New Delhi, May 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Centre has released over Rs 17,744 crore as the first instalment towards the wage component for workers through direct benefit transfer under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for 2026–27, a senior official confirmed.
For FY27, Rs 30,000 crore has been allocated to MGNREGA to clear pending dues before shifting to the upcoming VB-GRAMIN initiative, which has a budget of Rs 95,692 crore.
By March 11, 2026, over Rs 81,500 crore was released for the financial year 2025-26, including Rs 65,875 crore for wages and Rs 15,627 crore for material and administration costs.
While employment saw a monthly dip in early FY27, as many as 43 crore person-days were approved for May 2026, which is higher than 30 crore person-days for April. Funds are directly credited to worker accounts via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), ensuring transparency.
The government is transitioning to the VB-GRAMIN initiative, which promises 125 days of employment and higher wages.
A senior official said that Viksit Bharat – G RAM G is an “upgrade of MGNREGA”, and the scheme balances the interests of both farmers and labourers by providing a statutory guarantee of 125 days of employment instead of 100 days, along with better wages, unemployment allowance and legal safeguards such as payment of interest in case of delays.
The Central Government has made the largest-ever budgetary provision of Rs 95,692 crore for the Viksit Bharat – G RAM G scheme, representing the Centre’s share alone, he added.
The Central Government has released more than Rs 7.81 lakh crore over the 10 years from 2014-15 to 2024-25, under MNREGA, which has resulted in the creation of 8.07 crore rural assets. This represents a sharp increase from the allocation of Rs 2.13 lakh crore in the previous decade (2006-07 to 2013-14), which resulted in the creation of 1.53 crore rural assets, according to an official factsheet.
The number of person-days of employment created under the scheme has gone up by 82 per cent to 3,029 crores. The annual allocation for the scheme jumped from Rs 1,660 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 86,000 crore in the Budget for 2025-26.
The work taken up under MNREGA is related to agriculture and allied activities, natural resource management and rural infrastructure.
Various water-related works such as check dams, farm ponds, community ponds and irrigation open wells are taken up under the scheme. The Government’s continued thrust on water conservation has yielded remarkable results, with a 35 per cent reduction in the number of water-stressed rural blocks from 2,264 to 1,456 in the last decade, the statement said.
Another major success is in the form of Mission Amrit Sarovar, which has led to the creation of over 68,000 Amrit Sarovars in the country in Phase I. Currently, Phase II of Mission Amrit Sarovar has been rolled out with a renewed focus on water availability with community participation, Jan Bhagidari, at its core.
Source: IANS
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