Lok Sabha Question No. 1521 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-20
Subject: Infrastructure Development in Rural Areas
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Amar Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1521

ANSWERED ON 20/09/2020

## INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL AREAS

## 1521.   DR. AMAR SINGH:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  keeping  in  mind  that  a  high  priority  is infrastructure development, both physical and digital, to enable rural dwellers to access the products and services matching their incomes, needs and aspirations;
- (b) whether  sustained,  efficient  execution,  innovative  programmes  in  digital  and  financial areas, along with the proposed improvement of physical infrastructure, road connectivity to  nearby  urban  centres  and  reliable  power  supply  to  all  rural  households  will  be  key drivers to ensure inclusive growth in India; and
- (c) if so, the measures being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a)  to  (c)  :  Department  of  Rural  Development  schemes  are  ongoing  and  implemented  for generation  of  employment,  both  self  employment  and  wage  employment,  social  assistance  to the old, widow and Divyang ,  provision of assistance for rural housing, rural roads, and natural resource management activities. The programmes of Department of Rural Development include Pradhan  Mantri  Gram  Sadak  Yojana  (PMGSY),  Pradhan  Mantri  Awaas  Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G),  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Scheme  (MGNREGS), Deendayal  Antyodaya  Yojana  -  National  Rural  Livelihoods  Mission  (DAY-NRLM),  Deen Dayal   Upadhyaya  -  Grameen   Kaushalya   Yojana  (DDU-GKY),  National  Social  Assistance Programme  (NSAP),  Saansad  Adarsh  Gram  Yojana  (SAGY)  and  Shyama  Prasad  Mukherji Rurban  Mission  (SPMRM).  The  steps  taken  by  the  Ministry  for  infrastructure  development, scheme-wise are given below:-

Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) :    To achieve the objective of 'Housing for All'  by  2022,  the  Department  of  Rural  Development  is  implementing  Pradhan  Mantri  Awaas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G) with effect from 1st April, 2016 to provide assistance to eligible rural  households  for  construction  of  2.95  Crore  Pucca  houses  with  basic  amenities  by  March, 2022.  The  scheme  is  being  implemented  and  monitored  through  transaction  based  MIS AwaasSoft  &  mobile  application  AwaasApp.  The  details  of  the  beneficiaries  &  geo-tagged photographs are  captured  at  various  stages  of  construction  &  release  of  installments  has  been linked  to  these  photographs  to  monitor  progress  of  construction.  Under  PMAY-G,  since 01.04.2016 till 14.09.2020, sanctions have been given to 1,65,75,845 beneficiaries out of which a total of 1,15,02,232 houses have been constructed.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY):   Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) was  started  in  the  year  2000  with  the  objective  to  provide  all-weather  road  connectivity  to eligible unconnected habitations. The mandate of the scheme was subsequently widened and new interventions viz. PMGSY-II and PMGSY-III were added for upgradation of the existing rural road network which connect habitations to the various facilities and services. The implementation of the ongoing PMGSY has helped immensely in lifting the socio- economic conditions of rural masses by providing them access to the various services and facilities, market place and employment opportunities in various forms. Under PMGSY, since inception till date, a total of 6,31,312 Km road length has been constructed under various interventions/verticals of PMGSY with an investment of Rs. 2,31,376 crore. ICT tools as well green and new technologies form the backbone of implementation for efficient and sustainable execution.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA):  Under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, Schedule I, Para 4(1), IV. Category D, rural infrastructure works  permissible such as works related to rural sanitation  i.e   individual  household  latrines,  school  toilet  units, Anganwadi toilets either  independently  or  in  convergence  with  schemes  of  other  Government Departments to achieve 'open defecation free' status, construction of play fields, providing allweather rural road connectivity to unconnected villages, construction of pucca internal roads or streets including side drains and culverts within a villages, construction of buildings for Gram Panchayats, women self-help groups' federations, cyclone shelters, Anganwadi centres, village haats  and  crematoria  at  the  village  or  block  level,  construction  of  Food  Grain  Storage.  Under Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA,  with  regard  to  rural infrastructure works, (excluding Rural connectivity), 33,536 works have been completed with an expenditure of Rs. 25,491.79 lakhs in the  Financial  Year  (FY)  2020-21  (till  14 th September,  2020).  Further,  Under  the  Rural Connectivity  works  taken  up  in  all  States/  UTs  under  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA,  a  total  of 1,42,953  works  have  been  completed  with  an  expenditure  of  Rs.  1,31,836.86  lakhs  in  the Financial Year 2020-21 (till 14 th September, 2020).

Shyama  Prasad  Mukherjee  Rurban  Mission  (SPMRM):   The  Mission  attempts  to  make  the selected rural areas on the threshold of growth socially, economically and physically sustainable regions and strives to strengthen by providing economic, social, basic and digital amenities, thus leading to sustainable and balanced regional development in the country. 300 Rurban Clusters with  thematic  economic  growth  points  are  being  developed  across  the  country  under  this innovative Mission.

Further,  under  innovative  programmes  in  digital  and  financial  areas,  this  Department  under DAY-NRLM has supported digital transactions by promoting Women Self Help Group (SHG) members to be trained  and  engaged  as  Business  Correspondents  (BC)  of  banks  and  Common Service  Centres  to  provide  last  mile  digital  transactions  in  rural  area  using  Aadhaar  Enabled Payment System (AEPS). A total of around 13400 women SHG members have been engaged as BC Agents across 18 states and 330 Districts of the country to provide door step basic banking services in rural India.

As regards reliable power supply to rural households, Ministry of Power has informed that all the States/UTs have signed a document on '24x7 Power for All' with the Government of India for providing  24x7  power  supply  to  all  households,  industrial  and  commercial  consumers  from April, 2019 and adequate supply of power to agricultural consumers as per State policy.  Further, Government of India supplements the efforts of the States to provide access to electricity through its various schemes including Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), Integrated

Power Development Scheme (IPDS), Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana - Saubhagya and Ujjwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY).

Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) in Department of Telecommunication (DoT) seeks to provide financial support for the provision of telecom services in commercially unviable rural and remote areas of the country and to give access to 'basic' telecom services to people in the rural and remote areas at affordable and reasonable prices. Under this fund, subsidy support is also  provided  for  enabling  access  to  all  types  of  telecom  services,  including  mobile  services, broadband connectivity and creation of infrastructure like OFC in rural and remote areas. As on 30.11.2019, the Rural tele-density is 56.71% as against overall tele-density in India of 88.81%. Further, the objectives of the National Broadband Mission launched on 17th December 2019 by DoT  include  Broadband  access  to  all  villages  by  2022  and  facilitate  universal  and  equitable access  to  broadband  services  across  the  country  and  especially  in  rural  and  remote  areas. 'BharatNet',  a  flagship  project  of  Govt.  of  India,  is  being  implemented  by  DoT  in  a  phased manner to connect about 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country. In addition to the Wi-Fi hotspots  provisioned  in  the  BharatNet,  the  Government  is  setting  up  25,000  Public  Wi-Fi Hotspots infrastructure in rural areas.

As per Annual Report, 2019-20 of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), to ensure inclusivity of digital-driven economic growth, various initiatives have been taken in the form of Digital Villages, Rural Business Process Outsourcings (BPOs) and National Language Translation Mission. Through Mobile Seva Platform, MeitY has initiated a massive countrywide initiative  on  mobile  governance to provide Government services to the people through mobile phones and tablets. It enables a Government department to integrate both web and mobile based services  seamlessly  and  enhances  the  access  to  electronic  services  tremendously,  especially  in rural  areas.  Further,  Common  Services  Centers  (CSCs)  aim  to  provide  individual  access  to internet  and  access  devices  to  citizens  in  rural  India  where  the  Information  Communication Technology  (ICT)  intervention  is  very  low.  These  CSCs  provide  a  common  Information Technology (IT) platform for  rural  citizens.  They  are  positioned  as  change  agents,  promoting rural entrepreneurship and building rural capacities and livelihoods. Moreover, 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan' (PMGDISHA) seeks to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering 6 crore rural households.

Department  of  Financial  Services  (DFS)  has  informed  that  with  a  view  to  increase  banking penetration  and  to  promote  financial  inclusion  across  the  country,  a  National  Mission  on Financial  Inclusion  known  as  Pradhan  Mantri  Jan  Dhan  Yojana  (PMJDY)  was  launched  on 28 th August, 2014 at National level.  Under the Yojana, a Basic Saving Bank Deposit (BSBD) account  is  opened  without  requirement  of  any  minimum  balance.   Till  09.09.2020,  a  total  of 40.63 crore accounts have been opened under PMJDY across the country with aggregate deposit of Rs.1,29,811 crore. Out of total 40.63 crore accounts, 26.66 crore (65.61%) are in rural / semiurban centres.  Under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), all villages were mapped by banks  into  1.59  lakh  Sub-Service  Areas  (SSAs)  with  one  SSA  catering  to  1,000  to  1,500 households. While 0.33 lakh SSAs have been covered with bank branches, 1.26 lakh SSAs, have been covered by deployment of interoperable Business Correspondents (BCs).

Further,  DFS  has  stated  that  to  ensure  availability  of  banking  outlet  (Bank  branch/Business Correspondent (BC), within 5 kilometers of all inhabited villages, the Government has launched a Geographic Information System (GIS) based app., namely, Jan Dhan Darshak app (JDD app) developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC).  As per JDD app, there are 1.66 lakh branches, 4.35 lakh BCs and 2.07 lakhs ATMs mapped by the banks.  Further, as per data uploaded by the banks on JDD app, out of the 5.53 lakh mapped villages on the app, 5.52 lakh (99.8%) villages are having branch or BC within 5 kilometers distance. Moreover, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted general permission to domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks  (excluding Regional Rural  Banks),  to   open  banking  outlets   at   any  place   in  the  country,  without seeking   prior approval of  RBI  in  each  case, subject to at least  25 percent  of the total number  of  banking outlets   opened   during  a  financial   year being  in   unbanked   rural  centres  i.e.  centres  having population less than 10,000 (Tier 5 and Tier 6 centres). Further, ten Small Finance banks and six Payment Banks have been licensed by RBI for providing banking services across the country including the rural centres.

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