Politics and the Right to Work: India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), passed in 2005, has been among the developing world's most ambitious anti-poverty initiatives. By 'guaranteeing' 100 days of work annually to every rural household, NREGA has sought to advance the Indian constitution's commitment to securing citizens' 'right to work'. This book is not a technical evaluation of programme performance. It offers instead a detailed analysis of the politics surrounding NREGA: the model of political action that motivated its architects, the public advocacy and parliamentary maneuvering involved in its passage, the political dynamics shaping implementation at state and local levels, the institutional constraints on reforming how it operates, and its complex impacts on the political capacities of poor people