Employment Guarantee: Introduction

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA 2005) received the President's assent on September 5, 2005, after being passed by voice vote in Parliament. The bill provides an annual guarantee of 100 days of employment for every rural household in which adults are willing to do manual labour at the minimum wage. It is a landmark in the history of social security legislation in India - or indeed, anywhere in the world - and promises to be a major tool in the struggle to secure the right to food.

Though the "Common Minimum Programme" of the UPA government included a pledge to enact a rural employment guarantee act, the path to the NREGA has not been smooth. It has required sustained campaigning on the ground, lobbying with political parties, and an intellectual engagement with votaries of the "minimal state" in the corporate media. The material in this section is a record of this public debate, which is far from over.