National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (or, NREGA No 42) was later renamed as the "Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act" (or, MGNREGA), is an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the 'right to work'. It aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

Starting from 200 districts on 2 February 2006, the NREGA covered all the districts of India from 1 April 2008. The statute is hailed by the government as "the largest and most ambitious social security and public works programme in the world". In its World Development Report 2014, the World Bank termed it a "stellar example of rural development".

The MGNREGA was initiated with the objective of "enhancing livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year, to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work". Another aim of MGNREGA is to create durable assets (such as roads, canals, ponds, wells). 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. Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.

NREGS (Kerala)

The National Rural Employment Generation Scheme (NREGS) is a recent employment scheme in India for providing 100 days guaranteed wage employment for all employment seekers above 18 years of age and willing to do work. The scheme came into force on 5 September 2005 in 199 districts in India and extended to another 130 districts later.

In Kerala, the scheme was implemented in Palakkad and Waynad districts initially on 5 February 2006 and it was extended to all the 14 districts in the State on 1 April 2008. Kerala is a tiny state in India with very high unemployment - most of them are educated - in the country. Around five lakh people among them are estimated to have willingness to do physical labour. NREGS is a substantial boost in income and purchasing power. The scheme now provides Rs 164 (National wage rate is Rs 60/- only) per person for a stipulated quantity of manual labour offered as registered worker in the local governments in Kerala.

Features of the scheme

• Local governments are given a central role in the planning and implementation of NREGA ( National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005) and are the sole agencies responsible for implementation of local development projects under the scheme in Kerala