A grateful nation today paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his 141st birth anniversary with the Prime Minister renaming the ambitious flag-ship programme NREGA after the father of the nation. The President, Mrs. Pratibha Devi Singh Patil paid floral tributes to Bapu at his birth place Kirtimandir in Porbandar,Gujarat and Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Dr. Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition L. K. Advani and others offered their respects to the Mahatma at his samadhi at Rajghat. Launching of welfare schemes, prayer meetings, anti-leprosy campaign, national campaign to check violence against women and Golden Jubilee of Panchayati Raj and welfare schemes and programmes also marked the occasion across the country. The gram Nyayalaya Act aimed to provide justice to the people at their door step also came into force from today.The birth anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri was also celebrated today. Functions were organized in different parts of country to recall his contribution.Addressing a Panchayati Raj convention in New Delhi, Dr. Manmohan Singh renamed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act as Mahatma Gandhi Nation Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The Prime Minister said this is a befitting tribute to the father of the nation who strongly advocated decentralization of governance to make it more effective and transparent. He said that NREGA has yielded the desired results despite initial problems and added that Panchayati Raj has proved an important mechanism to improve government welfare schemes like NAREGA.UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi told the convention that Panchayati Raj is an effective tool for social and economic transformation of India. Recalling the contribution of late Rajiv Gandhi, she said, he believed in strengthening of democratic process at the grass roots level, which resulted in the amendment of the constitution in 1993.Later, addressing a rally at Nagour in Rajasthan on the Golden Jubilee of Panchayati Raj system in India, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi strongly advocated participation of village people in the decision making for the development of the nation. She said weaker section and women are now participating in the decision making process because of land mark move.