Lok Sabha Question No. 1372 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-03
Subject: Greening Rural Development Programmes
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: DUSHYANT SINGH, BAIJAYANT "JAY" PANDA

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1372

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.03. 2016

## GREENING RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES

## 1372. SHRI DUSHYANT SINGH : SHRI BAIJAYANT JAY PANDA:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) t he  steps taken by the Government under its initiative of Greening Rural Development Programmes (GRDP) in India;
- (b) whetheradequate steps are taken under schemes like MGNREGS, PMGSY etc. toensure sustainable  development of a cleaner and healthier rural India;
- (c) i f so, the details thereof;
- (d) w hether  the  Government  has  conduc ted  any  study  to  assess  the  ecological  impact  of implementation of the programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development and if so, t he details and findings thereof; and
- (e) w hether the Government proposes to improve ecological impact of its programmes by taking appropriate measures to align the activities carried out under various rural in accordance with the guidelines of GRDP and if so, the details thereof ?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI SUDA RSHAN BHAGAT )

- (a): Yes, Madam.The Ministry of Rural Development has setup a Task Force for Greening Rural Development with the following objectives:
- i. Natural resource protection, conservation and upgradation
- ii.Improved efficiency in use of such resources
- iii. Proactive dissemination of green technologies for adoption in different programmes.
- iv. Reduction of negative environmental impacts
- v. Strengthening of climate resilience of communities and eco - systems.
- vi. Convergence of Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for greenin g.
- ( b ) & (c) : Yes, details of schemes IAY, MGNREGA, NRLM & PMGSY are in Annexure.

(d) : IAY - Ministry of Rural Development in collaboration with UNDP is conducting stat specific studies suggesting house designs which are cost - effective, environment friendly, disaster resilient and sustainable suitable for different geo - climatic zones of the respective States.

MGNREGA - Institute  of  Science  (IISc)  in  collaboration  with  the  Ministry  of  R Development  and  GIZ  (2013)  came  to  several  conclusions  in  th eir  research  done  in  4 districts of four states with a total sample of 2057 beneficiary households. The study results validate the purpose of asset creation through MGNREGS works. The results show that: -

1. MGNREGS has contributed to improved or sustained groundwater levels where ground water levels have remained stable, despite increased extraction.
2. Increased water availability for irrigation where area irrigated has increase range  of  .2  to  57  Ha  (depending  on  the  nature  of  work)  in  the  surve yed  worksites. Improved drinking water availability for humans and livestock.
3. Gross  area  under  cultivation  increased  in  the  range  of  43%  to  102%  in  t surveyed villages due to Mahatma Gandhi NREGA interventions. Average crop yields increased by 46to 1 00 % in the surveyed fields. Diversity in cropping was also observe
4. Due  to  the  land  development,  contour  and  field  bunding,  terracing  and  wat related NRM works, soil fertility increased significantly and soil erosion was sh have been reduced b y 82% in 779 beneficiary sample plots.
5. This  study  included  assessments  of  ecological,  socioeconomic  and  physica indicators  such  as  groundwater,  soil  and  organic  carbon  and  biomass  estimation assessed community response through household surveys and PRA methods.

(e): Ministry has come up with a technical manual named 'SAMARTHYA' which will guide the States/UTs to carry out all the permissible works under MGNREGA more efficiently.

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## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO .1372 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.03.2016

## Details of Steps taken under various RD schemes

## Indira AwaasYojana

The following provisions have been incorporated in the guidelines of the scheme of Indira A as a part of the initiative of Greening Rural Development Programmes:

- a) There should be special effort to promote green housing, which will include improved u materials, appropriate building designs and construction techniques. The objective i s to reduce the negative environmental impact of housing and improve user comfort. This is through great on renewable and locally available material, through reduced use of energy during the li house and the use of materials and de signs appropriate to local weather patterns.
- b) There should not be any mandatory type design. A menu of options in respect of use of ma building technologies as appropriate locally, may be provided to the beneficiary along implicat ions and the choice should be left to the beneficiary.

In addition to the above provisions in the guidelines, the following other initiatives by the Ministry in this direction:

- a) An advisory has been sent to all the State Governments to c onsult experts to develop designs which are disaster resilient, eco - friendly, low -cost and which enable construction of durable houses u locally available materials.
- b) The Ministry in collaboration with IIT, Delhi has launched a portal www.ruralhousing network.in for sharing and disseminating information about good practices relating to cost effective, friendly, disaster resilient technology / practice in house construction.

## MGNREGA

- a): The  works  pertaining  to  land  water  and  tree plantation  under  MGNREGA  are  carried  out  by following the watershed approach (ridge to valley approach). The guidelines/circulars were Ministry from time to time.
- b): Issued guidelines, circulars, for the construction of IHHL etc. under MGNRE GA. Regular monitoring of the works is done through MIS, Field Visits, Reports, and Ministry Team Visits etc.

## NRLM

Sustainable Livelihoods and Adaptation to Climate Change (SLACC) project is linked to Nationa Livelihoods  Mission - renamed as Deenday alAntyodayaYojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY - NRLM). The total cost of the Project is estimated to be US$ 10.7 million of which US$ 8

## ANNEXURE

will be provided as grant from the 'Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF)' administered by the Global Environmental  Facility  (GEF)  and  the  balance  portion  will  be  funded  by  the  participating Madhya Pradesh and Bihar as counterpart contribution. The Project Development Objective (PDO) improve  adaptive  capacity  of  the  rural  poor  engaged  in  farm - based  livelihoods  to  cope  with  climate variability and change. Effective date is from 13 -02- 2015 to 30 - 06- 2018.The total cost is to be met from SCCF  grant  and  contribution  from  the  participating  State  Governments  namely  Madhya  Pradesh Bihar.

The keyproject interventions in SLACC are as follows:

- Production  Systems:  Drought  and  flood  tolerant  seeds  and  crop  varieties;  seed  and banks; community nurseries, vegetative buffers, livestock breeds; etc.
- Ecological Systems: Participatory irrigation management (particularly during critical kharif),  protection/maintenance  of  water  bodies  (e.g.  percolation  wells,  tanks) traditional drainage systems; rainwater harvesting; biomass mulching, contour bunds/trenches, tree - based farming etc.
- Financial Systems: Weather - based index insurance
- Knowledge  Systems:  Weather - based  agro - advisories;  ICT  services  (e.g.  smart  phones  to CRPs);  community  climate  adaptation  plans;  capacity -building  on  climate adaptation;  flood contingency planning; policy framework on livelihoods adaptation

The Ministry of Rural Development has approved the Annual Action Plan and accordingly a sum 390.60 lakhs each has been released to Bihar and Madhya Pradesh during De cember, 2015.

Under SLCC, at the State level, the State Rural Livelihoods Mission (SRLM) will lead an ins mechanism  for  interdepartmental  coordination  involving  the  line  departments  (agriculture,  w forestry, water resources, Mahatma Gan dhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGA) and livestock) to facilitate timey convergence of departmental programs and sharing of experience practices. NRLM and MGNREGA has existing convergence program going on in both the states.

Conv ergence  will  also  be  ensured  through  integration  of  climate  change  adaptation  interven MahilaKisanSashaktikaranPariyojna (MKSP) being implemented and National Rural Livelihoods Miss (NRLM)/National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP) project area s.

The  Government  is also implementing  Project  'Governance  Accelerated  and  Livelihoods  Security' (GOALS),  which  is  a  collaborative  efforts  of  Ministry  of  Rural  Development  and  United  N Development Programme (UNDP). The Project covers 12 most affected Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Districts from these states, namely Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha with a total outlay of crore.  The  Project  period  is  5  years  covering  the  period  2013 - 2017. One  of  the  M ain  focus  area  of GOALS is to 'Providing technical assistance to achieve green development under different schemes'.

## PMGSY

(i) In order to promote cost - effective, environment friendly and fast construction technologies -conventional  materials  in  th e  construction  of  rural  roads,  the  Ministry  has  issued    'New  Technology initiatives Guidelines' vide Ministry's circular dated 8.5.2013, wherein the States are permitted to use Indian Road Congress (IRC) accredited technologies &non conventional materials, including jute and coir Geo -textiles, such as Coir and Jute, in road pavements in areas where drainage is an issue, as where  the  soil  properties  can  be  improved  with  Geo - Textiles/Geo -Synthetics.  As  per  the  aforesaid Guidelines,  at  least  1 5%  length  of  annual  proposal  of  a  State,  must  include  new  and  non  conve materials.  This mandatory conditionality is implemented and monitored by the Empowered Commit headed by Secretary (RD), Government of India. The States have been encour aged to enter into MoU with State Technical Agencies (STAs) for technical support in the use of such technologies. The Mi a  target  of  5000  km  PMGSY  Roads  to  be  constructed  in  2015 - 16  using  Waste  Plastic  and  Cold  Mix technologies which are env ironment friendly and cost effective.

(ii) Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) in collaboration with National Rural Roads Dev Agency (NRRDA) has undertaken a pilot project to comprehensively map availability of local marg materials like Flyash, Steel slag, marble slurry etc. It is expected that the use of these green te marginal material would not only prevent environment pollution but would also expand working construction of rural roads and would substantially reduce the lif  cycle cost of such roads .

(iii) Tree Plantation along completed PMGSY roads: The road side tree plantation is expected not to  create  productive  assets  but  also  to  check  the  deterioration  of  roads  and  will  continu ecological balance and reduce global warming. To start with, it is proposed to go for road side tr on the roads constructed under PMGSY in a systematic and planned way under MGNREGS. Accordingl action Plan for road - side plantation in convergence with MGNREGS h as been issued. NRRDA & IRC joint guidelines for plantation on rural roads have also been issued. States have been requested to for plantation of trees on the flanks of PMGSY roads in consultation with Gram Panchayat/Zil and MGN REGA officers.

(iv) Rain water conservation initiative: Provision of Bridge -cum - Bandhar: The Ministry has issued a circular wherein the States have been permitted to design the Bridges so as to serve as Bridg - cum - Bandhar for conserving the rain water.