International Journal of Rural Studies (IJRS) vol. 17 no. 2 Oct 2010 ISSN 1023–2001 www.vri -online.org.uk/ijrs Article 7 Page 1 of 7 National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) A Range of Possibilities Moitri Dey Research Scholar, Department of Political Science Jamia Millia Islamia University New Delhi, India E-mail address: moitridey@gmail.com Abstract India remains predominantly a rural nation, with 72.2 % (Census, 2001) living in rural areas. Different reports also reveal the high incidence of rural poverty. According to the country’s Eleventh National Development Plan, the number of poor people in India amounts to more than 300 million. The Federal Government introduced the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in 2005 to fight poverty more effectively. NREGA was later renamed Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act on 2/10/09 to mark the birthday of the father of the nation. It is the first ever law internationally, that guarantees wage employment to adult members of every household who are willing to do unskilled manual work. The choice of work suggested in the Act addresses causes of chronic poverty like drought, deforestation and soil erosion, so that the process of employment generation is maintained on a sustainable basis. Based on secondary sources of data, this paper intends to assess NREGA for alleviating rural poverty. It will attempt to address issues like whether NREGA has lived up to its full potential, what the challenges are in the implementation of the Act and how it can address those challenges. When India won its independence, the impact of colonized rule was already showing on all aspects of the Indian economy. Rampant poverty and unemployment required a welfare orientation in the public economic policy. The social and economic challenges before the country were enormous. Poverty reduction and the provision of basic needs to its people has been one the major aims of independent India. Decades after independence, India is still struggling to address the issue of poverty. This is evident from the fact that India is ranked 134 among 182 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) (UNDP, 2009). Despite India’s booming economy, which is now 12 th largest in the world, 302 million people (27.5% of the total population) were living below the poverty line in 2004-05 (61 st NSSO round). The poverty line is Rs356 monthly per capita consumption expenditure for rural areas and Rs539 for urban areas. According to the Human development Report (HDR),2003,of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP2003), India has the largest number of poor among the countries of the world and is the home to one-fourth of the world’s poor. The Indian government has taken up various measures to overcome the problem of poverty. Poverty alleviation programmes comprising of wage employment programmes, rural housing schemes and a public distribution system have been initiated from time to time. Some were partially successful in addressing the issue of poverty whereas others suffered from major flaws in their implementation. Important programmes worth mentioning are the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM), Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY), Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) and Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY).However these programmes could not provide social security to the rural poor. The Federal Government passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act