Parliament Question: Conversion to VB-GRAM-G Scheme

O.I.H.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 254 ANSWERED ON 21/07/2026 CONVERSION TO VB-GRAM-G SCHEME

254. Shri Rajkumar Roat:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

(a) the details of the works approved for conversion from Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) funds to Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rojgar and Aajeevikaa Mission- Gramin (VB-GRAM-G) along with the rules/guidelines governing such conversion and the list of permissible works;

(b) the details of the budget sanctioned under MGNREGS/VB-G RAM- G during the last five years;

(c) the details of the budget allocated and utilized, State and district-wise including Rajasthan;

(d) whether the Government proposes to make payment to contractors and labourers engaged under the VB-GRAM-G Scheme from the labour component instead of the material component;

(e) if so, the time by which it is likely to be implemented; and

(f) the details of the pending payments under the material component and the labour component in the Banswara Lok Sabha Constituency and the time by which such pending payments are likely to be cleared? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN)

(a): The Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission

(Gramin) (VB–G RAM G) Act, 2025 has come into force with effect from 1st July, 2026, and all States/UTs have commenced implementation of the Scheme in compliance with the provisions of the Act.

As per Paragraph 5 of Schedule I of the Act, all Central, State and local schemes, as may be notified by the Central Government for the Page 1 of 5purpose of convergence and saturation-based planning, are to be brought under a unified planning process anchored in the Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans (VGPPs). The Act further envisages that the works identified in the VGPPs may be implemented through convergence with such notified schemes.

In pursuance of these provisions, the Ministry of Rural Development has initiated consultations with the concerned Ministries and Departments of the Government of India, including the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), for operationalising the convergence framework. The framework, including identification of schemes eligible for convergence, operational modalities, and implementation guidelines, is presently under finalisation.

(b): The details of funds allocation at Budget Estimate stage, Revised Estimate stage, final allocation under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) in the last five financial years are given below:

(Rs. in crore) Financial Year Budget Estimate Revised Estimate Final allocation 2021-22 73000.00 98000.00 99118.00 2022-23 73000.00 89400.00 90956.00 2023-24 60000.00 86000.00 89363.00 2024-25 86000.00 86000.00 86000.00 2025-26 86000.00 88000.00 88000.00

(c): Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is a demand-driven wage employment programme, under which funds is released by the Ministry of Rural Development to the States/Union Territories based on the demand for employment, pace of implementation and availability of funds. No State-wise or district-wise budget allocation was made under the Scheme.

Accordingly, funds are released by the Ministry to the States/UTs, and no funds were directly released to the districts.

Details of the funds released to the States/ UTs (including Rajasthan) during the last five financial years are given at Annexure.

(d) & (e): Under the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB–G RAM G) Act, 2025, payment of wages to workers engaged under the Scheme is governed by the provisions of the Act.

As per Section 22 of the Act, wages payable to unskilled, semi- skilled and skilled workers employed under the Scheme are paid directly into the bank accounts of the workers through the Direct Page 2 of 5Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode from the wage component, in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

Further, Paragraph 21 of Schedule I of the Act expressly provides that no contractor shall be engaged for the execution of any work or component financed under the Act. All such works are required to be executed directly by the designated implementing agencies in accordance with the procedures prescribed under the Act.

(f): At the beginning of each financial year, admissible pending wage liabilities of the previous financial year, if any, are duly cleared by the Government of India. Accordingly, all due and admissible pending wage liabilities up to FY 2025–26 have been cleared for the State of Rajasthan, including Banswara Lok Sabha Constituency.

With regard to the material component, the States/UTs are required to submit fund release proposals along with the prescribed documents to the Government of India. Funds are released to the States/UTs periodically, keeping in view the demand for works, opening balance, pace of utilization of funds, pending liabilities, overall performance and fulfilment of the prescribed conditions.

Material payments are made by the respective States/UTs to the implementing agencies and vendors from the funds released by the Government of India.

The details of expenditure incurred in Banswara district of Rajasthan under the Scheme during the last five financial years are

given below:

Financial Year 2025-26 2024-25 2023-24 2022-23 2021-22 Material and skilled Wages (Rs. 10,795.88 12,335.33 9,373.98 18,749.82 13,435.98 In Lakhs) As per NREGASoft ***** Page 3 of 5Annexure Annexure referred to in the reply to part (c) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 254 dated 21.07.2026.

State-wise funds released to the states/ UTs (including Rajasthan) during the last five financial years.

SI. Funds released (Rs. in crores) States/UTs No. 2025-26 2024-25 2023-24 2022-23 2021-22 Andhra 1 Pradesh 7607.09 7707.21 7353.67 8008.81 7195.81 Arunachal 2 Pradesh 665.58 560.70 427.35 578.32 453.74 3 Assam 1974.24 1929.70 2221.38 2056.49 2223.32 4 Bihar 8169.50 6715.83 6200.03 6402.23 5407.37 5 Chhattisgarh 2971.66 3354.85 2895.12 3420.39 3894.34 6 Goa 2.98 3.70 0.88 5.05 0.04 7 Gujarat 999.56 1540.54 1802.26 1694.60 1615.24 8 Haryana 487.57 590.19 477.87 373.99 723.73 Himachal 9 Pradesh 1057.55 1203.28 1000.96 1164.85 976.34 Jammu & 10 Kashmir 1720.27 1151.20 921.60 1051.00 950.14 11 Jharkhand 3203.45 2705.64 2922.27 2719.03 3067.88 12 Karnataka 3592.65 5709.90 5431.67 6218.59 6034.89 13 Kerala 3745.44 3136.44 3532.57 3830.97 3554.85 Madhya 14 Pradesh 5390.23 6252.03 5891.65 5707.47 8479.09 15 Maharashtra 7519.55 4420.32 3041.48 2545.89 2056.46 16 Manipur 1146.56 581.99 0.95 1086.63 563.11 17 Meghalaya 1249.23 1155.09 913.86 1118.77 1123.32 18 Mizoram 661.83 611.65 507.96 540.40 550.51 19 Nagaland 416.19 287.85 641.50 839.76 570.56 20 Odisha 4005.15 3763.80 4906.78 4707.52 5687.28 21 Punjab 1060.69 1331.61 1169.84 1182.14 1259.20 22 Rajasthan 7221.92 7581.87 8683.98 9648.65 9867.75 23 Sikkim 112.57 97.57 112.19 92.71 112.79 24 Tamil Nadu 8151.68 7585.49 12616.53 9745.72 9648.36 25 Telangana 2856.99 3825.31 3520.87 2992.21 4116.10 26 Tripura 837.17 1041.70 1043.59 925.34 990.14 27 Uttar Pradesh 9437.47 9721.48 9844.25 10650.64 8525.15 28 Uttarakhand 498.02 626.43 553.81 792.66 642.60 29 West Bengal * 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.33 7507.80 Page 4 of 5Andaman & 30 Nicobar 3.52 4.44 0.00 9.60 7.68 Dadra & Nagar Haveli Daman 31 & Diu 9.75 9.02 2.21 0.00 0.00 32 Lakshadweep 0.00 0.32 0.00 24.95 0.30 33 Puducherry 40.03 40.56 58.77 69.00 13.07 34 Ladakh 80.37 85.98 62.64 1.62 59.04 Total 86896.47 85333.70 88760.50 90207.30 97878.01 *The release of funds to the State of West Bengal under 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. Hence, no fund was released to State during the last five financial years.

As per the request made by and clarifications subsequently provided by the State Government, implementation of Scheme has been resumed in the State w.e.f. 01.06.2026, and accordingly, Labour Budget for the month of June 2026 was approved. Further, on implementation of VB- G RAM G in the State from 01.07.2026 necessary normative allocation has been made and Mother sanction for release of fund has also been issued.

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