Be it enacted by Parliament in the Sixtieth Year of the Republic of India as follows :

Prefatory Note Statement of Objects and Reasons. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 provides for 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. The Act has been notified in all the rural areas of the country. By providing employment to those who seek it, this Act has emerged as one of the largest social safety net providing employment to 4.51 crore rural hoseholds in 2008-09 and providing employment to more than 3 crore households in the current financial year.

2. The Act has thus opened up opportunities to the rural households to obtain local employment, enhance their wage earning and through their labour to create rural assets which contribute to development of the rural economy. The association of the name of Mahatma Gandhi with National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 will reinforce the Act's thrust towards equity and inclusiveness, specially of the deprived groups and socio-economically marginalised communities. The provisions of the Act of public accountability, through social audit and Right to Information will get central focus with the association of Mahatma Gandhi's name, reflecting his ideals of the sovereignty of the public in a democracy. The Act is premised on rural households volunteering to do unskilled manual labour and the association of Mahatma Gandhi's name with it underscores the dignity of labour. It is, therefore, considered befitting that the said Act bears the name of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi as it is a concrete expression of his development vision. Accordingly, the title of the said Act is proposed to be amended as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

3. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objective.