Lok Sabha Question No. 2414 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-08-03
Subject: Schemes for Planned and Sustainable Development of Rural Areas
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Pallab Lochan Das

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

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2414

ANSWERED ON 03/08/2021

## SCHEMES FOR PLANNED AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL AREAS

## 2414.   SHRI PALLAB LOCHAN DAS:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  proposed  to  introduce  schemes  for  the  planned  and sustainable development of rural areas and if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken thereon;
- (b) whether the Government has sought suggestions and opinion of the State Governments before fixing the criteria for implementation of schemes for development of rural areas and if so, the details thereof along with the action taken thereon; and
- (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  change  the  criteria  fixed  for  considering  the practical difficulties in implementation of the rural schemes, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to  (c)    The    Ministry    of    Rural    Development    is    implementing    various    schemes/ programmes  for  the  planned  and  sustainable  development  of  rural  areas  and  to  bring    about overall    improvement    in    the    quality    of    life    of    individuals      in    rural    areas    through employment generation, strengthening of livelihood  opportunities, promoting self-employment, skilling of rural youth, provision of social assistance and other basic amenities. The details of the schemes/ programmes are indicated  below:

(i)    Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Scheme(MGNREGS): MGNREGS  is  a  demand  driven  wage  employment  programme  which  provides  for  the enhancement of livelihood security of households in rural areas of the country by providing at least  one  hundred  days  of  guaranteed  wage  employment  in  every  financial  year  to  every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. It is a demand driven wage employment programme. There are 262 works which are permissible under MGNREGS, out of which 182 works are related to Natural Resource Management (NRM) and out of the 182 NRM works, 85 are water related. Out of total works, 164 works relate to agriculture and allied activities. Many works under the Scheme pertains to rural infrastructure like rural connectivity, rural  sanitation  related  works,  unskilled  wage  component  for  construction  of  Community Sanitary Complexes in convergence with Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen), solid and liquid waste management, play fields, construction of buildings for Gram Panchayats, women self-help groups' federations, cyclone shelters, anganwadi centres, village haats and crematoria, food grain storage structures etc. The permitted works under the Scheme promote planned and sustainable development of rural areas. The Ministry is also encouraging the States/UTs for preparation of GIS based plans following ridge to valley approach using Remote Sensing technology for NRM. Till now, such plans have been drawn for 1,20,723 out of 2,69,402 Gram Panchayats.

## ( ii)        Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National  Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM):

The  Ministry  is    implementing    DAY-NRLM,  to   tackle    the    problem    of  unemployment, especially  among  women,  in  a  mission  mode  with  the  objective  of organizing  poor  rural women  into  Self  Help  Groups  (SHGs),  and  continuously nurturing  and  supporting  them  to undertake   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), the sub scheme  under  DAY-NRLM,  has  the  objective of  helping Self  Help  Groups  (SHG)  and their family members to set-up small enterprises in the non-farm sector.

DAY-NRLM is  working  in  the  areas  of  Institution  Building  &  Capacity  Building,  Financial Inclusion, Livelihoods (Farm & Non-Farm) and social inclusion and social development related issues for holistic development of the poor rural households. Keeping in view the development requirements  for  the  program  outreach  and  benefitting  the    rural  poor  to  a  larger  extent,  the Ministry has proposed the following changes in the existing schemes-

## i. Institution Building & Capacity Building:

- a. Institution Building Cost to be increased from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000 per SHG
- b. Revolving Fund from Rs.10000-15000 to Rs. 20000-Rs. 30000 per SHG
- c. Provisioning for Viability Gap Fund of Rs. 20 lakh (Max. ceiling) per Cluster Level Federation
- d. Professional support cost at district level as part of IB/CB cost

## ii. Financial Inclusion:

- a. Interest subvention for SHGs across all districts in the country
- b. Creation of a dedicated 'Women Enterprise Acceleration Fund' in order to facilitate financing to women entrepreneurs from financial institutions

## iii. Livelihoods:

- a. Promotion of Integrated Farming Cluster (IFCs)
- b. Increasing  per  block  expenditure  ceiling  for  the   blocks  under  Start-up  Village Entrepreneurship Program from Rs. 5.97 Cr. to Rs. 6.5 Cr. per block
- c. Separate line of funding for the Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana
- d. Introducing One Stop Facility (OSF) Centers @ Rs. 3.5 Cr. per blocks
- e. Promotion of Clusters of non-farm entrepreneurs @ Rs. 5 Cr. per cluster

(iii)      Deen  Dayal  Upadhyaya  Grameen  KaushalyaYojana  (DDU-GKY)  and  Rural  Self Employment  and  Training  Institutes  (RSETIs): The    Ministry    of    Rural    Development implements two  skill  development initiatives for poor rural   youth under the National Rural Livelihoods  Mission  (NRLM).  These  schemes  are  aimed  at  increasing  employability  of  poor rural youth either for wage or self employment leading to economic and social development of youth in the rural areas by removing the hurdles of the rural livelihoods and by strengthening rural economy and income. DDU-GKY  is the placement  linked  skill  development  programme for  poor rural   youth  under  NRLM which has been  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 Micro-enterprise. Some of these trainees may also seek regular salaried jobs.

(iv)    Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G): In order to achieve the objective of 'Housing for All', the erstwhile rural housing scheme Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) has been restructured  into  Pradhan  Mantri  Awaas  Yojana-  Gramin  (PMAY-G)  w.e.f.  1 st April,  2016. Under PMAY-G, the beneficiaries are identified based on the housing deprivation parameters and 13 point exclusion criteria in Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 and a new survey Awaas  2018  to  identify  the  left  out  eligible  households  subject  to  due  verification  by  Gram Sabha and completion of Appellate Process. Thus, the system generated/ Auto generated priority lists were circulated to the States/UTs for conduct of Gram Sabha verification and preparation of the GP/Village wise Permanent Wait List (PWL) of PMAY-G.

(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   various  facilities  and  services.  The implementation  of  the  ongoing PMGSY  has  immensely helped  in  lifting  the  socio-economic condition of rural masses by providing  them  access  to  the  various  services  and  facilities,  market  place  and  employment opportunities in various forms.

(vi)     Shyama  Prasad  Mukherjee  Rurban  Mission  (SPMRM): The  SPMRM launched  in February  2016,  has  been  formulated 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 selected 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.

(vii)      Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY): SAGY was launched on 11th October, 2014 with  the  objective  of  creating  model  Gram  Panchayats  in  different  parts  of  the  country. Primarily,  the  goal  was  to  develop  three  Adarsh  Grams  under  each  Hon'ble  Member  of Parliament (MP) by March 2019.Thereafter, five such Adarsh Grams (one per year under each Hon'ble  MP)  were  to  be  selected  and  developed  by  2024.  Under  the  Saansad  Adarsh  Gram Yojana framework, the development of Gram Panchayats is envisaged through convergence and implementation  of  existing  Government  Schemes  and  Programmes  under  the  administrative control of respective Ministries without allocating additional funds.  The GPs adopted prepare a Village Development Plan which is a roadmap for the holistic development of GP. The Hon'ble Members of Parliament (MPs) have adopted 2172 GPs for development under SAGY across the country till  28  July  2021,  since  2014.  Further,  51112  projects  have  been  completed  under  the Village Development Plans (VDP).

Frequent consultations and review of the schemes are carried out with the States through regular VC meetings, Performance Review Committee (PRC) meetings which are held twice a year in which  all  Rural  Development  programmes  are  reviewed  by  the  Honorable  Minister  of  Rural Development  and  Secretary,  Rural  Development.  All  the  implementing  departments  (Rural Development/Panchayati  Raj  etc.)  in  the  States/UTs  participate  in  the  Performance  Review Committee meetings under the Chairmanship of their respective Principal Secretaries/Additional Chief  Secretaries.  Ministry  of  Rural  Development  also  organizes  a  Common  Review  Mission (CRM) each year wherein States are visited to assess the performance of the programmes of the Department of Rural Development. The suggestions given by the States during these meetings are duly considered for improvement of implementation of these schemes.

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