Chapter I PRELIMINARY

1. (1) This Act may be called 1 [the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act], 2005.
2. (2) It extends to the whole of India 2***.
3. (3) It shall come into force on such date2 as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint; 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 the territory to which it extends within a period of five years from the date of enactment of this Act

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

1. (a) "adult" means a person who has completed his eighteenth years of age;
2. (b) "applicant" means the head of a household or any of its other adult members who has applied for employment under the Scheme;
3. (c) "Block" means a community development area within a district comprising a group of Gram Panchayats;
4. (d) "Central Council" means the Central Employment Guarantee Council constituted under subsection (1) of section 10;
5. (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;
6. (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 organisation authorised by the Central Government or the State Government to undertake the implementation of any work taken up under a Scheme;
7. (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 (11 of 1948) for agricultural labourers as applicable in that area;
   • (i) "National Fund" means the National Employment Guarantee Fund established under subsection (1) of section 20;
8. (j) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
9. (k) "preferred work" means any work which is taken up for implementation on a priority basis under a Scheme;
10. (l) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
11. (m) "Programme Officer" means an officer appointed under sub-section (1) of section 15 for implementing the Scheme;
12. (n) 'project" means any work taken up under a Scheme for the purpose of providing employment to the applicants;
13. (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;
14. (p) "Scheme" means a Scheme notified by the State Government under sub-section (1) of section4;
15. (q) 'State Council" means the State Employment Guarantee Council constituted under subsection (1) of section 12;
16. (r) 'unskilled manual work" means any physical work which any adult person is capable of doing without any skill or special training;
17. (s) "wage rate" means the wage rate referred to in section 6.