Previous Year Question

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005 was a demand-driven wage employment programme. It provided a statutory guarantee of at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members were willing to undertake unskilled manual work.

It was not limited merely to providing employment. It also emphasised the creation of durable productive assets through works related to water conservation, land development, rural connectivity and other rural infrastructure. Gram Panchayats and mechanisms such as social audits had an important role in its implementation.

TRYSEM was primarily a programme for training rural youth for self-employment, while Food for Work was an earlier wage-employment programme. A Skill Development Programme primarily focuses on skill training rather than providing a statutory rural wage-employment guarantee.

Current Status (2026): The current status is important here. With effect from 1 July 2026, MGNREGA, 2005 was repealed and replaced by the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin), or VB–G RAM G Act, 2025. The new framework provides a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in a financial year to every willing rural household. Provisions were also made for continuity of existing job cards and ongoing works during the transition.