MGNREGA — Policy Reforms

Entry	Year	Description	Impact
N/A (Renaming)	2009	The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was renamed as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on October 2, 2009, to commemorate the 140th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.	Primarily symbolic, reinforcing the scheme's alignment with Gandhian principles of rural self-reliance and empowerment. No change in the core provisions of the Act.
N/A (Policy/Rule Changes)	Ongoing	While the core Act remains largely unchanged, rules and policy guidelines are frequently updated. Significant changes include the mandatory use of Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS) for wage payments, geo-tagging of assets, and revised categories of permissible works to include more individual beneficiary schemes.	These policy shifts aim to enhance transparency, reduce corruption, improve efficiency in wage disbursement, and ensure better monitoring and quality of asset creation. However, they also raise concerns about digital exclusion and administrative burden.