NEW DELHI: The Union Budget has made an allocation of Rs 95,692.3 crore (central share) for the Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin)(G Ram G) Act, the newly launched version of MNREGA.The total budgetary outlay for the rural development department for the year 2026-27 is over Rs 1.9 lakh crore. The revised allocation for the department for 2025-26 was a little over Rs 1.86 lakh crore.
The big difference this time is that under the G RAM G Act, the Centre has, like in other centrally sponsored schemes, capped its share at 60%, with the states picking up rest of the tab. Rural development minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that while more than Rs 95,692 crore has been allocated as the Centre’s share under the G RAM G scheme, the total allocation for it will exceed Rs 1.5 lakh crore with the addition of states’ share.Out of the total allocation for the department, Rs 30,000 crore has been allocated under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act ( (MGNREGA) scheme head to cater to the liabilities and requirements related to the scheme till the transition is made to the new scheme.Responding to a question related to the allocation for MGNREGA in the budget, expenditure secretary V Vualnam said, “The old scheme also having some money (in the Budget) is, in fact, the legacy of the inefficient way in which the earlier scheme was being implemented by states. So, this Rs 30,000 crore is the carryover of those liabilities.”
