T.N. CM Vijay urges PM Modi to relax, modify certain provisions of VB-G RAM G Act

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay. | Photo Credit: The Hindu

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on Wednesday (July 1, 2026) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention for critical modifications and relaxations to certain provisions of the Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act, 2025. He also requested the Prime Minister to continue the scheme in the name of Mahatma Gandhi to honour his legacy.

Mr. Vijay said the VB-G RAM G scheme, implemented from July 1, imposes an additional financial burden of over ₹5,000 crore under the new sharing pattern and restrictive operational implications on the State Government.

However, certain provisions of the VBGRAMG Act, 2025 require critical modifications and relaxations, without which the seamless and effective execution of this scheme on the ground would suffer significantly and would affect the rural population which is dependent on the rural employment programme.

On the fund-sharing pattern, the current guidelines mandate a 60:40 ratio between the Union and State across the Wage, Material, and Administrative components. As the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) operated under a different structure for two decades, this abrupt shift places an unsustainable strain on the State exchequer, which may reduce available wage employment days or crowd out other essential welfare schemes, he said.

He requested that 100% funding be maintained for the Wage and Administrative components, with the Material component shared on a 75:25 basis between the Government of India and the Government of Tamil Nadu.

“The proposed centralised methodology for classifying Village Panchayats and distribution within the State normative allocations introduces micromanagement. A uniform, formulaic national approach fails to account for regional socio-economic diversity and risks lopsided grassroots allocations,” he said.

“The State government should therefor