Lok Sabha Question No. 256 (STARRED), answered on 2025-03-18
Subject: Promotion of Economic Development in Rural Areas
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Smt. Lovely Anand

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 256

## ANSWERED ON 18/03/2025

## PROMOTION OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL AREAS

## *256. SMT. LOVELY ANAND:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of schemes being implemented to promote economic development in rural areas in the country;
- whether the Government is implementing any special policy to promote agriculture based startups and rural entrepreneurship,
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the  number  of  new  projects  sanctioned  under  the  Pradhan Mantri  Gram  SadakYojana  (PMGSY)  for  the  development  of rural road and connecting routes and the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN)

- (a) to (c):       A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) to (C) OF LOK SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.*256  DUE  FOR  ANSWER  ON 18.03.2025.

- (a):       With a view to promote economic development in rural areas in the country, Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) is implementing  a  number  of  schemes/programmes  with  the  main focus on increasing livelihood opportunities,  empowering  rural women, providing social safety net, skilling of rural youth, infrastructure  development  etc.  These  include  Mahatma  Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pradhan MantriAwaasYojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), Pradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana (PMGSY), DeendayalAntyodayaYojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), DeenDayalUpadhyayaGrameenKaushalyaYojana (DDUGKY), Rural Self  Employment  Training  Institutes(RSETIs)  and  National  Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) and Watershed Development Component  of  the  Pradhan  MantriKrishiSinchayeeYojana  (WDCPMKSY).
- (b): To promote rural entrepreneurship, DAY-NRLM is implementing Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) since  2015,  which  supports  the  Self-Help  Group  (SHG)  and  their family members to set-up small enterprises in the non-farm sector. The programme is implemented in 31 States and Union Territories and cumulatively 3.36 lakh enterprises have been supported so far. SVEP  develops  an  eco-system  for  enterprise  development  in  rural areas, with SHG households, which includes:
- i. Community  Enterprise Fund (CEF), a dedicated fund for providing loans to entrepreneurs;
- Cadre  of  Community  Resource  Persons-Enterprise  Promotion
- ii. (CRP-EP) for providing Business Support Services;
- iii. The services include identifying business ideas, preparation of business  plans,  providing trainings,  accessing  loans  from banks, maintenance of accounts, marketing etc.;
- iv. Dedicated  center  for  providing  information  to  entrepreneurs called Block Resource Centre (BRC);
- v. Trained  human  resources  consisting  of  Block  Programme Manager (BPM), Mentor and CRP-EP.

In  addition  to  this,  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Farmers' Welfare is implementing 'Innovation and Agri-Entrepreneurship Development' programme under RashtriyaKrishiVikasYojana (RKVY) from 2018-19, to promote innovation and agri-entrepreneurship, by providing financial and technical support for nurturing startups.  It has also created AgriSURE Fund which aims to support early-stage agri-startups and rural enterprises by providing capital assistance in equity and debt. Its specific objectives include fostering innovation, promoting high-risk and high-impact activities, and advancing technologies such as AI, precision farming, climate-friendly solutions, and digital agriculture.

(c):   Since  inception till  11.03.2025, a total of 8,34,772 km of road length  has  been  sanctioned, out  of  which  7,74,757  Km  of  road length has been completed under various interventions/verticals of PMGSY.  A new vertical named PMGSY-IV has been launched on 11 th September,  2024  under  PMGSY  with  a  focus  on  providing  allweather  road  connectivity  to  unconnected  habitations  of  500+ population  in  plain  areas  and  250  +  population  in  NE  and  Hill States/UTs, special category areas (Tribal Schedule-V, Aspirational Districts/Blocks,  Desert  Areas)  and  100+  in  Left  Wing  Extremism (LWE)  affected  districts  as  per  Census  2011.  The  scheme  will  be implemented  from  2024-25  to  2028-29  with  a  target  to  provide connectivity to 25,000 unconnected habitations. The Central Government  is  working  in  close  coordination  with  the  States  to facilitate submission of proposals under the scheme.

Also, a separate vertical called Pradhan MantriJanjatiAdivasiNyayaMahaAbhiyan (PM-JANMAN) under PMGSY  has  been  launched  for  providing  road  connectivity  to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) Habitations. Habitations with population sizes up to 100 are to be covered.  The target length is 8,000 Km with an implementation period of  5 years (2023-24  to  2027-28).   As  on  11.03.2024,  a  total  of  4,831  Km  road length has already been sanctioned under this scheme.

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