<span style="color: #222222;">The Government of India's flagship job-guaranteed programme MGNREGA is a powerful instrument for inclusive growth in rural India through its impact on social protection, livelihood, security and democratic empowerment. Aimed at ensuring better lives for the poor, the programme proved a boon to a native of Gujjar Basti at Parnhall in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir.<br />''   <br />''When Chowdhury Muneera Akhtar's hard-earned savings of about three lakh rupees ended up in the treatment of her three-year-old daughter, she was distressed as her family was reduced to penury.<br />''     <br />''Talking to AIR News, she said, she came to know that the Ministry of Rural Development-run MGNREGA offers jobs to women as well. She contacted the Rural Development Department, Kulgam and began working as an MGNREGA worker. As a result, she got a sustainable livelihood, helping her to meet daily expenses of the family and continue spending on the treatment of her daughter.<br />''     <br />''Muneera says her Basti used to be dilapidated. She decided to transform it and constructed an irrigation channel, lanes and a water tank there besides undertaking other works under MGNREGA. Now, a successful MGNREGA worker, she asks unemployed women to come forward and avail the benefits of the scheme which provides guaranteed employment. </span><br />