Drought-stricken Beed sees massive gaps in new rural jobs scheme

Beed district, hit by a 37% monsoon deficit, is supposed to benefit from the VB-G RAM G rural jobs program, which on paper recorded more than 40,000 workers present on October 4. Field visits to five work sites, however, revealed empty locations and no workers, despite digital attendance being logged. Interviews with residents showed that many listed on the electronic muster rolls had never received work orders or wages, and some families reported that their photographs were reused to fake on-site attendance.

Rozgar sevaks and local officials said gram panchayat members may be colluding to siphon funds, and a whistleblower’s email cited fraudulent GPS applications as the cause. The district administration has filed a first one outlet's report and rejected 23,000 suspect entries in the past four months. The scheme’s failures are forcing families to migrate for months in search of income.