WORKING OF MGNREGA BY PANCHAYATI RAJ INSTITUTIONS IN IMPHAL WEST DISTRICT: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

Abstract

In the hills and valley regions of Imphal West district where agriculture is the backbone of the economy the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) is more than a welfare program and it is also one of the lifeline of rural villagers not only in Imphal West district or our state Manipur but all over India as a whole where rural employments scheme where geographically India has a vast landscape of India’s social welfare architecture, few programmed have been as debated, celebrated and criticised the MGNREGA.   This Act was enacted by parliament on 25 August 2005 and it is not only a simple government scheme it is a legal rights. For the first time in the history of rural India rural adults were given a statutory entitlement that the right to demand 100 days of paid unskilled manual work every year and the right to compensation if the government failed to provide the work within 15 days Imphal West is one of the five valley district of Manipur which are Imphal West, Imphal East, Bishnupur, Thoubal and Kakching (Aheibam et al., 2025) a small northeast state tucked between Myanmar, Nagaland, Assam and Mizoram. It is also the home of a largely agrarian population whose livelihoods depend heavily on paddy cultivation, horticulture and daily labourer. . MGNREGA has been a lifeline of thousands of rural families in Imphal West where rural people’s gets extra meagre farm incomes, reducing distress migration and creating basic public assets like ponds, roads and drainage passages. From an act to the delivery of this scheme on ground by Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) the elected local bodies at the village, block and district level. In Imphal West district Gram Panchayat registers workers; issues job cards, plans the works and executes projects on the ground (Rural Development Department, n.d.). The Block-level Panchayat Samiti provides oversight and technical support and the Zilla Parishad district level body coordinates broader planning and fund management.  This articles look at how PRI’s run MGNREGA in Imphal West district and the problems they face and also looks ahead at the newly enacted Viksit Bharat G RAM G Act, 2025 which replaced MGNREGA  and introduces sweeping reforms that will reshape rural employment policy in Imphal West district and across India.