FRA title holders await clarity on an additional 50 days of work under new rural jobs law

VB-G RAM G (Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission) is India's rural employment framework, Replacing the older MGNREGA model, which provides a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment per rural household. File | Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI

Uncertainty continues for Adivasi households holding Forest Rights Act (FRA) titles, who were entitled under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to an additional 50 days of work over and above the 100-day annual guarantee under the UPA-era law. The new rural employment programme, the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act (VB-G RAM G), which was rolled out on July 1, is yet to issue a notification clarifying the status of this entitlement.

In a reply dated October 6 to an application under the Right to Information Act filed by Chakkradhar Buddha of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), the Rural Development Ministry said that “no separate order, circular or guideline prescribing any additional wage employment entitlement for FRA title holders under VB-G RAM G has been issued as on date”.