The Centre’s Narendra Modi government’s ambitious ‘Viksit Bharat — Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025,’ will be implemented across the country from today. In this regard, the Center announced the revised wage rates under the new Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme on Tuesday.
After the announcement of the new rates, the national average wage has now increased from Rs 298.8 per day under MGNREGA to Rs 327.4 per day under VB-G RAM G, thus an average increase of Rs 28.6 per day. In this regard, the Rural Development Ministry said that the revised wage rates to be implemented from July 1 have been increased in all 34 states, union territories and wage areas of the country.
Daily wages crossed Rs 300
The ministry informed that a new interim base wage rate of Rs 300 per day has been introduced to ensure that no wage rate notified under the program falls below this level. The government said that the average increase in wage rates across the country has been more than 10 percent.
This law provides a legal guarantee of up to 125 days of wage employment to eligible rural households, compared to 100 days under the existing rural employment framework. The ministry said that in 21 states and administrative units, the wage rate has been brought at par with the new interim base rate of Rs 300, while in states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Assam, wages have increased by 15 to 25 percent. However, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland saw the highest increase of about 24.5 percent.
States with higher wages also benefit
The government says that the revised wage structure has been designed in such a way that those states where earlier wage rates were lower benefit the most. Besides, in states where wage rates were already high, the rates have also been increased. For example, the notified wage rate in Haryana has been fixed at Rs 409, in Goa at Rs 406, in Kerala at Rs 401 and in high altitude gram panchayats of Sikkim, the rate has been fixed at Rs 450 per day.
The ministry said that under the new framework, an interim allocation of Rs 95,692.31 crore has been made to the states and union territories for smooth commencement of work, timely payment of wages and continuation of work without any interruption. Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the government’s priority is to ensure that “no eligible rural worker remains without work even for a day”.
The dream of developed India through prosperous villages
He said, “The launch of the VB-G RAM G Act is a historic step towards creating a developed India through prosperous villages. The Center and the States have worked together to complete the preparations for its implementation. At the same time, the Government has made it clear that until the new Rural Employment Guarantee Cards are issued, the existing e-KYC-verified job cards will remain valid.
Regarding its implementation, the government said that Gram Panchayats will continue to play an important role in implementing this scheme. His focus will be on areas like natural resource management, water conservation, agriculture and allied activities, rural infrastructure and women empowerment.
Will start from Obulavaripalle of Tirupati
According to the ministry, 29 states and union territories of the country have implemented the budget provision for this law, while 24 states have notified their VB-G RAM G state schemes. Before this notification, wage rates in many states were less than Rs 300, while the lowest notified wage rate was just Rs 241 per day.
According to the ministry, the VB-G RAM G Act will be launched at the national level tomorrow on July 2 (Thursday) from Mukkavaripalli village of Obulavaripalle mandal of Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. In this program, Rural Employment Guarantee Cards will be distributed and awareness material related to the mission will be issued.
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