Rajeev.S.R. and Dr.P.K.Varghese, International Journal of Research in Engineering, IT and Social Sciences, ISSN 2250-0588, Impact Factor: 6.565, Volume 08 Issue 10, October 2018, Page 188-194 Implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes in Different Terrains Rajeev.S.R.1 and Dr.P.K.Varghese2 1(Assistant Professor and Research Scholar in Economics, TKMM College, Nangiarkulangara, India) 2(Research Guide and Former Head of the Department of Economics Bishop Moore College, Mavelikara, India) Rural development is a Himalayan task as far as Indian rural economy is concerned. There were a number of development oriented rural schemes are so far implemented. But most of them end without desired goals. The government, here, in this context plan to resolve the rural development approach in a different manner. The objectives kept in mind are rural development ,rural employment, poverty, inequality, gender justice, human rights, decent wages, indiscrimination ,asset building, women empowerment back ward class development, socio- economic accountability, rationality rules and environmental protection, rejuvenation and repairing. These are the striking concepts in modern rural development economics. With all these things in mind the government planned to make a concrete policy based on human values. Finally the draft ends in a new approach towards crude development strategy. The virtue is finally named as National Rural Development Programme (NREP), finalized as National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) 2005.Later the Act renamed with our great father of the nation and is known as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).The Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) reflected in the overall development of the villages throughout India. The right based employment guarantee programme one side creates employment opportunities and on the other creates assets in rural areas. The possibility of asset making is cherished through the schemes/projects implemented at the local level. All the schemes are specified in the annexure of the NREG Act 2005. This paper, as a case study, looks in to the schemes/Projects. And try evaluates the performance of the schemes implemented in different terrains. Keywords: Rural Development, Rural Employment, Employment Guarantee, Equality, Gender, Environment. I. INTRODUCTION Rural employment plays a prominent role in the process of rural development. Because India’s rural population accounts three-fourths of the total population. Rural development has several indicators. Some of these indicators are income of the people, standard of living in rural areas, rural employment generation, rural poverty eradication programmes and people’s participation in the process of development process. Rural development brings comprehensive transformation of the standards of the rural poor people. The comprehensive transformation means the social, economic, political aspects on the one hand and technological and institutional change on the other, which help in the process of rural development. The above needs mentioned development process needs mass participation. Seriously it should keep in mind that rural development does not mean the urbanization of rural areas. But the core of rural development is nothing but, people living in rural areas develop their capacity to live better with good health , adequate means to eat , better clothing ,better housing facilities and access to all necessaries. The magnitude of rural development is relative; it may change from area to area according to the physical specialty of the area. So a radical change in overall spheres of human entity is termed as rural development. In India the about 75% find their shelter in rural areas. The mass need for country’s food stuffs is produced in the rural agriculture sector. Prosperity of the country truly depends on the prosperity of the villages. There is much truth in Mahatma Gandhi’s words that the soul of India lives in villages. In the country rural development is a comprehensive programme of activities that include agricultural growth , development of socio-economic infrastructure , creation of employment opportunities, access to food, providing housing facilities ,clean and healthy environment, rural sanitation, rural drinking water, better employment oriented education, village planning , nutrition and communication. The majority of the Indian rural society faces a number of chronic development problems. These problems are mutually dependent. The problems are self-perpetuating. Some of the problems are: under development of agriculture – related to the improper utilization of resources, massive poverty, widespread unemployment, backwardness of rural economy, lack of skilled labour and the presence of large number of unskilled and semi –skilled labour low asset base of rural people, higher population growth rate weak institutional capacity, customs and traditions, diversity among people throughout the country, poor social and economic infrastructure and lack of information. http://indusedu.org Page 188 Rajeev.S.R. and Dr.P.K.Varghese, International Journal of Research in Engineering, IT and Social Sciences, ISSN 2250-0588, Impact Factor: 6.565, Volume 08 Issue 10, October 2018, Page 188-194 All the problems have its base that lies in the serious issue of poverty. If the rural society can escape from poverty and unemployment, only then rural development become possible. So India looks poverty as a major issue and creation of employment as its thread. To overcome this undesirable trend of poverty and employment, special programmes begin in seventies; supplement the provisions of the five-year Plans. The five- Year plans failed to do much in the rural unemployment. In such a situation the special food and wage employment programmes find their rationale. As a solution to the entire rural development problems the govt. of India proclaimed several programmes from time to time. The special employment programmes are: Area Development Programmes, Minimum Needs Programmes and Programme of Land Reforms. Most of these programmes are implemented through Panchayati Raj institutions and Non-government organizations. The govt. of India introduced a new right based employment programme, unveiled before the parliament in August 2005. It is the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act ( NREGA) which came in to force on 7th September 2005 and the scheme launched on February 2 ,2006. In October 2009, the programme renamed as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act /Programme (MNREGA/MGNREGA). The ongoing programmes like Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana(SGRY) and National Food for Work Programme(NFWP) will be subsumed with the NREGS in 200 districts. This is the first stage of implementation of NREGA. The programme is renamed after the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi. The NREGA is one of the most ambitious interventions to address rural poverty and employment. It follows a set of legally enforceable employment norms. The aim is to create food security, empower unskilled rural employees, empower village communities and create useful assets in rural areas. The new employment programme stipulates that every adult has the right to basic employment opportunities at a statutory minimum wage. In its first stage NREGA is introduced as a pilot programme. After the evaluation the programme extended to the whole country on 1st April 2008. Under the scheme one member of every BPL (Below Poverty Line) family is guaranteed minimum hundred days of work at a minimum wage rate. The wage rate depends on state to state .The Act stipulates that one third of the beneficiaries should be women. It is introduced through the three tier structure of the Panchayati raj system: at three levels, district, block and village levels, it should and monitor and evaluate the project proposals up to the final implementation. Social audit plays a crucial role to test the accountability and transparency. Comptroller and Auditor General, keep a constant watch on the programme. They publish a draft performance audit report on NREGA, which is useful in stock taking of the procedural problems. The draft performance audit report helps authorities to the effective implementation of the Act. Significance of the study Independent India introduced several programmes at the government level to eradicate poverty and unemployment. All programmes are aimed at reduction of poverty at the grass root level. The side of all these programmes is to develop the rural areas. The overall aim of these programmes is the rural development. There is a lot of data available to analyze employment programmes. The government introduced programmes at lower levels can be classified as self-employment programmes , wage employment programmes , area development programmes and social security programmes. All the programmes are succeeded to a great extent in the process of rural development and eradicate poverty. But a lot of drawbacks still exist. The newly introduced Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act is the matter of discussion, especially the schemes stipulated in the annexure. The viability of the schemes from the economic point of view is studied. The right based employment programme which revolutionized the life of the rural poor people who lives below the poverty line. The new age legislation which invokes the framework of the legal rights to provide employment of the poor people in rural areas. The various employment programmes