International Journal of Physical and Social Sciences

Poverty in India has been one of the persisting problems since a long time. In the words of our second Prime Minster ShriLal Bahadur Shastri, “of all the problems facing us, none is more distressing than that of poverty in which tens of millions of our countrymen continue to live.” National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was enacted in 2005. It is landmark legislation in Indian history of social security legislation. After independence enacted after a successful struggle for employment guarantee legislation, this legislation, is a partial victory towards a full- fledged right to employment in any developing country. The essential feature of this legislation which separates it from any other public service provisioning scheme is its enactment through parliament of India. A well implemented NREGS could potentially herald a revolution in rural governance and result in a substantial reduction in rural poverty.