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Abstract
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is an ambitious scheme providing employment to rural people of India. In this paper an effort has been made to analyses the impact of MNREGA on agricultural development beforeand after joining MGNREGA in Thoothukudi district. It reveals that in Thoothukudi block, the impact of MNREGA on agricultural development before joining MGNREGA was found low in the variables namely flood protection, drought proofing and soil conservation. The mean score values of these variables are, 2.18, 2.40, 3.84 and the same mean score 2.40 respectively. The impact of MNREGA on agricultural development after joining MGNREGA was found high in the variables namely land development, desilting of channels, renovation of existing ponds and flood protection. The mean score values of these variables are, 4.12, 4.12, 3.84 and 3.84 respectively. The significant difference among the MGNREGA beneficiaries before and after joining MGNREGA is found in all aspects of agricultural development except land development, renovation of existing ponds, desilting of channels and flood protection since its respective’t’ statistic are not significant at 5 per cent level.