Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan at a press conference on Union Budget 2026-2027 in Guwahati on February 11, 2026. | Photo credit: ANI
Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday (Feb 11, 2026) said the VB-G RAM G scheme was aimed at creating jobs and promoting growth in rural infrastructure, accusing the opposition Congress and CPI(M) of waging a “negative campaign” against him.
Addressing a program in Agartala, the Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister said the Viksit Bharat Guarantee scheme for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) is the blueprint for India’s development as conceptualized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“G-RAM-G is aimed at creating jobs and promoting growth in rural infrastructure, but the opposition Congress and Communists are spreading a negative campaign to confuse people living in rural areas,” he said.
Mr. Chouhan said that the Modi government has earmarked record expenditure for VB-G RAM-G in the budget presented in the Lok Sabha recently.
“In the Union Budget, the Finance Minister has proposed ₹95,600 crore for the implementation of the G-RAM-G scheme. Adding the states’ contribution, the expenditure will be ₹1,51,282 crore and the Finance Commission will fund ₹55,000 crore directly to the gram panchayats.
“A total of more than ₹ 2 lakh will be spent on rural development in the coming fiscal. This means each gram panchayat will get ₹ 1.5 to 1.75 billion annually for development and growth,” he said.
Claiming that ₹10 crore would be spent on rural development in the next five years, the Union minister said that villages would face a “development revolution” if these allocations were properly utilised.
Accusing the previous Left government of “destroying” Tripura’s rural areas, Mr Chouhan said the prime minister was focusing on rural development as he also believed in the saying “real India lives in villages”.
“The G-RAM-G scheme is set to change the face of the village and the fate of the villagers in the coming years as it promises not only job creation for the rural poor but also permanent assets,” he said.
He lauded Tripura for empowering ‘didis’ through self-help groups (SHGs) and said the northeastern state had already produced 1.08 lakh ‘Lakhpati Didis’.
Published – 11 Feb 2026 19:01 IST