Promotion of employment avenues and progressive reduction of unemployment has been one of the Principal objective of Economic planning in India since 1947. Political freedom is Meaningless for an unemployed person. The directive Principles of state policy clearly states that the state should strive for providing employment to all persons.
The credit to enact such law (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act-2005) is attributed to the success of Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme (MEGS), which is implemented for the last 30 years in Maharashtra, the experiences gained in implementation of different wage employment programmes like National Rural Employment Programme (NREP: 1980), Rural landless Employment Gurantee Programme (RLEGP: 1983), Jawahar Rozgar Yozana (2001) and National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP: 2004). During the past more than two decades have also been taken into account while formulating the Act. The Governement of India enacted the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act on August 25, 2005.
Two years of implementation of NREGA indicates the self targeting, demand-based nature of the programme. It is also evident that the nature of employment is seasonal and that the duration of employment sought various according to the prevailing opportunities of employment offered under local agricultural practices and other alternative forms of employment and all job card holding families do not necessarily request for the full 100 days of employment.
Labour, Guarantee, Employment, People-Participation, Gram-Panchyat
