New rural job scheme sees 50% YoY dip in persondays generated in first month

India's new rural employment guarantee scheme, VB-G RAM G, saw a muted start in July, its first month of operation after replacing MGNREGS. The scheme generated 76.7 million persondays, a sharp 49.94% decline compared to the 153.3 million under MGNREGS in July of the previous year, with beneficiary households falling by 51.45% to 6.89 million.