An announcement to this effect is expected to be made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. The decision to name NREGA after Mahatma Gandhi was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet on Thursday.

The Cabinet has given in-principle approval to the move and a Bill is likely to be brought in the winter session of Parliament which is expected to begin in the second week of next month, sources in the government said.

Sources said that henceforth the Act is likely to be known as Mahatma National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).

The scheme was earlier limited to 200 districts. It has now been extended to cover the entire country. There was a demand to name it after Rajiv Gandhi, however, it is learnt that the Centre dropped that suggestion.