• Asit Sardar

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is considered as a „Silver Bullet‟ for exterminating rural unemployment and creating demand for productive labour-force in the villages of India. It is a flagship scheme of the GOI that directly touches the lives of the rural poor and seeks to ensure inclusive growth. The program aims to increase the livelihood security of families in rural areas and to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment to each family whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual work. The Act was introduced by the GOI in August 2005. It was an important legislation that reaffirms India‟s position as a welfare state. And the way in which this scheme has improved the livelihood of people, living in rural areas of India, during Corona, is exceptional and it proved once that there is no alternative to this scheme in India at the moment. Therefore, keeping this background in mind, the paper seeks to explore how this scheme has been able to reduce the unemployment problem in Bhangore Gram Panchayat area of South 24 Parganas district and how it has instilled hope by providing work and livelihood security to the villagers during the pandemic.

GOI, MGNREGA, Flagship scheme, Employment, Unskilled labour

"MGNREGA: A HOPE FOR RURAL INDIA", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 1, page no.224-235, January-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1901H96.pdf

"MGNREGA: A HOPE FOR RURAL INDIA", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 1, page no. pp224-235, January-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1901H96.pdf