The Centre's flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) will be named after Mahatma Gandhi.

An announcement to this effect by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected on Friday, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

The decision to name the NREGA after Mahatma Gandhi was taken at a meeting of the union cabinet. Government sources said the cabinet has approved the move in principle; a bill is likely to be brought in the winter session of Parliament, which begins in mid-November.