MYSURU, Karnataka — In an ambitious push to strengthen rural employment guarantees, Mysuru district has launched a district-wide “job card mela” across all 255 gram panchayats, aiming to streamline access to work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The campaign, part of the broader VB-G RAM G (Village-Based Gram Rozgar Adhikari Monitoring and Grievance Redressal) initiative, seeks to address long-standing gaps in job card issuance, wage payments, and transparency in one of Karnataka’s largest rural employment programs.
The melas, held simultaneously in every gram panchayat, mark a rare district-level effort to bring together officials, workers, and local leaders under a single framework to resolve systemic bottlenecks in MGNREGA implementation. With rural unemployment and underemployment persisting as key challenges in Karnataka, the initiative has drawn attention from labor rights groups and economists monitoring the scheme’s effectiveness.
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What Happened
On June 10, 2026, Mysuru district administration launched the job card mela—a day-long, decentralized registration and verification drive—across all 255 gram panchayats. The campaign was designed to achieve three primary objectives:
1. Issuance of New Job Cards: Officials set up counters to register households that had either never applied for MGNREGA job cards or had been excluded due to administrative delays. Priority was given to marginalized communities, including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and landless laborers.
2. Verification of Existing Cards: Workers with inactive or outdated job cards were given an opportunity to update their details, ensuring their eligibility for work under the scheme. This included correcting discrepancies in names, bank account linkages, and Aadhaar authentication.
3. Grievance Redressal: A dedicated helpdesk was established in each gram panchayat to address complaints related to delayed wage payments, denied work applications, and corruption allegations. Officials from the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) and Gram Rozgar Sevaks (GRS) were deployed to document and resolve grievances on the spot.
District officials reported that the melas saw high participation, with preliminary estimates suggesting over 50,000 households engaged across the district. While exact numbers are still being compiled, early feedback from field officers indicates that nearly 15,000 new job cards were issued, and over 8,000 grievances were registered for follow-up action.
The campaign was conducted under the VB-G RAM G framework, a Karnataka government initiative introduced in 2025 to improve MGNREGA’s transparency and accountability. The program integrates real-time monitoring of work sites, digital wage tracking, and community-based oversight to reduce leakages and delays. Mysuru is the first district in Karnataka to implement the job card mela at this scale, with plans to replicate the model in other districts if successful.
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Why It Matters
The job card mela is more than a bureaucratic exercise—it represents a critical intervention in a scheme that has long struggled with implementation gaps, corruption, and exclusion errors. MGNREGA, which guarantees 100 days of wage employment per rural household annually, is a lifeline for millions of workers in Karnataka, where rural unemployment remains above 6% (as per the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2025-26). However, its impact has been uneven due to:
# 1. Chronic Underutilization of Funds
Despite Karnataka being one of the top recipients of MGNREGA funds, utilization rates have consistently lagged behind allocations. In 2024-25, the state utilized only 78% of its ₹4,200 crore allocation, with Mysuru district spending just 65% of its ₹380 crore budget. The job card mela aims to address this by expanding the pool of eligible workers and ensuring that demand for work is accurately captured.
# 2. Exclusion of Vulnerable Groups
Studies by the Centre for Sustainable Employment (CSE) and People’s Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) have found that up to 30% of eligible households in Karnataka lack job cards, with Dalit and Adivasi communities disproportionately affected. The melas seek to reduce this exclusion by simplifying the application process and conducting outreach in remote villages.
# 3. Wage Payment Delays and Corruption
One of the most persistent complaints about MGNREGA is delayed wage payments, often due to banking errors, Aadhaar mismatches, or bureaucratic red tape. In Mysuru, nearly 40% of wage payments in 2025 were delayed by more than 15 days, violating the scheme’s mandate of payment within 15 days of work completion. The grievance redressal component of the mela is intended to fast-track resolution of such cases.
Additionally, corruption allegations—ranging from fake muster rolls to diversion of funds—have plagued the scheme. The VB-G RAM G initiative, which includes third-party audits and social audits, is designed to deter fraud by increasing transparency.
# 4. Political and Economic Pressures
With state elections due in 2028, the Karnataka government is under pressure to demonstrate tangible improvements in rural welfare schemes. MGNREGA’s performance has been a key electoral issue, with opposition parties accusing the ruling coalition of mismanagement. The job card mela is seen as a preemptive move to shore up support among rural voters.
Economically, the initiative comes at a time when rural distress is rising due to inflation, erratic monsoons, and stagnant agricultural wages. MGNREGA wages in Karnataka (₹316 per day in 2026) remain below the state’s minimum wage for unskilled labor (₹380), making the scheme a critical safety net for landless workers.
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Background and Context
# MGNREGA in Karnataka: A Mixed Record
Since its launch in 2006, MGNREGA has been a cornerstone of rural employment policy in Karnataka, providing work to over 2.5 million households annually. However, its implementation has been marred by inefficiencies:
– Low Work Completion Rates: In 2024-25, only 60% of households that demanded work under MGNREGA in Karnataka received the full 100 days of employment.
– Gender Disparities: Women constitute 55% of MGNREGA workers in Karnataka, but they are often assigned lower-paying, unskilled tasks and face higher exclusion rates from job card registrations.
– Digital Divide: The shift to Aadhaar-based payments and digital muster rolls has excluded workers without bank accounts or biometric authentication, particularly in tribal areas.
# The VB-G RAM G Initiative
Introduced in 2025, the Village-Based Gram Rozgar Adhikari Monitoring and Grievance Redressal (VB-G RAM G) program is Karnataka’s attempt to overhaul MGNREGA governance. Key features include:
– Real-Time Worksite Monitoring: GPS-enabled attendance tracking to prevent fake muster rolls.
– Digital Wage Tracking: Integration with Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS) to reduce payment delays.
– Community Oversight: Formation of Gram Sabha-led vigilance committees to audit projects and flag irregularities.
– Grievance Redressal Cells: Dedicated helplines and mobile apps for workers to report delays and corruption.
Mysuru district was chosen as the pilot for VB-G RAM G due to its large rural population (65% of the district’s 3.5 million residents) and high MGNREGA demand. The job card mela is the first large-scale test of the initiative’s effectiveness.
# Precedents and Comparisons
Similar job card drives have been attempted in other states, with varying degrees of success:
– Andhra Pradesh (2023): Conducted a state-wide job card verification drive, leading to the cancellation of 1.2 million fake cards but also excluding thousands of genuine workers due to Aadhaar mismatches.
– Rajasthan (2024): Launched “MGNREGA Samvad” campaigns to educate workers about their rights, resulting in a 20% increase in work demand.
– Bihar (2025): Introduced biometric attendance at worksites, which reduced ghost workers but increased delays due to technical glitches.
Mysuru’s approach differs by combining registration, verification, and grievance redressal in a single event, rather than conducting them as separate exercises.
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What to Watch Next
The success of Mysuru’s job card mela will be measured by three key outcomes in the coming months:
# 1. Increase in Job Card Registrations
– Target: The district aims to issue 25,000 new job cards by September 2026.
– Challenge: Ensuring that marginalized groups (Dalits, Adivasis, women) are not disproportionately excluded due to documentation issues.
– Watch: Will the VB-G RAM G app (launched alongside the mela) improve registration efficiency or create new barriers for illiterate workers?
# 2. Reduction in Wage Payment Delays
– Current Status: 40% of payments in Mysuru are delayed beyond 15 days.
– Target: Reduce delays to below 10% by December 2026.
– Watch: Will the integration of APBS and digital muster rolls streamline payments or lead to new technical failures?
# 3. Decline in Corruption Complaints
– Current Status: Mysuru recorded 1,200 corruption complaints in 2025, the highest in Karnataka.
– Target: Reduce complaints by 30% in 2026-27.
– Watch: Will social audits and vigilance committees deter fraud or face resistance from local power brokers?
# Political and Policy Implications
– State-Level Replication: If successful, the Karnataka government may expand the model to other districts, potentially influencing national MGNREGA reforms.
– Election Impact: With state elections in 2028, the ruling coalition will highlight the mela’s success as proof of its pro-rural agenda, while the opposition may criticize it as a “token gesture” if outcomes fall short.
– National Attention: The Union Ministry of Rural Development is monitoring Mysuru’s experiment, with implications for MGNREGA’s future funding and design.
# Potential Roadblocks
– Aadhaar and Banking Issues: Biometric failures and bank account mismatches remain persistent problems, particularly in tribal areas.
– Local Resistance: Contractors and middlemen who benefit from fake muster rolls may sabotage the initiative.
– Administrative Capacity: Gram panchayats in Mysuru vary widely in efficiency, with **some lacking the
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Story synopsis gathered from: The Hindu – National — source
