From ponds, roads to solar lights: How rural job guarantee work changed in 20 yrs

Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) notified 375 permissible works on Tuesday, up 41% from the 266 works under previous MGNREGA Introduction to VB–G RAM GIndia’s rural employment guarantee which began in 2005 was largely built around the basic needs of rural India, conserving water, preventing drought, improving irrigation, developing land, controlling floods and connecting villages with roads. Twenty-one years later, its rechristened version has a broader menu.The original MGNREGA Act, passed in 2005, specified eight broad categories of permissible work. (Representative file photo)Its recently revamped version, Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), or VB–G RAM G, notified 375 permissible works on Tuesday, up 41% from the 266 works under the previous MGNREGA framework. The new list includes solar lighting, waste-recycling facilities, greywater treatment, cold storage, agro-processing, infrastructure for self-help groups and works to prepare villages for floods, droughts, cyclones and forest fires.To be sure, this does not mean that any of the older works enlisted have been removed. Ponds, canals, check dams, irrigation structures, plantations and rural roads continue to remain a part of the programme.Frequently Asked QuestionsPallavi Singhal covers agriculture, food policy and the rural economy from New Delhi. Over the past four years, she has reported extensively on farm policy, food inflation, procurement, agri-markets and rural livelihoods. Before joining Hindustan Times, she worked at Moneycontrol and Informist. A journalism post-graduate, she started as a trainee reporter in 2019 with The Indian Express, Chandigarh. Away from the newsroom, she enjoys travelling and crime fiction—preferably mysteries easier to crack than government policy.Read MoreClimate ResilienceWater Conservation