Ministry/Department: Ministry of Rural Development
Objective: To enhance the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing 100 days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work
Program:
- It is a social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘right to work‘
- All willing rural citizens are eligible
- Focuses on durable assets as per local needs
- Act provides for social audit of performance at least once in every six months
- Wages are linked to Consumer Price Index (Agriculture Labour)
- Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
- If work is not provided within 15 days of applying, applicants are entitled to an unemployment allowance.
- MGNREGA is to be implemented mainly by gram panchayats.
- Labour-intensive tasks like creating infrastructure for water harvesting, drought relief and flood control are preferred
Factual Information:
- Started in 2006
- Has legal backing of MGNREGA Act
- Scheduled Caste workers has consistently been about 20%
- Scheduled Tribe workers has been about 17%
- Statutory minimum limit for women share of work is 33%. This limit has been crossed all along.
- More than 65% of the works taken up under the programme are linked to agriculture and allied activities