The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab, which had been opposing the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Gramin (VB-G RAM G), has notified the rural employment scheme, which will come into force from July 1 in the State.

In December 2025, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s government had convened a special session of the Punjab Assembly, which had unanimously passed a resolution against the VB-G RAM G Act. On December 30, 2025, the Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution against the VB-G RAM G Act, accusing the BJP-led Central government of “taking away” the livelihood of poor and Dalit labourers by scrapping the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) under a “deliberate conspiracy”. The House had recommended that the Punjab government urge the Centre to immediately restore MGNREGA to its original rights-based form.

The June 26, 2026 gazette notification presented a U-turn from that position. “In order to align the rural development framework with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047 by providing an enhanced statutory wage employment guarantee of one hundred and twenty five (125) days in each financial year to such rural households whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work...And to focus on employment, growth, convergence and saturation, the government of Punjab is pleased to notify the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) [VB-G RAM G] Scheme, Punjab 2026, under the provisions of the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025,” the notification, issued by the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats, read.

Congress slams AAP

The Opposition Congress slammed the AAP government, asking under what “deal and compromise” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had it implemented this scheme in Punjab.

The timing of the scheme’s implementation in Punjab was as important as it was surprising, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said. “Does the sudden implementation of the scheme have something to do with the ongoing controversy related to the Chief Minister?” he said, referring to the recent sacrilege video controversy linked to Mr. Mann.