The Guardian view on India’s employment assure: scrapping a proper to work dangers a rural revolt | Editorial

Few nations have tried something as formidable as India’s rural jobs assure. Underneath the Mahatma Gandhi Nationwide Rural Employment Assure Act, any grownup within the countryside who demanded work was entitled to a job on native public works inside 15 days, failing which the federal government needed to pay an unemployment allowance. Enacted in 2005, MGNREGA created the world’s most far-reaching authorized proper to employment. It generates 2bn person-days of labor a 12 months for about 50m households. Over half of all employees had been girls, and about 40% got here from Dalit and tribal communities.