Perceptions about the role of stakeholders in MGNREGA scheme in selected blocks in Tiruchirappalli District

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was passed by Indian parliament in 2005 and the Scheme (each state was expected to design its own scheme based in the National Guidelines) designed under the Act was implemented in 200 districts on India in February 2006. The main objectives of MGNREGA are (1) to guarantee 100 days of work at the legal minimum wages to each household that demands work in rural India, (2) to generate productive assets in the economy and thereby enhance livelihoods of people and (3) to empower (Gram) Panchayats and Gram Sabha by ensuring their participation in the planning and implementation of MGNREGA, and thereby strength decentralized democracy. Rural unemployment constitutes as one of the major causes of poverty in rural India, the implementation of the MGNREGA bestow people the rights to employment as a social safety to eradicate poverty in the country to a great extent. Thus it can be concluded or suggested that the MGNREGA has enormous potential to confront poverty in the near future.