Mgnrega and Rural Development: An Empirical Study of Harak, Block in Barabanki

THE initiation and countrywide implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) represents a milestone in social policy and employment creation with its right based approach a nd focus on livelihood security- The flagship programme has benefitted millions of margi nalized rural households by providing them unskilled work and led to prevention of stress migration from rural areas, in lean agricultural seasons. A UNDP/Carnegie Endowment for Peace study points out that from the scheme's first year of operation in 2 006-2007 till 2010-2011, job creation accelerated from less than 1 billion workdays distr ibuted amongst 20 million households to 2.5 billion workdays for 50 million households. This article has thrown light on the role of MGNREGA in development of Harak & Sharifabad Nyay Panchayat in Harak Block & District Barabanki, U.P. and changes in eco nomic conditions of rural folk. Whereas majority of the poor's are residing in rura l area, the main reason for aggravating poverty is unemployment during non-agricultural season and decline in the agricultural productivity. So this is a challenging task for GOI , in order to overcome from this problem they have under taken many programmes such as 'Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana' (SGRY) or Universal Rural Employment Programme and National Food For Work Programme (NFFWP) etc, but unfortunately these programme were not able to reach expected targeted people. This made them to i ntroduce new programme i.e., MGNREGP (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) it's a combination of both SGRY and NFFWP and it's also provided short-term unskilled employment to poor, assured food and job security a nd created durable assets. In contrast to the earlier wage employment programmes. Evolving the design of the wage employment programs to more effectively fight poverty, the Central Government formulated the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 2005. With its legal framework and rights- based approach, MGNREGA provides employment to those who demand it and is a paradigm shift from earlier programs. Notified in 7th Septem ber, 2005, MGNREGA aims at