Parliament Question: Budget allocation, pending wages and workdays under MGNREGA and VB G-RAM G

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3964 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27/03/2026 BUDGET ALLOCATION, PENDING WAGES AND WORKDAYS UNDER MGNREGA AND VB G-RAM G 3964 Shri Sanjay Singh: Will the Minister of Rural Development be pleased to state: (a) total Budget Estimates (BE), RE, AE under MGNREGA from 2021–22 till date, year- wise; (b) total number of days of employment guaranteed and actual average number of days of employment provided per household under MGNREGA during said period, year-wise; (c) total amount of wage payments presently pending under MGNREGA, State-wise; (d) total financial outlay of the proposed VB G-RAM G framework providing 125 days of guaranteed employment; (e) whether the budgetary allocation proposed under VB G-RAM G is proportionate to the financial requirement for providing 125 days of guaranteed employment to all eligible households; and (f) estimated additional fiscal burden on States under the 60:40 sharing model? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN) (a): Details of funds allocation at Budget Estimate stage, Revised Estimate stage, Final Budget and fund release under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) from the financial year 2021-22 to the current financial year 2025- 26 (as on 22.03.2026) are given below: (Rs. in crore) Financial Year Budget Estimate Revised Estimate Final Budget Release 2021-22 73000.00 98000.00 99118.00 98468.00 2022-23 73000.00 89400.00 90956.00 90810.00 2023-24 60000.00 86000.00 89363.00 89268.00 2024-25 86000.00 86000.00 86000.00 85839.00 2025-26 86000.00 88000.00 86000.00 83201.00 (b): Details of average days of employment provided per household under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS from the financial year 2021-22 to the current financial year 2025-26 (as on 23.03.2026) are given below: Page 1 of 3SI. No. Financial Year Average days of employment provided per household 1 2021-22 50.07 2 2022-23 47.83 3 2023-24 52.08 4 2024-25 50.24 5 2025-26 42.35 (As on 23.03.2026) As per NREGASoft Here it is stated that Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is a demand driven wage employment Scheme. It provides livelihood security, i.e. fall-back options for livelihood for the rural households, when no better employment opportunity is available. Here it is also stated that the responsibility of implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is vested with the Governments of concerned States/UTs. The Scheme guarantees up to 100 days of wage employment subject to demand for work by the eligible beneficiaries. During the current Financial Year (FY) 2025-26 (as on 23.03.2026), 99.82% of the eligible rural households have been offered employment against demand for the employment under the scheme, reflecting effective implementation of the scheme. (c): State/Union Territory (UT)-wise details of pending liabilities for Wage component under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS as on 20.03.2026 are given at Annexure. (d) to (f): The Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) VB-G RAM G Act, 2025, provides for one hundred and twenty-five days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. Here it is stated that for the financial year 2026–27, a Central share provision of Rs. 95,692.31 crore has been made for the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), representing the largest allocation ever for rural employment progamme at Budget Estimate Stage. With the likely inclusion of the corresponding estimated State share, the total programme outlay is likely to exceed Rs.1.51 lakh crore, which is expected to significantly accelerate rural transformation, large-scale employment generation and income enhancement in rural areas. As the Act is yet to commence, the Ministry is yet to finalise the detailed rules, including those relating to normative allocation based on objective parameters, in due consultation with States/UTs. ***** Page 2 of 3Annexure Annexure referred in reply to part (c) of Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3964 dated 27.03.2026. State/Union Territory (UT)-wise details of pending liabilities for Wage component under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS as on 20.03.2026 (Rs. in crores) Sl. No. State/Union Territory (UT) Pending liabilities for Wage component 1 Andhra Pradesh 435.09 2 Arunachal Pradesh 173.75 3 Assam 236.15 4 Bihar 876.27 5 Chhattisgarh 727.30 6 Goa 0.1814 7 Gujarat 120.37 8 Haryana 19.24 9 Himachal Pradesh 87.23 10 Jammu and Kashmir 218.16 11 Jharkhand 464.98 12 Karnataka 301.04 13 Kerala 431.93 14 Ladakh 0.92 15 Madhya Pradesh 690.30 16 Maharashtra 619.17 17 Manipur 159.36 18 Meghalaya 209.45 19 Mizoram 82.70 20 Nagaland 44.12 21 Odisha 513.81 22 Punjab 90.72 23 Rajasthan 906.99 24 Sikkim 3.35 25 Tamil Nadu 675.73 26 Telangana 357.69 27 Tripura 24.82 28 Uttar Pradesh 1047.06 29 Uttarakhand 98.16 30 West Bengal * 31 Andaman and Nicobar 0.04 32 Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu 0.69 33 Lakshadweep 0.00 34 Puducherry 0.08 *The release of funds to the State of West Bengal under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) was stopped with effect from 09.03.2022 by invoking the provisions of Section 27 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, owing to continued non-compliance with the directives of the Central Government by the State. As per NREGASoft, the pending liability pertaining to the State of West Bengal (as on 08.03.2022) stands at ₹3082.52 crore, comprising ₹1457.22 crore under the wage component, ₹1607.68 crore under the material component, and ₹17.62 crore under the administrative component. The admissibility of this liability is subject to verification by the Central Government ***** Page 3 of 3