1. Short title, extent and commencement.
1. Short title, extent and commencement.
-(1) This Act may be called the 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; 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.
2. Definitions.
2. Definitions.-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 subsection (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 organisation 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 (11 of 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 sub-section (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. @