In India, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGMGNREGS) is one of the
major rural development programmes. It provides guaranteed employment to the rural households for 100
days in a year. This paper has attempted to find out the employment status, income and labour supply
decision of the participants and non-participants of MGNREGS in Tamil Nadu. It has also studied the
household nutritional security of these households. The study has revealed that the number of migrants
in the family, number of livestock units owned, and number of person-days employed in agriculture, nonagriculture
and MGNREGS are significantly influenced by the household income of the participants and
non-participants of MGNREGS. The analysis of household food-security has shown that the expenditure
for all commodities, viz. leisure, cereals, pulses, oils, fruits & vegetables, milk, chicken and fish are positive
and significant in the case of MGNREGS participants, whereas the expenditure variable is significant only
for two commodities, viz. cereals and oils in case of MGNREGS non-participants. It shows that the MGNREGS
participants consume more high-value commodities like milk, chicken and fish, as compared to MGNREGS
non-participants. The labour supply decision of sample respondents has shown that the elasticity of
labour supply with respect to wage rate is more than one in both participants and non-participants of
MGNREGS, indicating that an one per cent increase in wage rate increases labour supply by 1.92 per cent
and 2.36 per cent, respectively. In addition, as the number of dependents increases, the household increases
labour supply to derive additional income to meet the increased household expenditures. An interesting
and encouraging observation is that the scheme has reduced the migration of people from rural to urban
areas