In the context of social welfare legislation in India, NREGA is the abbreviation for which of the following full forms?

Introduction / Context:
This question belongs to Indian polity and governance and focuses on the full form of NREGA, an important social security legislation that guarantees wage employment in rural areas. Knowing the correct expansion of such abbreviations is necessary for examinations, because many schemes and acts are commonly referred to by acronyms. NREGA played a major role in rural employment generation and is often discussed in economics and public administration, making it an essential term to remember.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The question asks for the full form of NREGA.
• Options present similar sounding expansions using words like National, Rural, Revenue, Employment, Guarantee, Act and Association.
• The correct answer must correspond to the official legal name of the act as passed by the Parliament.
• The act is related to employment, not revenue.

Concept / Approach:
NREGA stands for National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. It was later implemented as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The act guarantees a minimum number of days of wage employment to rural households willing to do unskilled manual work. Therefore, the approach is to focus on the words rural, employment, guarantee and act. Any option that uses revenue or association instead of act does not describe the correct legal expansion. By eliminating these incorrect constructions, we identify the correct full form.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Highlight the key concept that NREGA is a law that guarantees employment to rural people. Step 2: Because it is a law, the full form should logically end with the word Act, not Association. Step 3: Among the options, remove any choice that ends with Association because they do not refer to an act of Parliament. Step 4: Further eliminate options that use the word Revenue instead of Rural, since NREGA deals with rural employment rather than revenue collection. Step 5: The remaining option, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, matches both the subject and the nature of the legislation. Step 6: Mark National Rural Employment Guarantee Act as the correct answer.

Verification / Alternative check:
Another way to verify is to recall the later name MGNREGA, which expands to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. This clearly indicates that NREGA must also stand for National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in its original form. Reference to rural employment and guarantee of work is central to the scheme and appears in the official name. No government publications or standard textbooks refer to NREGA as a revenue or association related body, confirming that only the Act based option is valid.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
National Revenue Engagement Guarantee Association: This mixes revenue and engagement and treats NREGA as an association rather than a law, which is incorrect.
National Rural Employment Guarantee Association: NREGA is an act, not an association. The term association refers to an organisation, not a statute passed by Parliament.
National Revenue Employment Guarantee Act: This suggests a law related to revenue employment, which does not match the actual purpose of providing rural wage employment.

Common Pitfalls:
Because many abbreviations sound similar, students sometimes overlook small differences like Rural versus Revenue or Act versus Association. Under exam pressure, they may quickly select an option with many correct looking words but miss the precise legal terminology. To avoid this, always associate NREGA with rural employment and the word Act, and remember its later expansion as MGNREGA which reinforces the correct structure of the full form.

Final Answer:
NREGA stands for National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.