The present article seeks to analyse the physical and financial progress of the MGNREGA programme in Karnataka state in general and Bagalkot district in particular with the help of secondary data collected since the inception of the programme. Analysis revealed that the total expenditure and per-capita household expenditure incurred under the programme has increased substantially over the period both in Karnataka and Bagalkot district. The highest proportion of works created under MGNREGA are across rural sanitation, water conservation and harvesting, land development and individual land works. The share of households that were provided employment to that of households demanded employment is more than 95 per cent and the share of households that completed 100 days to the households provided with employment is below 15 per cent. Therefore it is suggested to increase this share in a drastic manner. This would help the poor rural households to enhance their income levels and will improve their socio-economic development. Adequate productive opportunities should be provided in this regard by the concerned government officials so as to realize the objective of social protection and livelihood security.