CONTENTS Foreword . 7 Acknowledgements . 9 Glossary of Abbreviations . 11 Executive Summary . 13 I. Introduction . 15 II. Profile of Respondents . 31 III. Literature Survey . 37 IV. Ground Realities on Awareness . 69 V. Insights into Implementation . 75 VI. Impact on the Poor . 95 VII. Solutions Towards Improving the Effectiveness . 109 VIII. The Road Ahead . 117 Bibliography . 121 Index . 131 The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has been one of the flagship social security schemes in rural India to address under-employment in India. After the Act was passed in parliament on 5th September, 2005, it came into effect from 2nd February, 2006, in 200 districts. Later the coverage of the rural employment scheme was gradually increased till it covered the whole country in 2009. The uniqueness of this Act is that it gives legal guarantee of employment to any male or female member of a rural household, who is willing to do casual manual labour at a statutory minimum wage. The book "The Unravelling of MGNREGA" is an outcome of a research study conducted to capture the process of implementation of this landmark social security scheme and its impact on the lives and livelihoods of the rural poor.