New Delhi : Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) is a demand driven wage employment Scheme which provides for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. It provides livelihood security, i.e. fall back options for livelihood for the rural households, when no better employment opportunity is available.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, requires that priority be given to women in such a way that at least one-third of the beneficiaries be women. Mahatma Gandhi NREG Scheme is a gender neutral programme which promotes participation of women by providing wage parity with men, provision of separate schedule of rates of wages for women, facilities for crèche, work-side sheds for children, and child care services. In convergence with National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), women mates have also been introduced, which again facilitate the participation of women. The Scheme also endeavours to provide works near the residence of the beneficiaries.
Under the scheme, worksite facilities such as drinking water, shed, medicines etc. is to be mandatorily provided. Failure to provide this attracts penalty on the officials concerned. Further, the availability of these facilities are checked during inspections and social audits. Other fora for redressal of grievances can also be set in motion on its denial.
The rate of participation of women (women person-days out of total in percentage) in Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the last three financial years and current financial year 2022-23 (as on 29.07.2022) is given below:
| Financial Year | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
| Women participation rate (%) | 54.78% | 53.19% | 54.54.67% | 56.02% |
The average days of employment provided per households under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the last three financial year is given below:
| Financial Year | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 |
| Average days of employment provided per household | 48.4 | 51.52 | 50.07 |
This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Rural Development, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply in Lok Sabha Today.
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