MGNREGA is a major initiative of Government of India towards improving the quality of life among rural poor families through poverty reduction and income generation. MGNREGA is a unique and innovative welfare program in the world, as no country in the world has ever given a legal right of this kind to such a large population. MGNREGA is expected to address the worst kind of poverty in the country, as it provides a legal guarantee for 100 days of employment in every financial year to the poor rural households at statutory minimum wages. It also introduced novel features of unemployment allowance.
Given this backdrop, this research study is supposed to conduct a micro-level research both for evaluating the effectiveness and efficiencies of MGNREGA in terms of its impact on livelihood and poverty. This study will also evaluate the impact of MGNREGA on quality of life of the people engaged as beneficiaries. The quality of life will be studied from two different aspects: (i) village-level infrastructural development which includes drought-proofing, land development, rural connectivity, renovation of traditional water bodies, irrigation, and drainage/sewerage; and, (ii) household-level quality of life, comprising of the socioeconomic variables like income, housing conditions, education level, and health conditions.