Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005, popularly known as MGNREGA, was an Indian social welfare measure that aimed to guarantee the 'right to work'. This act was passed on 23 August 2005 and was implemented in February 2006 under the UPA government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following the tabling of the bill in parliament by the Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. The bill was originally known as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). In 2025, it was repealed by the Parliament of India after the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha passed the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act (VB–G RAM G). The new legislation replaced MGNREGA with an updated rural employment and livelihood guarantee framework under the Ministry of Rural Development.
It aimed to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of assured and guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to at least one member of every Indian rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. Women are guaranteed one half of the jobs made available under the MGNREGA and efforts are made to ensure that cross the limit of 50%. Another aim of MGNREGA is to create durable assets (such as roads, canals, ponds and wells). Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant's residence, and minimum legal wage under the law is to be paid. If work is not provided within 15 days of applying, applicants are entitled to an unemployment allowance. That is, if the government fails to provide employment, it has to provide certain unemployment allowances to those people. Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement. Apart from providing economic security and creating rural assets, other things said to promote NREGA are that it can help in protecting the environment, empowering rural women, reducing rural-urban migration and fostering social equity, among others."
