Lok Sabha Question No. 4539 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-23
Subject: Improving Living Standard of Poor
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Ramesh Chandra Majhi

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

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4539

ANSWERED ON 23.03.2021

## IMPROVING LIVING STANDARD OF POOR

## 4539.   SHRI. RAMESH CHANDRA MAJHI:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of steps taken by the Government toimprove the living standards of the poor in the country; and
- (b) the extent of success achieved in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)

(a) & (b) The Ministry of Rural Development has adopted multi-pronged strategies to improve the living standards of the poor in rural areas of the country with the main focus on increasing livelihood opportunities, empowering rural women, providing social safety net, skilling of rural youth, infrastructure development etc through its Programmes. The details of the Schemes/Programmes alongwith their achievements  are as under:-

- (i)   Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Scheme: The  principal objective of the scheme is to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every  financial  year  to  every  rural  household  whose  adult  members  volunteer  to  do unskilled manual work. It stresses on creation of durable and sustainable assets to make the beneficiaries self-dependant. As on 16.03.2021, 15 crore job cards have been issued covering  a  total  of  29.03  crore  workers.      During  the  FY  2020-21,  around  371  crore person-days of employment have been generated under the scheme.
- (ii) Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM): The Ministry is implementing DAY-NRLM across the country since 2011 in a mission mode  with  the  objective  of  organizing  the  rural  poor  women  into  Self  Help  Groups (SHGs) and continuously nurturing and supporting them to take economic activities till they attain appreciable increase in income over a period of time to improve their quality of  life  and  come  out  of  abject  poverty.  Besides,  Start-up  Village  Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), a sub-scheme under DAY-NRLM, has the objective of helping Self Help Group (SHG) and their family members to set-up small enterprises at the village level  in  the  non-farm  sector.    As  on  19 th March,  2021,  7.35  crore  women  have  been mobilized  in  form  of  66.6  lakh  SHGs,  3.86  lakh  village  organizations,  and  0.34  lakh cluster  level  federations.    Cumulatively,  Rs.3.54  lakh  crore  of  Bank  Credit  has  been mobilized  for  the  SHGs.    3.22  lakh  Community  Level  Resource  Persons  including  96 thousand livelihood resource persons have been trained to assist in the process.  In order to  provide financial services at the doorstep, 21.8 thousand have been trained to act as

para  banking  personnel  known  as  Banking  Correspondents.    Interest  subventions  of Rs.5808.41  crore  have  been  provided  in  250  category  I  districts.    The  programme  has mobilized  1.1  crore  women  in  Agro-ecology  practices,    2.87  lakh  women  have  been mobilized  as  members  of  Producers'  Enterprises.    In  the  area  of  non-farm  enterprises, 1.34 lakh new enterprises have been promoted.

A  study  was  conducted  in  2019  to  assess  overall  impact  of  the  Deendayal  Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM  of  Ministry of Rural Development by the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) with the support of the World Bank. The assessment covered 9 states with around 27,000 respondents and 5,000 SHGs across Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The evaluation indicates that an additional exposure to the Mission for 2.5 years led to increase in income by 19% over the base amount, decline in share of informal loans by 20%, increase in savings by 28%, improved  labour force participation -proportion of females reporting secondary occupation  is  higher  (4%)  in  treatment  areas,  Improved  access  to  other  schemes  significant increase in number of social schemes availed by treatment households (6.5% higher over the base value of 2.8 schemes).

- (iii)   Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen KaushalyaYojana  (DDU-GKY)  and  Rural  Self Employment  and  Training  Institutes  (RSETIs ):   Deen  Dayal  Upadhyaya  Grameen Kaushalya  Yojana  (DDU-GKY)  is  the placement  linked  skill  development  programme for  rural  poor  youth  under  NRLM  being  in  operation  since  September,  2014 . Skill development  through  Rural  Self  Employment  and  Training  Institutes  (RSETIs)  is  also being  undertaken  to  enable  a  trainee  to  take  bank  credit  and  start  his/her  own  Microenterprise. Some of such trainees may also seek regular salaried jobs. Both schemes are aimed at increasing employability of rural poor youth either for wage or self employment leading  to  economic  and  social  development  of  youth  of  rural  area  of  the  country  by removing the hurdles of the rural livelihooods and by strengthening rural economy and rural income. Under the Scheme, 10.30 lakh persons have been trained, out of which 6.66 lakh persons have been placed.  During the current FY 2020-21(as on 28.02.2021), out of the  target  of  65,694,  20,946  candidates  have  been  trained  and  44,338  candidates  have been placed under DDU-GKY. Under RSETI, 37.04 lakh trainees have been trained both in skills and entrepreneurship, out of which 25.72 lakh persons have been settled. During the  current  FY  2020-21  (as  on  28.02.2021),  out  of  the  target  of  2,42,040,    2,03,643 candidates have been trained and 1,27,108 candidates have been settled.  During the FY 2020-21, the training activity remained suspended over considerable period due to Covid19 situation affecting thereby the achievements of desired training targets.
- (iv)  Pradhan  Mantri  Awaas  Yojana-Gramin  (PMAY-G): PMAY-G  aims  to  provide  a pucca house with basic amenities to all houseless households and households living in kutcha and dilapidated house by 2022. To achieve the objective of 'Housing for All', the target number of houses to be constructed by the year 2021-22, is 2.95 Crore.  As against that,  1.91  crore  houses  have  been  sanctioned  and  1.33  crore  houses  have  been constructed.    During  the  current  FY  2020-21,  as  on  18.03.2021  (as  per  A2  report  of Awaassoft), 58,25,577 houses have been targeted for construction and  4,04,945 houses have been constructed under the scheme.
- (v)  Pradhan  Mantri  Gram  Sadak  Yojana  (PMGSY): 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  the Scheme,  since  inception  till  28.02.2021,  7,50,673  Km.  road  has  been  sanctioned  for construction, out of which 6, 51,785 Km. road length have been completed.
- (vi)   Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) : The Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) launched in February 2016, is a scheme with the objective to stimulate local economic development, enhance basic services, and create well planned Rurban clusters. The mission takes cluster as a unit for development. 300 Clusters from all the States/ UTs are included in the first phase of the Mission in Tribal and Non-Tribal categories. SPMRM provides the Critical Gap Funding to the projects which directly or indirectly bring economic growth. SPMRM aims to provide amenities in four categories viz  Basic,  Economic,  Social  and  Digital  and  promotes  economic  growth  through integrated and balanced investments with social inclusion. Under SPMRM, out of the 300 Rurban Clusters, 293 clusters have been identified, 290 Integrated Cluster Action Plans (ICAPs)  have  been  approved  and  281  Detailed  Project  Reports  (DPRs)  have  been approved so far.
- (vii) Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY): Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) was launched on 11 October 2014. Under the SAGY framework, the development of Gram Panchayats is  envisaged  through  effective  convergence  and  implementation  of  existing development  Schemes  of  Government  under  the  administrative  control  of  respective Ministries  without  allocation  of  any  additional  fund.      The  Gram  Panchayat  adopted under SAGY prepare village Development Plans (VDP) through a participatory process under  the  guidance  of  Hon'ble  Member  of  Parliament.    The  VDP  includes  prioritized time  bound  activities  to  achieve  holistic  and  integrated  development  of  the  villages. Owing to  the  efforts  made  by  the  States,  out  of  the  2070  Gram  Panchayats  identified under SAGY, 1587 gram panchayats have uploaded their VDP containing 77,645 projects on  SAGY  website  and  implementation  of  49,139  projects  have  been  completed  as  on 18.03.2021.

Apart  from  this,  The  Ministry  of  Housing  and  Urban  Affairs  has  informed  that  it  is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely "Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM)" to reduce poverty and vulnerability of urban poor households on a sustainable basis. The Mission, inter-alia, aims at enabling urban poor to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities. Also, financial assistance is provided to individuals / groups/ Self Help Groups(SHGs) of urban poor for setting up gainful self-employment ventures or micro-enterprises.  Since 2014-15 till 1st March 2021, 10,31,435 urban  poor  have  been  imparted  skill  training  to  enhance  their  employability,  out  of  which 5,45,142 skill trained have been given self and wage employment. Loans with the provision of interest subvention have been disbursed to 5,52,081 beneficiaries for self-employment through individual or group micro-enterprises. 5,36,478 Self-Help Groups have been formed, 3,30,900 SHGs have been assisted with Revolving fund and 6,06,545 loans have been disbursed under SHG Bank Linkage Programme for taking up activities for improving incomes. Street Vendor Survey  has  been  completed  in  3,315  cities  and  towns,  42,72,575  street  vendors  have  been identified and 24,36,925 street vendors have been  provided ID Cards. 2,257 Shelters for Urban Homeless have been sanctioned out of which 1,582 Shelters are operational.

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