Rural Jobs: VBG RAM G Rollout Begins From Andhra Pradesh

TIRUPATI: The nation-wide rollout of the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar Ajeevika Mission Gramin (VBG RAM G) took place from Railway Koduru in Tirupati district on Thursday.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Union rural development and agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan jointly did the launch. Union ministers Pemmasani Chandrasekhar and Kamlesh Paswan released the mission's promotional song, while Pawan Kalyan unveiled its booklet.

Addressing the gathering, Naidu called the launch historic, noting that the erstwhile MGNREGA programme had also originated in Rayalaseema. He said Andhra Pradesh would implement the programme with an allocation of `7,700 crore from the Centre and `4,000 crore from the state.

The mission would provide 125 days of employment while creating rural infrastructure, with geo-tagging and biometric authentication ensuring transparency.

Naidu credited Pawan Kalyan with conducting Gram Sabhas simultaneously in 13,226 villages, creating a Guinness World Record. He said employment guarantee works generated 55.44 crore person-days at a cost of `16,695 crore, resulting in 7,000km of CC roads, 40,000 cattle shelters, 15,500 water troughs, 1.07 lakh farm ponds, 1,373km of tribal roads and horticulture plantations over 1.66 lakh acres.

This year, the state targets 10,000km of gravel roads, 1,500km of cement and BT roads, 500km of magic drains and horticulture on one lakh acres, he said.

Alleging that the YSRC government had weakened 93 centrally sponsored schemes, including the Jal Jeevan Mission, Naidu said his government has revived them and is implementing works worth `28,000 crore. He claimed the present government rebuilt the state within two years, while the Centre fully supported Amaravati capital project.

He announced that Galeru-Nagari waters would be brought to Koduru and groundwater level improved through Jaladhara.

The chief minister highlighted investments including a Google Data Centre, a fighter aircraft manufacturing unit at Puttaparthi, a Hero MotoCorp facility at Satyavedu, a Royal Enfield unit in Tirupati and a horticulture hub at Madanapalle.

Thanking Chouhan, he said the Centre had supported the Totapuri mango farmers, roads and housing projects and that the new job mission would accelerate rural development under Pawan Kalyan.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the Centre had earmarked `7.5 lakh crore for rural development under VBG RAM G and AP would receive `7,700 crore during the current nine-month period. Calling himself Andhra Pradesh's "maternal uncle", he announced 74,212 pucca houses under the PMAY, `422 crore for rural roads and procurement of 2,16,250 metric tonnes of Totapuri mangoes under the Market Intervention Scheme.

Pawan Kalyan said strong villages formed the foundation of the Viksit Bharat-2047 vision and AP's selection for the national launch was an honour. He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chouhan for sanctioning `12,845 crore for rural development.

Describing the increase in employment from 100 to 125 days as historic, he said the additional work and a 60-day agricultural break would benefit workers and farmers.

He said the state had risen from 24th to first nationally under the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, won five national Panchayat awards in 2024-25 to secure second place, and earned recognition for its Magic Drains initiative.

The alliance government in AP, Pawan Kalyan said, had replaced the term "coolie" with "Shramikudu" and increased accidental death assistance from `50,000 to `4-`6 lakh by linking it with the PMSBY and PMJJBY. The VBG RAM G mission would promote rural employment, poverty alleviation and self-reliant villages, he added.