New Delhi, March 12 The Modi government has increased the allocation to the erstwhile rural employment scheme, MGNREGA, by nearly four times to ₹8.53 lakh crore, compared to the funds allocated by the Congress-led UPA regime, BJP member in the Rajya Sabha, Bhim Singh, said on Thursday.
He was participating in a discussion on the working of the Ministry of Rural Development, which had implemented the scheme during the UPA regime. The scheme has now been replaced by the VB-G RAMG scheme.
Singh said that the Centre was not trying to abolish the scheme, but has brought it back in a revised form as Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB–G RAM G) due to the evolving needs with time.
"They (the Congress-led UPA government) had not done anything significant even under MGNREGA, which they keep highlighting. The budget for MGNREGA during the UPA regime was ₹11,300 crore in 2006-07, and the maximum they allocated was ₹33,000 crore in 2013-14, but our government increased it to ₹86,000 crore in 2025-26 and the G-RAMG that has come now," Singh said in the House.
He further said that under the G-RAMG scheme, a provision of ₹95,000 crore has also been made, and if there is any outstanding amount in MGNREGA work, then a provision of ₹30,000 crore has also been made.
"During the 10-year rule of the UPA government, ₹2.13 lakh crore was released under MGNREGA. Our government, Modi's government, has allocated ₹8.53 lakh crore in the last 11 years. This is four times their (UPA's) allocation. And they say we killed MGNREGA. Why would we kill MGNREGA? We have allocated four times more than they did. But times have changed, technology has changed, needs have changed, so we have brought it back as G-RAMG in a revised form," the BJP member said.
According to the government, the G-RAM G scheme, which has replaced the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, aims to establish a rural development framework aligned with the national vision of 'Viksit Bharat 2047'.
