This paper seeks to critically examine the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA) as a rights-based legal framework for guaranteeing basic livelihood security to rural households. The main concern of the paper is to examine the
legal design and policy innovations and the extent to which they facilitate the fulfilment of the objectives of the Act. The issues discussed in the context of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA as a rights-based law may be pertinent to policy formulation in other development contexts.