The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) came about because of the inadequate reach of existing government schemes (like the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana and the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana) which were unable to meet the demand for rural employment. The act was meant to “provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of wage employment in every financial year to every household.”

The act guarantees “unskilled manual work” or any physical work that an adult is capable of doing without special skill or training.

Schedule 1 of the MGNREGA in 2005 listed 260 permissible works. The works were classified either as NRM (Natural Resource Management) or Non-NRM. The subcategories under NRM include agriculture and allied works, drainage and other works, groundwater recharge related works (GWR), irrigation related works (Irr), land related works (LR), plantation and related works (PLNT), works on enhancing soil health, and soil and water conservation works (SWC).

As per the 2022-23 Annual Master Circular released by the Ministry of Rural Development, the list of works now stands at 266. Seven works have been added to the list concerning construction and maintenance of rain water harvesting structures, biogas plants, tunnels, bridges and waste chambers. One work included in the 2005 list has been removed: construction of Bharat Nirman Seva Kendra Building.

Focus by Swadesha Sharma.