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National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005

As we embark upon yet another year with new hopes, aspirations and goals, we have to focus on some impending issues that plague the country. One such concern is the threatening poverty and unemployment that rages within the country. The government has taken many measures to eradicate these problems, the most recent one being the formalisation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, after obtaining consent from the President of India.

              The extent of rural unemployment, captured in two sets of data, namely the Census and surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) indicates that widespread unemployment exists in the country.

              The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) attempts to implement policies to help the poverty stricken millions in the country. This Act has the potential to provide livelihood to the teeming millions living Below Poverty Line in India (BPL). This legislation guarantees at least 100 day’s employment per year to every rural household.

              The National Advisory Council of India first drafted the Bill in August 2004. In spite of various looming obstacles in its path, consistent perseverance by the government bore fruit, and the Bill was finally passed in 2004 to become an Act.

              To start with, this Act was implemented in 200 districts across the country. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act differs from earlier schemes in that its starting point is the empowerment of rural people, rather than "providing" employment to the poor.

              The argument in favour of productively harnessing the power of the unemployed has never been in doubt. The inspiration for the NREGA came from the three-decade-long track record of the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) Bill in Maharashtra, which originated as relief programmes in the wake of a severe drought in the early 1970s. The EGS inspired a number of programmes, starting with the National Rural Employment Programme in the 1980s and ending with the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana, which, along with the National Food for Work Programme, is to be merged with the employment guarantee programme launched under the NREGA.

              As per Section 3(1), the State Governments have to provide 100 days of work to a member of every household in a financial year, in accordance with the scheme made under this Act. Every person who has done the work given to him under the Scheme shall be entitled to receive wages fixed by the State Government under Section 3 of the Minimum Wages Act 1948 for agricultural labourers and the same shall be considered as the wage rate applicable to the people who get hired under the Scheme, in that area.

              Till the notification of this scheme by the State Government, the Annual Action Plan or Perspective Plan for Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana or National Food for Work Programme, whichever is in force in the area concerned immediately before such notification, shall be deemed.

              State governments, Panchayati Raj institutions, as well as non-government organisations (NGOs) will be involved in implementing this Act.

              The Act attempts to reach out the rural poor in every district and Panchayat of the country, trying to improve their living conditions and assuring a life of sustenance.