Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) is a social security scheme that attempts to provide employment and livelihood to rural labourers in the country. In an effort to make inclusive and overall development a reality, the NREGA was passed as a labour law and implemented across 200 districts in 2006. By 2008, it came to cover the entire country. The scheme was designed to provide any adult who registers for rural employment a minimum job guarantee of 100 days each financial year. This includes non-skilled work, making it one-of-its-kind across the world. It was later renamed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The MGNREGA is an entitlement to work that every adult citizen holds. In case such employment is not provided within 15 days of registration, the applicant becomes eligible for an unemployment allowance. The implementation of MGNREGA was left to the Gram Panchayats. According to government sources, since the inception of the scheme, the government of India has incurred a total expenditure of INR 289817.04 crores towards the scheme, thereby employing 68,26,921 workers on 2,61,942 worksites (data as of June 2015). The minimum wages initially determined were INR 100 a day but later revised in keeping with the state labour employment conventions.

Beneficiary:

Rural Citizen of India

Benefits:

Providing unskilled work for rural India in the rural areas