National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 Chapter I - Bare Act

(1) This Act may be called ⁵[the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act], 2005.

(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint;¹ and different dates may be appointed for different States or for different areas in a

State and any reference in any such provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision in such State or, as the case may be, in such area:

Provided that this Act shall be applicable to the whole of territory to which it extends within a period of five years from the date of enactment of this Act.

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1. The Act is enforced on 01.04.2007, vide Notification No. S.O.453(E) Dated 26.03.2007, in different areas in the states as specified in the following schedule:

2. The Act is enforced on 15.05.2007, vide Notification No. SO764(E) Dated 15.05.2007, in different areas in the states as specified in the following schedule:

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,--

(a) "adult" means a person who has completed his eighteenth years of age;

(b) "applicant" means the head of a household or any of its other adult members who has applied for employment under the Scheme;

(c) "Block" means a community development area within a district comprising a group of Gram Panchayats;

(d) "Central Council" means the Central Employment Guarantee Council constituted under sub-section (1) of section 10;

(e) "District Programme Coordinator" means an officer of the State Government designated as such under sub-section (1) of section 14 for implementation of the Scheme in a district;

(f) "household" means the members of a family related to each other by blood, marriage or adoption and normally residing together and sharing meals or holding a common ration card;

(g) "implementing agency" includes any department of the Central Government or a State Government, a Zila Parishad, Panchayat at intermediate level, Gram Panchayat or any local authority or Government undertaking or non-governmental organization authorised by the Central Government or the State Government to undertake the implementation of any work taken up under a Scheme;

(h) "minimum wage", in relation to any area, means the minimum wage fixed by the State Government under section 3 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 for agricultural labourers as applicable in that area;

(i) "National Fund" means the National Employment Guarantee Fund established under sub-section (1) of section 20;

(j) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;

(k) "preferred work" means any work which is taken up for implementation on a priority basis under a Scheme;

(l) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(m) "Programme Officer" means an officer appointed under sub-section (1) of section 15 for implementing the Scheme;

(n) "project" means any work taken up under a Scheme for the purpose of providing employment to the applicants;

(o) "rural area" means any area in a State except those areas covered by any urban local body or a Cantonment Board established or constituted under any law for the time being in force;

(p) "Scheme" means a Scheme notified by the State Government under subsection (1) of section 4;

(q) "State Council" means the State Employment Guarantee Council constituted under sub-section (1) of section 12;

(r) "unskilled manual work" means any physical work which any adult person is capable of doing without any skill or special training;

(s) "wage rate" means the wage rate referred to in section 6.