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Abstract
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005 which is a rights-based flagship scheme of the Government of India with effect from 2 February, 2006, guarantees at least 100 days of wage employment in a given financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The specific objectives of the study are to find the difference in the socio-economic status of rural households who adopt MGNREGA and who do not adopt MGNREGA for employment, and the reasons for non adoption of MGNREGA. To find out the impact of MGNREGA on rural households in terms of employment, income, and loan repayment, the study was conduct in Ariyalur district in Tamilnadu. Multi stage sampling technique was adopted for choosing the samples. 491 respondents were chosen as sample size i.e. 272 respondents at 3% on total registered NREGA Workers in each panjayaths and 219 respondents 2% on Non-NREGA workers from each panjayaths were selected randomly. The concept of sustainable livelihoods is increasingly important in research about regional development poverty alleviation, rural agriculture development and rural resource management. As poverty is multidimensional, it can be reduced by increasing purchasing power through providing employment. Through the scheme government inject money into the hands of the respondents whom are economically backward and social weaker section in the society.