This paper attempts to study the impact of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme in three Grama panchayats of Kasaragod District,namely Madikai, Ajanoor and Trikarpur. It also looks into the organizational arrangements for planning and implementation of the scheme.

It is now common practice to infer the social status of women from their demographic characteristics. Yet it is not so easy to read through demographic progress, in terms of declines in mortality and fertility, to make unambiguous judgments about trends in women's social standing.

Status literally means position in relation to others. The status enjoyed by women in any society is an index of the standard of its social organisation.

This