StatesTamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu to pay for 25 extra days of rural work beyond the Centre's 125-day guarantee
Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay has set aside ₹100 crore under a new 'VETRI 150' head so that rural households can get up to 150 days of wage work a year.
Key points
- Households that finish 125 days under VB-G RAM G will get 25 more days funded by the state.
- The state has earmarked ₹100 crore under a new head called 'VETRI 150'.
- Women-headed households, SC and ST families and people with disabilities get priority.
Tamil Nadu will pay from its own funds for 25 extra days of work for rural households that use up the 125 days guaranteed under the Centre’s VB-G RAM G scheme, taking the total possible to 150 days a year.
The state’s Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department issued the order on the direction of Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, who asked officials to extend support up to 150 days a year. The government has set aside ₹100 crore from the revised budget estimate for 2026-27, booked under a new head of account named “VETRI 150”, a nod to the ruling party’s name.
Priority will go to women-headed households, single women, households with differently-abled members, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families, and beneficiaries under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. The department’s commissioner has been authorised to release the money to every district except Chennai.
VB-G RAM G replaced the rural job scheme run under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, after that law was repealed. The new scheme came into force in Tamil Nadu on 1 July 2026 with a statutory guarantee of 125 days of work.
How many households qualify will depend on how many reach the 125-day mark this year, a figure the government has not yet published.