 I am a child of modern India, independent, self-reliant. One of the world's fastest growing economies. A population of over 1.2 billion people. 72% of whom live in villages across the country. Inhabiting a space we often call Bharat. Traditional, agricultural, rural. Sadly, people here do not share the fruits of development. But wrestle with issues of poverty, hunger, malnutrition and illiteracy. Surely this was not the dream of our founding fathers. This ever-widening chasm between haves and have-nots cannot urban, industrial India offer a suitable solution to its fellow citizens to earn a livelihood and live a decent life. I hear about a revolutionary act that is being implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development from 2006. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act that promises 100 days of work to any rural household whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual labour. Each household needs to register for a job card first and then file an application for work. Within 15 days of applying, work has to be allocated to that family, failing which an unemployment allowance is to be paid. And in most states, the wages paid are not below the minimum wages of that state. Could this be the answer I am looking for? The Employment Guarantee Act is the most significant legislation of our times in many ways. It is a legal right to livelihood, a right the people can demand to be enforced. The act gives employment, it gives income, it gives a livelihood and gives a chance for all to live a life of self-respect and dignity. The Employment Guarantee Act transfers power in the hand of our people. Groundbreaking in its intent and framework. However, five years into its implementation, has Mahatma Gandhi Narrega made any difference to Bharat? We embark on a journey to four different states in India to explore the implementation of the act and its impact on the rural poor. Rajasthan is an eye-opener. Known for its arid and barren landscapes, water has been a perennial problem here. But thanks to the projects undertaken by the Mahatma Gandhi Narrega scheme, water bodies have been created, water tables restored, resulting in greenery all around. Am I still in Rajasthan? The Vijapura constituency is also credited with introducing the concept of wall painting, all accounts of the project, so as to ensure complete transparency and accountability. Eating this movement has been Kaaluram, a model Sarpanch, the democratically elected head of the village Panchayat, which is the local self-governing body. NREJ has revitalized the notion of the Panchayat because the Panchayat has become the basis for all this. So whether it's dysfunctioning, whether it's malfunctioning, whether there's malnvelence, whatever they may be in the Panchayat, the Panchayat has become a focus. It is now not a non-issue, it's an issue. So it is focused on the Panchayat as a delivery mechanism, as a decision-making mechanism, as a political entity. It's taken the concept of transparency to the smallest village in this country. Questions racing through my head, we move our trail to Bihar in the east, where almost 85% of the population lives in villages. Improved governance by the current state government has led to an economic revival here. A lot of the migration from India happens from Bihar, and these are people who are going in search of work. What Naraygarh helps is people who migrate out of no choice by offering an alternate employment that's closer to home. And therefore they compromise they have to make with their life because of this long separation from home and the consequences of distressed migration. This helps to alleviate that. We need large-scale works. The entire Kosi canal system is being rejuvenated to ensure that the 100 days entitlement reaches the people. It has to open large-scale works which means that it should link with these departments, which is a provision in our EGA that convergence provision with other departments. If that happens, we would see, I think that would really transform the face of Bihar and especially its workers. Every step we have to take, every step we have to take with it, then we get employment. On one hand, we say that the government will make a law. We have taken out a different department and are not going to listen to me. So what will we do? The tremendous transformational potential of NREGA however it can be seen in one simple way which is that it's helping labour to organise itself. No matter how small the NREGA works maybe in an area, the fact is that they do have a choice to say that this is the wage that we are getting. There is 114 right now, the minimum wages, which is not paid in agriculture work. But that wage itself has increased because people now have a choice. To me, the biggest thing that NREGA delivers is an entitlement based on which the citizen can question the state, interrogate the state as equal, saying that here is my entitlement, why I do not deliver. So there is a certain citizenship, quality of citizenship improves. For me that's the biggest thing that NREGA delivers. The BRR I saw in 1985 is not the BRR I see today. The power relationships have changed. Once people get a basic level of income, then they are able to stand up for their rights and talk to the rest as equals, not near equals but approaching equality. Absolutely, there are processes I think, a combination about the right to information and the NREGA. Given indication of how basic power structures can actually be shaken up, if you provide just fundamental things which our constitution says you should be providing. Without your having to use force and without a bloody revolution, people have actually gained bargaining power. And for the first time this government system is being made to answer. We need to learn actually from people's efforts in NREGA because they are showing us what has gone wrong in this structure, what can be made to correct it and they are doing it every day and in millions of places across the country. And that's a democratic change or a radical change within a democracy.