A LibTech India assessment has raised concerns that the transition from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (VB-GRAM G) has coincided with a fall in registered and active rural workers. The Union government says the database is still being updated and that deletions follow standard operating procedures.

The issue matters for UPSC because rural employment guarantees sit at the intersection of welfare delivery, digital governance, and exclusion risk. The debate is also relevant to questions on administrative verification, database quality, and access to work under legally backed employment schemes.

What happened

According to the assessment, registered workers fell from about 27 crore to 26.33 crore, a net reduction of roughly 67.6 lakh, or around 2.5% of the enrolled workforce. Active workers — defined in the assessment as workers who worked at least once in the previous three years — declined from about 10.84 crore to 10.57 crore, a fall of about 26.3 lakh.

The assessment says VB-GRAM G came into force on 1 July 2026. It also attributes a large share of the net fall to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana.

Background and earlier position

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