Ayushi Sengar
Political Science
July 2025
This study is a critical analysis of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a historic rural employment scheme that was launched in 2005, as a means of countering poverty, unemployment and insecurity of livelihoods in rural India. The Act offers a legal assurance of 100 days of wage employment to the rural households who would be ready to do unskilled manual labor and this is a paradigm shift in the welfare-based assistance to a rights-based development model. In a combination of mixed methods, using qualitative and quantitative analysis, this study assesses the efficacy of MGNREGA in different aspects, such as generation of employment in the rural sector, empowerment of women, financial inclusion, and institutional efficiency. It also investigates the mechanisms of implementation, the issues of late payments, corruption and political interference and the decentralized governance. The case studies in show regional variations and best practices in a state-specific manner. The paper also examines the importance of monitoring and evaluation and social audits in the promotion of transparency and accountability. The evidence indicates that MGNREGA has brought significant changes in the livelihoods of rural people and social equity, but its operation is not fully realized due to the operational bottlenecks. Some of the policy recommendations are capacity building, enhanced digital infrastructure, disbursement of funds in time, and convergence with other rural development programs to enhance the effectiveness of the scheme. The research has concluded that a reformed and well-monitored MGNREGA can be an effective instrument of inclusive and sustainable rural development of India
277- 285
© Airo Journals 2021
