Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (mgnrega), 2005: Overview And Performance

Abstract

“The hungry millions ask for one poem—invigorating food. They cannot be given it. They must earn it. And they can earn only by the sweat of their brow.” Mahatma Gandhi1 MGNREGA is very different from earlier employment generation schemes, simply because in MGNREGA, people had rights and therefore a strong bargaining power. Due to absence of enforceability in earlier schemes, administration was also not accountable. But MGNREGA gives people the right to demand work and thus makes it legally enforceable in the court of law2. This strengthens the bargaining power of the people and helps them to claim their due. It makes the administration accountable because if employment is not provided the unemployment allowance has to be paid and local officials have to answer for it. MGNREGA, however, symbolizes a limited fulfilment of the right to work, as it guarantees 100 days of employment in the year at the household level and not at the individual level. This article deals with an conceptual working of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) starting from the introduction about the act then stating about the history of programmes during the evolution of the act. Next step deals with the overview and performance that combines with mandate and goals involved under the act the paradigm shift under the act. The article is ended with the conclusion and bibliography. 1 Rao, M (1921). The Message of Mahatma Gandhi, p.263; Young India, 13 October 1921, and Young India, 26 October 1924. 2 Jha, P. (2014). Resurgent India, Ocean Books (P) Ltd, New Delhi, India. Volume 2 – Issue 3 Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Legal Research ISSN: 2582-9947