IMPACT OF MGNREGA TO ACHIEVE FOOD SECURITY AMONG RURAL HOUSEHOLD

Today, India has a population of over 1.21 billion, of which, 250 million people are below the poverty line and approximately 75 percent of them reside in rural areas, making the employment of rural people as crucial for the development of India. To generate more income opportunities, the Government of India has started a flagship programme, MGNREGA, which indirectly resolves all these problems. The Act aims at enhancing the livelihood security and food security of households in rural areas of the country. The MGNREGA and food security are significantly interlinked, and the act gives a necessary push to the purchasing power. Women are an important index of social and physical health of the nation. Poor status of women and lack of decision-making power at the household level has been maintained as one of the major reasons responsible for the inexplicable levels of malnutrition in the Indian sub-continent. Researchers have shown that women are more likely to reinvest profits back into human capital than are men. When women have economic power, they contribute directly to their children's development, household food consumption and indirectly to their nation's income growth. From a gender perspective, the MGNREGA holds great promise, especially with its clause for protecting woman's access to Scheme through proactive inclusion. By putting cash income into their hands, NREGA is beginning to create a greater degree of economic independence among women. It needs utmost to involve rural women in such kind of income / employment generating activities, so that, her involvement can lead to form sustainable livelihood and improvement of the nutritional situation in poor households.