Considering unemployment as the basic reason for poverty in India, the Government of India launched a 100 days guaranteed employment programme during 2005. A massive programme that is being implemented throughout India, it needs to be monitored and assessed regularly so as to understand the teething troubles in implementing the programme and make necessary modifications, if any, for better implementation. The present paper makes an attempt to understand the working of the programme by using the secondary data made available by implementing agencies, by conducting Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRAs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), physical visits to the works carried out under the programme, and by participation in social audit at the field level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]