The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, India: Examining Pathways towards Establishing Rights-Based Social Contracts

This article aims to assess the type of social contracts that led to the passage of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by analysing the debates prevalent during the Act’s formulation, and the underlying beliefs about the existing social contract. The article argues that while existing social contracts shape the design of social policies, each policy may also have an aspiration of a particular type of social contract built into its design. Accordingly, it analyses the nature of social contract envisioned in the design of the MGNREGA, and the extent to which this social contract is being realised through the Act’s implementation.