The act has helped the rural poor to secure their livelihood by providing employment and enhanced their social status through income generation. It has also improved the rural infrastructure by creation of assets which lead to sustainable development. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in an Indian law that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to work’ and ensure livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guarantee wage in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. This act has been designed to provide an ecological perspective in order to achieve long-term livelihood sustainability and this study was conducted under Nayagarm block in Paschim Medinipur District of West Bengal. Four villages were randomly selected from one block and from each village, 25 respondents randomly selected, making a sample of 100 respondents. The primary data were collected with the help of the personal interview method during the study period. After collection of data, data were processed and analyzed in accordance with the outline laid down for the purpose at the time of developing the research plan. Process implies editing, coding, classification and tabulation of collected data. The Main statistical tools and techniques used in the present study are as follows: score, mean score value, standard deviation, correlation coefficient and paired ‘t’ test. The finding of the study revealed that the difference between the mean annual incomes of the two gram panchayat is highly significant. Therefore the null hypothesis is rejected (i.e. the mean annual income of the beneficiary household did not differ significantly after obtaining wage employment under the MGREGA). 53 percent of the household beneficiaries utilized their increased income to make new houses, payment of wages is the major problems faced by the beneficiary households and 64 percent of the beneficiary household suggested for timely payment of wages. So to overcome such problems it can be suggested that, dedicated and fully trained full time professional should be appointed for the effective implementation of the scheme and efforts should be made to reduce the time gap between work done and payment received by rural laborers in NREGA or a program for generating public awareness about the program with the help of information technology should be initiated at a large scale at different time intervals.

Download this article as