The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is the scheme created to implement the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005. The Act, originally passed on August 23, 2005, and notified on September 7, 2005, was initially named the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and was renamed in 2009. It was introduced to enhance the livelihood security of rural households by providing a legal guarantee of wage employment to address rural unemployment and poverty.
The core mechanism guaranteed at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to adult members of a rural household who volunteered for unskilled manual work. Employment was to be provided within 15 days of application to the Gram Panchayat. If work was not provided within this period, the applicant was entitled to an unemployment allowance. The Act mandated that at least one-third of the beneficiaries be women. The scheme was implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development and strengthened Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) by involving them in planning. Accountability was ensured through mandatory social audits under Section 17 of the Act.
In a significant recent change, the MGNREGA, 2005, was repealed and replaced by the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act (VB–G RAM G), 2025, effective from July 1, 2026. The new Act increased the guaranteed work from 100 days to 125 days annually. While the provision for unemployment allowance and the use of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for wages remain, the new framework shifts focus from a purely demand-driven model to one that incorporates scientific planning.