The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was enacted in India with the multiple objectives of providing employment in a rights-based framework, addressing rural poverty, checking migration, and building rural infrastructure. As such, every year around 15-20 per cent of households in India overall and 30 per cent in rural India receive some form of employment share under the MGNREGA programme.

This volume looks at various aspect of the scheme, its linkage with employment, agricultural wages, livelihood and food security, gender issues, and migration in rural India. It also discusses challenges in implementation, hurdles and the relative successes of the scheme. Based on primary survey data from 16 major states in the country, the findings of the study provide key insights into MGNREGA and assess the implications for other welfare-oriented programmes.

Rich in empirical data, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of political economy, economics, agriculture, rural development and sociology, as well as policymakers and nongovernmental organisations.

Parmod Kumar is Professor and Head, Agricultural Development and Rural Transformation Centre, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. He has previously worked at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi, and the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi. He obtained his postdoctorate as Sir Ratan Tata Fellow from the Institute of Economic Growth and doctorate from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He was fellow under the International Visitors Program sponsored by the US government. He has authored eight research volumes and published more than forty research articles in national and international journals. He is the editor of the Journal of Social and Economic Development and part of the editorial boards of Indian Journal of Agricultural Marketing and Agricultural Situation in India. He was conferred the IDRC India Social Science Research Award for his work on the public distribution system.

Dipanwita Chakraborty is Research Scholar, Agricultural Development and Rural Transformation Centre, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. She is currently pursuing her doctoral research and her interests include rural labour, gender, social protection and agriculture.