The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005

(1) This Act may be called 1[the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Act], 2005. (2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir*. (3) It shall come into force on such date2as the Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different States or for different areas ina State and any reference in any such provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as areference to the coming into force of that provision in such State or, as the case may be, in such area: Provided that this Act shall be applicable to the whole of the territory to which it extends within aperiod of five years from the date of enactment of this Act

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (a) "adult" means a person who has completed his eighteenth years of age; (b) "applicant" means the head of a household or any of its other adult members who has appliedfor employment under the Scheme; (c) "Block" means a community development area within a district comprising a group of GramPanchayats; (d) "Central Council" means the Central Employment Guarantee Council constituted under subsection(1) of section 10; (e) "District Programme Coordinator" means an officer of the State Government designated assuch under sub-section (1) of section 14 for implementation of the Scheme in a district; (f) "household" means the members of a family related to each other by blood, marriage oradoption and normally residing together and sharing meals or holding a common ration card; (g)" implementing agency" includes any department of the Central Government or a StateGovernment, a Zila Parishad, Panchayat at intermediate level, Gram Panchayat or any local authorityor Government undertaking or non-governmental organisation authorised by the Central Governmentor the State Government to undertake the implementation of any work taken up under a Scheme; (h) "minimum wage", in relation to any area, means the minimum wage fixed by the StateGovernment under section 3 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (11 of 1948) for agricultural labourersas applicable in that area; (i) "National Fund" means the National Employment Guarantee Fund established under subsection(1) of section 20; (j) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette; (k) "preferred work" means any work which is taken up for implementation on a priority basisunder a Scheme; (l) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (m) "Programme Officer" means an officer appointed under sub-section (1) of section 15 forimplementing the Scheme; (n) 'project" means any work taken up under a Scheme for the purpose of providing employmentto the applicants; (o) "rural area" means any area in a State except those areas covered by any urban local body or aCantonment Board established or constituted under any law for the time being in force; (p) "Scheme" means a Scheme notified by the State Government under sub-section (1) ofsection4; (q) 'State Council" means the State Employment Guarantee Council constituted under subsection(1) of section 12; (r) 'unskilled manual work" means any physical work which any adult person is capable of doingwithout any skill or special training; (s) "wage rate" means the wage rate referred to in section 6.

(1) Save as otherwise provided, the StateGovernment shall, in such rural area in the State as may be notified by the Central Government, provideto every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work not less than onehundred days of such work in a financial year in accordance with the Scheme made under this Act. (2) Every person who has done the work given to him under the Scheme shall be entitled to receivewages at the wage rate for each day of work. (3) Save as otherwise provided in this Act, the disbursement of daily wages shall be made on aweekly basis or in any case not later than a fortnight after the date on which such work was done. (4) The Central Government or the State Government may, within the limits of its economic capacityand development, make provisions for securing work to every adult member of a household under aScheme for any period beyond the period guaranteed under sub-section (1), as may be expedient.

(1) For the purposes of giving effect to theprovisions of section 3, every State Government shall, within six months from the date of commencementof this Act, by notification, make a Scheme, for providing not less than one hundred days of guaranteedemployment in a financial year to every household in the rural areas covered under the Scheme andwhose adult members, by application, volunteer to do unskilled manual work subject to the conditionslaid down by or under this Act and in the Scheme: Provided that until any such Scheme is notified by the State Government, the Annual Action Plan orPerspective Plan for the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) or the National Food for WorkProgramme (NFFWP) whichever is in force in the concerned area immediately before such notificationshall be deemed to be the action plan for the Scheme for the purposes of this Act. (2) The State Government shall publish a summary of the Scheme made by it in at least two localnewspapers, one of which shall be in a vernacular language circulating in the area or areas to which suchScheme shall apply. (3) The Scheme made under sub-section (1) shall provide for the minimum features specified inSchedule I.

(1) The State Government may, withoutprejudice to the conditions specified in Schedule II, specify in the Scheme the conditions for providingguaranteed employment under this Act. (2) The persons employed under any Scheme made under this Act shall be entitled to such facilitiesnot less than the minimum facilities specified in Schedule II.