Rural jobs scheme shows slight increase in August but lags behind MGNREGA levels in 2025

Since the launch of the new jobs scheme, 6,40,779 new Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Cards have been issued in the states and Union Territories. | Photo credit: GN Rao

In its second month of operation, the government’s new rural employment programme, Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-GRAM G), has seen a modest improvement in job creation. However, a year-on-year comparison with MGNREGA for August shows a 9% decline in the availability of work for the rural poor.

In the first month of implementation, the new scheme showed a 48.01% drop in person-days generated compared to MGNREGA, from 17.65 million in July 2025 to 9.18 million in July 2026. August showed a smaller year-on-year decline than July. Person-days generated fell from 12.12 million in August 2025 to 11.03 million this year, a decrease of 9.01%.

Overall, July and August 2026 showed lower employment creation than the same period in 2025. Cumulative person-days fell from 29.78 million to 20.21 million, a decrease of 32.13%.

However, in both July and August, the gap could have been greater as no personal days were created in 2025 in West Bengal. The implementation of MGNREGA in West Bengal was suspended in December 2021, with the central government officially freezing all financial payments to the state on 9 March 2022.

According to senior officials of the Union Ministry of Rural Development, it is too early to assess the performance of the new system. They said the 60-day break in agricultural activity also contributed to the decline in job creation. So far, 16 states and union territories have announced their peak agricultural seasons.

The Act allows states to adapt these periods to local agricultural calendars and, where necessary, issue area-specific notifications for districts, blocks or gram panchayats based on agro-climatic conditions and local cultivation practices. This flexibility allows the employment program to complement rather than compete with peak agricultural activity.

Since the launch of the new jobs scheme, 6,40,779 new Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Cards have been issued in the states and Union Territories.

While the government reiterated that workers can continue to access jobs using job cards issued under MGNREGA, it also clarified that every worker registered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, regardless of the e-KYC status of job cards, has been migrated to VB-GRAM G.

The ministry further emphasized that pending e-KYC does not prevent a worker from seeking or accepting employment.

So far, e-KYC of 15.89 million workers including 10.27 million out of 10.84 million active workers or around 95% have been completed.

Published – 15 Sep 2026 22:47 IST