*Research Scholar and Assistant Professor of
**Professor of Economics,
To achieve inclusive development, several poverty-alleviation and employmentgeneration programmes are introduced by both central as well as state governments. Among them most recent and successful programme was Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). It is one of the world's largest welfare programme, launched by the Government of India. The primary objective of the scheme is to augment wage employment. However at the same time MGNREGA has been argued to be no more effective than other poverty reduction programmes in India. The programme is beset with controversy about corrupt officials, deficit financing as the source of funds for the programme, poor implementation and unintended destructive effect on poverty at the national level. The programme was introduced in Shivamogga district of Karnataka state in the year 2007–08. However, the progarmme faces many hurdles in practice in the district and it needs immediate attention. Against this back ground the paper is prepared with the main objective of critically analyse the growth and development of the MGNREGA programme in the district and suggest suitable policy alternatives. Based on the findings the study suggests that there must be geographically compatible wages to the workers. Besides that, the participation of women in MGNREGA should be increased.
Non Farm, Employment, Worker, Development, Land Holding
