Lok Sabha Question No. 2551 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-02
Subject: Generation of Rural Employment
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Parvesh Sahib Singh

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

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2551 ANSWERED ON 02/08/2022

## GENERATION OF RURAL EMPLOYMENT

## 2551.   SHRI PARVESH SAHIB SINGH VERMA:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is taking any steps with regard to boosting rural incomes and generating rural employment and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the steps taken by the Government to boost Self Help Groups in rural areas in recent years; and
- (c) the steps taken by the Government to boost social outcomes in the field of health, sanitation and education in rural area in recent years?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (c): The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing  a number of welfare schemes for rural areas of the country viz., Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Gramin (PMAY-G), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Deen Dayal Upadhayay - Gramin Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), Rural  Self  Employment  and  Training  Institutes  (RSETIs),  National  Social  Assistance Programme  (NSAP),  Shyama  Prasad  Mukherji  Rurban  Mission  (SPMRM)  and  Watershed Development Component (WDC) of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) to bring about overall development of rural areas, providing basic amenities and facilities like providing pucca house, all weather road connectivity, strengthening of livelihood opportunities, providing minimum guaranteed rural employment, promoting selfemployment, skilling of rural youths in various useful trades and entrepreneurship qualities, infrastructure development and provision of social assistance.

For creating employment opportunities and impart skills to rural people, this Ministry is  implementing  a  number  of  schemes  viz.,  MGNREGS,  DDU-GKY  and  RSETI.  While MGNREGS assures guaranteed employment to unskilled workers in the rural areas, DDUGKY and RSETI schemes promote employability through either wage or self-employment leading to economic and social development of youths of rural area of the country.    Apart from this, under Skill India Mission, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is implementing its flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) for Skill based  training  of  the  youth  across  the  country  including  of  youth  belonging  to  Scheduled Caste/  Scheduled  Tribe/  Economically  weaker  Section  under  Short  Term  Training  (STT) courses  and  Recognition  of  Prior  Learning  (RPL).Under  PMKVY,  STT  is  linked  to placement,  while  RPL  does  not  mandate  placements  as  it  recognizes  the  existing  skills  of candidate. Similarly, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises is implementing Prime Minister's  Employment  Generation  Programme  (PMEGP),  which  is  a  major credit-linked subsidy programme aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector by helping traditional artisans and unemployed youth.

DAY-NRLM is  also  working  to  mobilize  rural  poor  women  in  Self  Help  Groups (SHGs)  and  to  create  additional  livelihood  opportunities  for  them  through  provisions  of credit, orientation on key livelihood skills and advisory support besides taking up value chain development  activities.  Under  the  Scheme,  the  following  steps  have  been  taken  to  boost SHGs in rural areas:

- i. Start  Up  Village  Entrepreneurship  Programme  (SVEP),  which  aims  to  support entrepreneurs in rural areas to set up enterprises with an objective to  form entrepreneurial eco system for SHGs.
- ii. Aajeevika  Grameen  Express  Yojana  (AGEY)  aims to  provide  safe,  affordable  and community monitored rural transport services to connect remote rural villages and for overall economic development of the area.
- iii. Convergence initiatives have been taken up with MGNREGS, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare, Department of Animal Husbandry, Ministry of Food Processing  Industries,  Ministry  of  Panchayati  Raj,  Ministry  of  Micro,  Small  and Medium Enterprises etc.
- iv. DAY-NRLM is  also  promoting  certified  organic  agriculture  through  Participatory Guarantee Scheme (PGS) of National Centre of Organic Farming (NCOF) to provide more remunerative price to the small and marginal farmers for their organic produce.
- v. SHG members as Business Correspondents/Digipay Sakhi is an initiative to provide last mile delivery of financial services including deposit, credit, remittance, disbursement  of  pensions  &  scholarships,  payment  of  MGNREGA  wages  and enrollment under insurance and pension schemes.
- vi. National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP)  is a World Bank supported  project  with  an  objective  to  establish  efficient  and  effective  institutional planforms for the rural poor to provide sultainable livelihood.

As of 28 th July, 2022, DAY-NRLM has mobilised 8.41 crore rural women members into  77.40  lakh  SHGs,  across  721  districts  and  6842  blocks  of  34  States  and  Union Territories. These SHGs have been federated into 4.37 lakh Village Organisations (VOs) and 28589 Cluster Level Federations (CLF). DAY-NRLM has also trained 3.83 lakh community resource  persons  who  are  skilled  in  different  thematic  areas  such  as  gender,  financial inclusion, livelihood promotion, nutrition etc. As of June, 2022, 39.1 lakh SHGs have been provided with revolving funds, and 22.21 lakh SHGs have been provided with Community Investment Funds as capital support.(Source: DAY-NRLM MIS).

In addition to this, the Government is also implementing various schemes for socioeconomic upliftment of rural areas and its people through various other Ministries, namely, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, Ujala scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Adarsh  Gram  Yojana,  Pradhan  Mantri  Suraksha  Bima  Yojana,  National  Health  Mission including National Rural Health Mission, Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, Samagra Shiksha Scheme, Padhna Likhna Abhiyan, PM-Poshan, National Means-cum-Merit  Scholarship  Scheme  for  meritorious  students  of  economically  weaker sections, Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship Schemes for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes  and  Minority  communities,  Jal  Jeevan  Mission,  Swachh  Bharat  Abhiyan,  National Food  Security  Act,  Pradhan  Mantri  Matsya  Sampada  Yojana  etc.   All  these  schemes individually  or  in  synergy  with  one  another  help  to  augment  health,  education  levels  and cleanliness in villages of India.

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