MGNREGA is a revolutionary step for India's poor in alleviating their poverty. The act NREGA came into force in 2006. Initially, 200 districts were selected for the enforcement of the scheme. But in the year 2008, it was implemented in all 640 districts of the country. The main aims and objective of MGNREGA are to remove rural poverty and generate huge employment in rural areasand to developrural infrastructure. Itis the biggest anti-poverty programme in the world. The objective of this paper is to study the role of MGNREGA in generating employment in Malda district and to evaluate the role of MGNREGA in alleviating the rural poverty in Malda district. Malda district lies in North Bengal on lower Indo-Gangetic plain. For administrative purposes, Malda district has divided into 15 development blocks. The study is based on mainly secondary sources of data obtained from Malda District Collectorate, District Rural Development Agency and District Statistical Handbook. It is evident from the study that about 9, 617 persons are working under the MGNREGA scheme in 2010–11 in Malda district. Habibpur block has the highest rank (1, 248 person) working under the scheme whereas English Bazar block has recorded lowest number of persons (316 person) working under the same scheme. In the year 2008–2009, the total percentage of BPL people was 34.62 per cent while in the year 2010–11 it was reduced to 31.26 per cent. It revealed that MGNREGA has some pioneer role in reducing the rural poverty in Malda district. MGNREGA is not the only welfare initiative scheme but equally an important development effort that could play a bigger role in changing the current phase of rural poverty into a new prosperity.
MGNREGA, Livelihood Security, Rural Poverty, Inclusive Growth, Employment Generation
