Centre Deploys Officers for Smooth Rural Jobs Act Rollout

The Department of Rural Development organised a dedicated orientation programme to prepare the officers for their role.

The Ministry of Rural Development will deploy more than 100 Area Officers across the country to support States and Union Territories before the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 comes into force on July 1, 2026.

The move is meant to help States and districts prepare for the new rural employment and livelihood framework, which seeks to connect guaranteed wage work with long-term rural development, stronger local planning, climate resilience and better use of technology.

Area Officers to support States and districts

The Area Officers will work as facilitators during the rollout phase. They will coordinate with State Governments, district administrations and field-level teams to understand local needs, support capacity building, share good practices and help resolve operational issues.

Their visits are expected to improve coordination among stakeholders and provide practical support as States shift to the new framework. The Ministry said the initiative will offer institutional handholding so that implementation does not face avoidable delays during the transition period.

Ministry holds orientation programme

The Department of Rural Development organised a dedicated orientation programme to prepare the officers for their role. The session covered the main features of the Act, implementation structure, institutional arrangements, technology-enabled governance systems and support mechanisms available for States and districts.

The programme was chaired by Rural Development Secretary Rohit Kansal, while Joint Secretary Rohini R. Bhajibhakare conducted the orientation. Officers were briefed on how to assist local administrations, promote knowledge sharing and support smooth operationalisation of the Act.

New framework links jobs with rural development

The VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 seeks to transform rural employment into a wider development tool by linking wage work with livelihood promotion, rural infrastructure creation, climate resilience and digital governance. The Act will use Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans, GIS-based planning and convergence across schemes to support the larger vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.

The Ministry has also taken several preparatory steps, including approval of an interim allocation of ₹95,692 crore for FY 2026–27, onboarding of all States and UTs onto the DBT-SPARSH platform, completion of e-KYC for nearly 93 per cent of active workers and nationwide rollout of the Face Authentication-based Attendance System.

So far, 27 States and Union Territories have made budgetary provisions for implementing the Act. Six States and UTs have notified their State Schemes under the VB-G RAM G framework, while the remaining States and UTs are in advanced stages of finalising their schemes.