Today, MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) is adjudged as the biggest employment and livelihood security programme of the human history. The effective implementation of this flagship programme of the government of India is quintessential due to her prolonged vulnerability to the challenges of poverty and unemployment. Also, India, being a committed signatory to Millennium Development Goals in which poverty alleviation is one of the key goals, success of MGNREGS can play a significant role to achieve the objective to end poverty and hunger by 2015 to a considerable extent. Ever since the Programme was launched in 2006 in 200 selected districts, in 2008 covering the entire country, it has evolved with many ups and downs. Somewhere it has been proved a great success and somewhere the principles of the scheme was misdirected. The book carefully examines the opportunities and challenges of the scheme through an empirical study conducted in Odisha State,one of the most poorest states of India.