that the transition should be as smooth as possible, and the employment guarantee is not impacted in any manner," the official said.

The rules, to be framed by the Centre, will include regulations on normative allocation, transition of the scheme, national-level steering committee, and social audits.

To increase transparency, which is one of the main emphases of the new scheme that provides a guarantee for 125 days of work, social audit would be strengthened, and so would be weekly public disclosures, the official said.

An e-measurement book would be used to measure the work done and to ensure payments are commensurate with the work. All demand for work would have to be entered on a platform and captured digitally.

Dismissing criticism that the new scheme will lead to centralisation of planning, the official said that the integration of the scheme with the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan did not mean the plans would be made centrally. Yuktdhara, a geospatial planning portal developed by ISRO, would be used for planning the schemes by Panchayats.

The portal will have a layer of information, PM Gati Shakti, which integrates over 600 data layers related to various types of infrastructure, which would help in avoiding duplication of work.

The VB-G RAM G act says all works originate from "Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans (VGPPs)", prepared at the gram panchayat level through participatory processes and approved by the gram sabha, and would be digitally and spatially integrated with national platforms, including PM Gati Shakti.

The official said the scheme remains demand-driven, with a strengthened provision for unemployment allowance.

According to the Rural Development Ministry, the VB -G RAM G aims to establish a "future-ready, convergence-driven, saturation-oriented rural development architecture." The government has argued that it aims to transform rural employment from a standalone welfare intervention into an integrated instrument of development.

While the MGNREGA provided for 100 days of wage labour, the VB-G RAM G has a provision for providing 125 days of work, which, the government says, enhances the "guarantee" for work.

Activists have, however, argued that even under the MGNREGA, on average, around 50 days of work had been provided to workers.

The new law, according to the government, is explicitly aligned with the creation of durable public assets across four priority thematic domains — water security and water-related works, core rural infrastructure, livelihood-related infrastructure, and works to mitigate extreme weather events. PTI AO VN VN