VB-G RAM G will strengthen, not weaken, right to work: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

New Delhi: Rural development minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday asserted that the scheme under the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) law, which will replace the extant rural employment guarantee programme, will further bolster labourers' right to work instead of snatching it away.

Accusing the Congress party, which has launched a 45-day nation-wide campaign seeking the repeal of the new law, of spreading "lies", Chouhan said if anything, it would further bolster labourers' legal entitlement to allowance where no work is provided to them within 15 days of seeking it.

Addressing mediapersons here, the minister said the opposition is misleading the public by claiming that employment would be provided only in certain panchayats. The new scheme, he underscored, would be implemented across all panchayats.


In fact, panchayats will be empowered to firm up Viksit Bharat work plans under the new scheme, instead of state governments dictating terms to them, he said. The VB-G RAM G scheme will also provide a guaranteed 125 days of employment in a fiscal to every rural household seeking work, higher than the 100 days under the extant Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), he said.