The Impact of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act among Rural Women

Abstract

Women are need of society, Never spoil them; Women are need of the life, Let them grow;

Respect and empower them to empower this country

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is a landmark initiative in providing 100 days guaranteed employment on demand to every rural household at the minimum wage whose adult members would like to do unskilled manual work. Participation of community in MGNREGS is one of the pre-requisites to enforce the ‘rights and entitlements’ envisaged and make it community-oriented and demand-driven scheme. The success of the programme is entirely dependent on the participation of the community in general and women in particular since the share of latter in employment is almost 50 per cent. As women are found to be better change agents of socio-economic transformation, efforts are needed to strengthen their participation for household livelihood security as well as better asset management.