M. P. Institute of Social Science Research, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh
Online published on 2 March, 2012.
To a people famished and idle, the only acceptable form of God who can dare to appear is work and the promise of food and wages. M. K. Gandhi The Constitution of India emphasizes about “decent work” under Directive Principles of State policy. Despite prevalence of these provisions, our country has not been successful in promoting right to work among the poorer sections of our society. Low level of productive employment generation in the aggregate, persistence of poverty, and low educational levels were the most significant failures of Indian employment strategy up till now. Ensuring of rural employment was further facing acute crisis due to neo-liberal economic reforms from the past decade and a half. Against this background, the notification of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) on September 7, 2005 is a unique step towards realization of economic right to work as envisioned in the Directive Principles of State Policy which strives to ensure socio-economic justice for the rural poor. The MGNREGS has completed four years of its implementation to ensure right to work among the rural poor. This paper strives to review, whether the MGNREGS has been implemented with the rules prescribed under MGNREGS, its institutional arrangements to implement the wage employment programme and the impact of MGNREGS upon the most vulnerable sections of the rural society in Madhya Pradesh
