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NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT, 2005
42 OF 2005
The following Act of Parliament received the assent of the President on 5.9.2005 and is hereby published for general information:-An Act to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Be it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-sixth Year of the Republic of India as follows :-
CHAPTER 1 : PRELIMINARY
SECTION 1 : Short title, extent and commencement.
(1) This Act may be called [the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act], 2005.
(2) It extends to the whole of the India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different States or for different areas in a State and any reference in any such provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision in such State or, as the case may be, in such area; Provided that this Act shall be applicable to the whole of the territory to which it extends within a period of five years from the date of enactment of this Act.
SECTION 2 : Definitions
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- (a) "adult" means a person who has completed his eighteenth years of age;
(b) "applicant" means the head of a household or any of its other adult members who has applied for employment under the Scheme;
(c) "Block" means a community development area within a district comprising a group of Gram Panchayats;
(d) "Central Council" means the Central Employment Guarantee Council constituted under sub-sec. (1) of Sec. 10;
(e) "District Programme Co-ordinator" means an officer of the State Government designated as such under sub-sec. (1) of Sec. 14 for implementation of the Scheme in a district;
(f) "household" means the members of a family related to each other by blood, marriage or adoption and normally residing together and sharing meals or holding a common ration card;
(g) "implementing agency" includes any department of the Central Government or a State Government, a Zila Parishad, Panchayat at intermediate level, Gram Panchayat or any local authority or Government undertaking or non-governmental organisation authorised by the Central Government or the State Government to undertake the implementation of any work taken up under a Scheme;
(h) "minimum wage", in relation to any area, means the minimum wage fixed by the State Government under Sec. 3 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (11 of 1948) for agricultural labourers as applicable in that area;
(i) "National Fund" means the National Employment Guarantee Fund established under sub-sec. (1) of Sec. 20;
(j) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(k) "preferred work" means any work which is taken up for implementation on a priority basis under a Scheme;
(l) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(m) "Programme Officer" means an officer appointed under sub-sec. (1) of Sec. 15 for implementing the Scheme;
(n) "projecf means any work taken up under a Scheme for the purpose of providing employment to the applicants;
(o) "rural area" means any area in a State except those areas covered by any urban local body or a Cantonment Board established or constituted under any law for the time being in force;
(p) "Scheme" means a Scheme notified by the State Government under sub-sec. (1) of Sec. 4;
(q) "State Council" means the State Employment Guarantee Council constituted under sub-sec. (1) of Sec. 12;
(r) "unskilled manual work" means any physical work which any adult person is capable of doing without any skill or special training;
(s) "wage rate" means the wage rate referred to in Sec. 6.
CHAPTER 2 : GUARANTEE OF EMPLOYMENT IN RURAL AREAS
SECTION 3 : Guarantee of rural employment to households.
(1) Save as otherwise provided, the State Government shall, in such rural area in the State as may be notified by the Central Government, provide to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work not less than one hundred days of such work in a financial year in accordance with the Scheme made under this Act.
(2) Every person who has done the work given to him under the Scheme shall be entitled to receive wages at the wage rate for each day of work.
(3) Save as otherwise provided in this Act, the disbursement of daily wages shall be made on a weekly basis or in any case later than a fortnight after the date on which such work was done.
(4) The Central Government or the State Government may, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make provisions for securing work to every adult member of a household under a Scheme for any period beyond the period guaranteed under sub-sec. (1), as may be expedient.
CHAPTER 3 : EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEMES AND UNEMPLOYMENT ALLOWANCE
SECTION 4 : Employment Guarantee Schemes for rural areas.
(1) For the purposes of iving effect to the provisions of Sec. 3, every State Government shall, within six months form the date of commencement of this Act, by notification, make a Scheme, for providing not less than one hundred days of guaranteed employment in a financial year to every household in the rural areas covered under the Scheme and whose adult members, by application, volunteer to do unskilled manual work subject to the conditions laid down by or under this Act and in the Scheme:
Provided that until any such Scheme is notified by the State Government, the Annual Action Plan or Perspective Plan for the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) or the National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP) whichever is in force in the concerned area immediately before such notification shall be deemed to be the action plan for the Scheme for the purposes of this Act.
(2) The State Government shall publish a summary of the Scheme made by it in at least two local newspapers, one of which shall be in a vernacular language circulating in the area or areas to which such Scheme shall apply.
(3) The Scheme made under sub-sec. (1) shall provide for the minimum features specified in Schedule I.
SECTION 5 : Conditions for providing guaranteed employment.
(1) The State Government may, without prejudice to the conditions specified in Schedule II, specify in the Scheme the conditions for providing guaranteed employment under this Act.
(2) The persons employed under any Scheme made under this Act shall be entitled to such facilities not less than the minimum facilities specified in Schedule II.
SECTION 6 : Wage rate.
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (11 of 1948), the Central Government may, by notification, specify the wage rate for the purposes of this Act:
Provided that different rates of wages may be specified for different areas:
Provided further that the wage rate specified from time to time under any such notification shall not be at a rate less than sixty rupees per day.
(2) Until such time as a wage rate is fixed by the Central Government in respect of any area in a State, the minimum wage fixed by the State Government under Sec. 3 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (11 of 1948) for agricultural labourers, shall be considered as the wage rate applicable to that area.
SECTION 7 : Payment of unemployment allowance.
(1) If an applicant for employment under the Scheme is not provided such employment within fifteen days of receipt of his application seeking employment or from the date on which the employment has been sought in the case of an advance application, whichever is later, he shall be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance in accordance with this section.
(2) Subject to such terms and conditions of eligibility as may be prescribed by the State Government and subject to the provisions of this Act and the Schemes and the economic capacity of the State Government, the unemployment allowance payable under sub-sec. (1) shall be paid to the applicants of a household subject to the entitlement of the household at such rate as may be specified by the State Government, by notification, in consultation with the State Council:
Provided that no such rate shall be less than one-fourth of the wage rate for the first thirty days during the financial year and not less than one-half of the wage rate for the remaining period of the financial year.
(3) The liability of the State Government to pay unemployment allowance to a household during any financial year shall cease as soon as:-
(a) the applicant is directed by the Gram Panchayat or the Programme Officer to report for work either by himself or depute at least one adult member of his household; or
(b) the period for which employment is sought comes to an end and no member of the household of the applicant had turned up for employment; or
(c) the adult members of the household of the applicant have received in total at least one hundred days of work within the financial year; or
(d) the household of the applicant has earned as much from the wages and unemployment allowance taken together which is equal to the wages for one hundred days of work during the financial year.
(4) The unemployment allowance payable to the household of an applicant jointly shall be sanctioned and disbursed by the Programme Officer or such local authority (including the Panchayats at the district, intermediate or village level) as the State Government may, by notification, authorise in this behalf.
(5) Every payment of unemployment allowance under sub-sec. (1) shall be made or offered not later than fifteen days from the date on which it became due for payment.
(6) The State Government may prescribe the procedure for payment of unemployment allowance under this Act.
SECTION 8 : Non-disbursement of unemployment allowance in certain circumstances.
(1) If the Programme Officer is not in a position to disburse the unemployment allowance in time or at all for any reason beyond his control, he shall report the matter to the District Programme Co-ordinator and announce such reasons in a notice to be displayed on his notice board and the notice board of the Gram Panchayat and such other conspicuous places as he may deem necessary.
(2) Every case of non-payment or delayed payment of unemployment allowance shall be reported in the annual report submitted by the District Programme Co-ordinator to the State Government along with the reasons for such non-payment or delayed payment.
(3) The State Government shall take all measures to make the payment of unemployment allowance reported under sub-sec. (1) to the concerned household as expeditiously as possible.
SECTION 9 : Disentitlement to receive unemployment allowance in certain circumstances.
An application who:- (a) does not accept the employment provided to his household under a Scheme; or
(b) does not report for work within fifteen days of being notified by the Programme Officer or the implementing agency to report for the work; or
(c) continuously remains absent from work, without obtaining a permission from the concerned implementing agency for a period of more than one week or remains absent for a total period of more than one week in any month, shall not be eligible to claim the unemployment allowance payable under this Act for a period of three months but shall be eligible to seek employment under the Scheme at any time.
CHAPTER 4 : IMPLEMENTING AND MONITORING AUTHORITIES
CHAPTER 4 : MISCELLANEOUS
SECTION 10 : Central Employment Guarantee Council.
(1) With effect from such date as the Central Government may, by notification specify, there shall be constituted a Council to be called the Central Employment Guarantee Council to discharge the functions, and perform the duties, assigned to it by or under this Act.
(2) The headquarters of the Central Council shall be at Delhi.
(3) The Central Council shall consist of the following members to be appointed by the Central Government, namely:-
(a) a Chairperson;
(b) not more than such number of representatives of the Central Ministries including the Planning Commission not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India as may be determined by the Central Government;
(c) not more than such number of representatives of the State Governments as may be determined by the Central Government;
(d) not more than fifteen non-official members representing Panchayati Raj Institutions, organisations of workers and disadvantaged groups :
Provided that such non-official members shall include two chairpersons of District Panchayats nominated by the Central Government by rotation for a period of one year at a time:
Provided further that not less than one-third of the non-official members nominated under this clause shall be women:
Provided also that not less than one third of the non-official members shall be belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Other Backward Classes and Minorities;
(e) such number of representatives of the States as the Central Government may, by rules, determine in this behalf;
(f) a Member-Secretary not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India.
(4) The terms and conditions subject to which the Chairperson and other members of the Central Council may be appointed and the time, place and procedure of the meetings (including the quorum at such meeting's) of the Central Council shall be such as may be prescribed fay the Central Government.
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