Economy GS 3 In the news 9 times

MGNREGA, 2005

The Rights-Based Predecessor

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, enacted in 2005, was the first Indian law to convert the "right to work" into a justiciable legal entitlement rather than a discretionary welfare scheme, drawing on the Article 21 guarantee of the right to life with dignity.

Key details

Section 3 imposed a binding obligation on the state to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment per rural household per financial year on demand for unskilled manual work
Section 7 mandated payment of an unemployment allowance if work was not provided within 15 days of a demand being registered
Wages were to be notified by states/Centre and were subject to statutory minimum wage indexing; delayed wage payment attracted compensation under the Act
Funded entirely by the Centre for wages, with states sharing part of material costs — a pattern now altered under VB-G RAM G

In the news

● Tracked since March 13, 2026 · last seen September 08, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes

08 Sep '26

Rural Job Demand Rises 23.8% in August Under New VB-G RAM G Scheme

Economics

01 Sep '26

The Right to Work Guarantee: From MGNREGA to a New Rural Jobs Framework

Polity & Governance

18 Aug '26

MGNREGA's Replacement by VB-G RAM G: Employment Guarantee Framework Under Scrutiny

Economics

18 Aug '26