Is MGNREGA Gone? VB-G RAM G Act Replaces It From 1 July 2026

Yes, MGNREGA has been replaced. From 1 July 2026 the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 stands repealed, and a new law now runs India's rural job guarantee. The good news for you: your job card is still valid, any pending old wages can still be claimed, and the guarantee has actually gone up from 100 days to 125 days a year. So MGNREGA as a scheme has not ended for you. It has a new name and a bigger promise.

In one line: MGNREGA the law is gone, but your right to guaranteed rural work is not. It moved to a new Act with 125 days.

The new law is the Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, better known as the VB-G RAM G Act (also written VB-GRAMG). President Droupadi Murmu gave assent on 21 December 2025, and the Act comes into force across rural India from 1 July 2026, the same day the old MGNREGA is repealed, per the Press Information Bureau and the PRS India bill page.

Here is the plain comparison a job-card holder needs. Every figure below is from the PIB note and PRS India.

The headline change for a worker is the guarantee: 25 extra days of assured work in a financial year. The other big shift is money. Under the new Act, states now share the wage and material bill in a 60:40 split, and 90:10 for the North-Eastern and Himalayan states.

If you opened your job card or the NREGA portal this week and it still says MGNREGA, do not panic. Nothing is wrong. The Act came into force only on 1 July 2026, and today is 11 July 2026. A change this big does not switch over in a single day.

States have a transition window to move records, muster rolls and job cards to the new Act. During this window, the online portal you already use and your physical job card may still carry MGNREGA branding. That is expected. The government announced the 1 July 2026 start date back in May 2026 so that states could prepare, but the renaming of every card and page takes time.

So the safe rule right now is simple: keep using the same portal, the same gram panchayat office and the same job card you always have, until your own state notifies the switch. Do not go looking for a brand-new website or a new application process. As of today no new portal address has been officially announced, and you do not need one to keep working or to claim dues.

Tip: Ignore any WhatsApp message telling you to pay a fee for a new job card or to register on a new site. Getting a job card is free, and the new Act does not ask you to re-register.

You do not need to do anything dramatic. Here is the short checklist for the transition weeks.

1. Keep your existing job card safe. It stays valid, so do not throw it away or apply for a fresh one just because of the new law.
2. Carry on demanding work the same way as before, in writing at your gram panchayat, and keep the dated receipt.
3. Keep using the same portal and office to check work demand, muster rolls and payments until your state tells you otherwise.
4. Note the higher promise. You can now be given up to 125 days of work in the financial year, not 100.
5. If you are owed money for work already done, start the claim now. Do not wait for the transition to finish. See the section below.
6. Watch for your state's own notice about moving your records to the new Act.

If you are new and do not yet have a card, the process during transition is still the familiar one. Our step-by-step guide to apply for a job card in 2026 still applies, and you can check your job card status the usual way.

This is the part that worries most workers: does my pending wage disappear when the old Act goes? No. Wages you earned for work done under MGNREGA are money already owed to you. A repeal of the Act does not wipe out a payment the government already owed you before the change. Those dues stay claimable during and after the transition.

If your MGNREGA wages are delayed or unpaid, the fastest legal tool is still the Right to Information Act. A simple RTI can force the block office to reveal your muster roll entry, the payment order and the exact reason for the delay. Our guide on how to file an RTI for MGNREGA wages not paid gives you the wording and the address to use. That right is unchanged by the new law, and it still works for pre-transition dues.

For the full method of writing a sharp RTI that gets a real answer, keep The RTI Playbook handy. It walks you through the first application and the first appeal in plain steps.

Keep these ready before you file:

1. Your job card number and the household head's name.
2. The dates and the work site for which wages are pending.
3. Any wage slip, muster roll photo or bank passbook entry you have.

As a scheme, yes, but under a new law. The old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 is repealed from 1 July 2026 and replaced by the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025. Your right to guaranteed rural work continues, now with 125 days a year instead of 100.

The new law is the Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025. Most people and the government call it the VB-G RAM G Act, sometimes written VB-GRAMG. It took the place of MGNREGA on 1 July 2026.

No. Your existing job card stays valid through the transition. The government has not asked workers to re-register or to pay for a new card. Keep your current card and use the same portal and office until your state notifies a change. Never pay anyone a fee for a job card.

The guarantee is 125 days of wage work per rural household in a financial year, up from the earlier 100 days. This applies to households whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work, as confirmed in the PIB note on the Act.

Yes. Wages for work you already did remain owed to you and do not lapse because the Act changed. If they are delayed, file an RTI to the block office to get your muster roll and payment details, and press for release. The RTI route is unchanged by the new law.

• Press Information Bureau, VB-G RAM G Act 2025 (primary)
• PRS India, VB-G RAM G Bill 2025 bill page
• Ministry of Rural Development, President's assent notice, December 2025.

• How to apply for an MGNREGA job card in 2026
• Check your MGNREGA job card status
• File an RTI for MGNREGA wages not paid