Indian Political CompassGovernment Scheme · Active
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
Guarantees 100 days of wage employment per year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
What it does
MNREGA is a demand-driven public works programme. Any rural household can demand work from the local gram panchayat; the state government is legally required to provide employment within 15 days or pay an unemployment allowance. Work is typically in asset creation — water conservation, roads, land development. Wages are paid directly to bank or post-office accounts.
Who it covers
Any adult member of a rural household who registers with the gram panchayat and volunteers for unskilled manual work. SC/ST households, women, and the disabled receive priority; one-third of beneficiaries must be women.
Funding
Centrally sponsored: the Centre pays 100% of unskilled labour costs and 75% of material costs; states bear 25% of material costs and administrative expenses. Annual allocation has ranged from Rs 33,000 crore to Rs 89,400 crore (2020–21 during COVID).
Scale
Over 150 million households have job cards. In 2021–22, approximately 73 million households worked under the scheme generating over 2.5 billion person-days of employment.
Criticism and debate
Critics from the right argue the scheme crowds out private labour markets and incentivises subsistence over productivity. Critics from the left argue wage rates are too low, payment delays are endemic, and the scheme is used to suppress rural wages rather than lift them. Successive governments have debated whether to expand or wind down coverage; the Modi government initially cut allocations but restored them sharply during the COVID lockdowns.
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Content is editorial draft pending verification against official scheme guidelines, ministry press releases, and independent evaluations. Last reviewed: 2026-07-02.