Employment guarantee under MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme)- An overview

MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) is based on NREG Act passed by the Parliament in 2005. It is the outcome of the policy agenda outlined by the National Common Minimum Programme of the UPA-I government. Its context has been prepared by the Goal I (eradication of poverty and hunger) of the Millennium Development Goals, the decline in the per-capita availability of food grains in the 1990’s and the failure of the series of wage employment programmes in India since 1960s. MGNREGS is considered as one of the world's biggest social security measures. In this context the purpose of this paper is as follows: (i) To state the main features of the scheme. (ii) To consider the main limitations of the scheme. (iii) To provide certain suggestions for improving the functioning of the scheme.