Lok Sabha Question No. 2817 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-10
Subject: Review of Livelihood Mission
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Zia Ur Rehman

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2817

## ANSWERED ON 10/03/2026

## REVIEW OF LIVELIHOOD MISSION

## 2817. Shri Zia Ur Rehman:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has conducted any recent review of livelihood  missions,  self-help  groups  and  rural  employment programmes, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the steps taken to improve transparency, timely payments and quality of rural infrastructure; and
- (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  additional  measures  to promote digital services and skill development in rural regions, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. CHANDRA SEKHAR PEMMASANI)

- (a): Yes. The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has commissioned various impact evaluation studies to understand the overall  impact  of  the  Deendayal  Antyodaya  Yojana-National  Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) which is being implemented 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. The details of recent studies are given below
1.  To  evaluate  the  impact  of  NRLM,  an  evaluation  study  was conducted  in  2024,  which  covered  9  states  with  around  23,000 respondents  and  5000  SHGs  across  9  states  namely  Bihar,  West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. This was the first largescale impact evaluation study commissioned by MoRD. Key findings from the impact evaluation (2024) indicate:

- i. Expansion  of  SHG-Village  Organisation  (VO)-Cluster  Level federations(CLF)  increased household expenditure by 10.5%.
- ii. Programme  interventions  raised  household  income  by  27%, along  with  higher  non-food  spending,  asset  ownership,  and enterprise investment.
- iii. Model CLF clusters showed stronger outcomes, with 12-32% income growth and 10-17% consumption growth.
- iv. Women's empowerment improved through better gender norms, wider social networks, and greater participation in decisions.
- v. Integrated  Farming  Cluster  (IFC)  approach  enhanced  income gains and strengthened market linkages.
2.  The  Government commissioned thematic evaluations in 2024 to assess the impact of Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) and the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), which are sub-schemes under DAY-NRLM, with the objective of examining their  effectiveness  in  improving  livelihoods  and  promoting  rural entrepreneurship. Key findings of the evaluation includes:
- i. MKSP impact on sustainable agriculture reports that a majority of Mahila Kisans (79%) sustained adoption of climate-resilient practices, with collectivization emerging as a key driver (64% linked  to  producer  collectives).  The  programme  enhanced confidence  (48%),  agricultural  knowledge  (40%),  and  crop yields (52%), Kitchen gardens (63% adoption) emerged as the most preferred practice.
- ii. SVEP Impact on Rural Entrepreneurship: The evaluation covered 1,159 enterprises across 17 states, highlighting SVEP's role in promoting decentralised entrepreneurship, strengthening enterprise support through CRPs-EP, and enabling  income  diversification  and  self-employment  among rural households, particularly women and SHG members.
9. (b): As  per  the  provisions  of  the  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural Employment  Guarantee  Act,  beneficiaries  are  entitled  to  receive wage payments within 15 days of work completion. In order to ensure timely payment, the Government of India has issued a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to all States/UTs, which defines fixed  timelines  for  each  stage  of  the  wage  payment  process  from muster roll uploading to FTO approval. The Ministry, along with the States/UTs, has been making concerted efforts to improve the timely payment of wages. States/UTs have been advised to generate pay orders in time. The Ministry has taken various steps to ensure timely

payment of wages to workers under (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS). These include:

- Improvement of National Electronic Fund Management System
- i. (Ne-FMS)
- ii. Intensive  consultation  with  State  Governments  and  other stakeholders for ensuring timely payment of wages, verification of pending and delay compensation claims etc.
- iii. Formulation of Standard Operating Procedure for monitoring of timely payment and payment of delay compensation.
- iv. Reviewing the status of timely payment and payment of delay compensation with the States/ UTs during periodic meetings, Performance  Review  Committee  meetings,  Mid-term  Reviews etc.

Further, continued efforts have been undertaken by the MoRD through various  technological  interventions  to  ensure  timely  payments  of wages. Some of the key interventions include:

- i. Direct  Benefit  Transfer  (DBT):  Wages  are  transferred  directly from the central account to workers' bank accounts, minimising the role of intermediaries and reducing fund misappropriation. This has proven to be effective in enhancing transparency and preventing leakages. Almost 100% of the funds are managed electronically, with the  wage payment made entirely through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) protocol.
2. Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS): APBS conversion is a major reform process where benefits are credited directly into the bank accounts based on the Aadhaar of the workers under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, preferably Aadhaar Based Payments, cutting  several  layers  in  the  delivery  process.  APBS  helps  in better  targeting,  increasing  the  efficiency  of  the  system  and reducing the delays in payments, ensuring greater inclusion by curbing leakages thereby promoting greater accountability and
- ii. transparency.
- iii. National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS): Real-time attendance  capture  through  geo-tagged  photographs  at  the worksite ensures accurate and timely recording of attendance, which helps in timely payment of wages.

To  strengthen  rural  infrastructure,  Pradhan  Mantri  Gram  Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is a one-time special intervention of the Government of India to provide rural connectivity by way of a single all-weather road to eligible unconnected habitations in the core network.  It was

launched in the year 2000 as a measure towards alleviation of poverty in  rural  areas  by  providing  access  to  basic  services  to  the  rural population by providing them good quality roads.  PMGSY follows the established monitoring and quality protocols, which include:

- i. Digital  Monitoring:  Implementation  is  tracked  via  the  Online Management, Monitoring, and Accounting System (OMMAS) for real-time data sync, supplemented by the Project Management Information System (PMIS) for PMGSY-III.
- ii. Operational  Transparency:  Mandatory  GPS-enabled  Vehicle Tracking Systems (VTS) are required on machinery to monitor deployment during construction.
- iii. Maintenance: Routine maintenance during the Defect Liability Period is processed through eMARG. Payments are regulated by Performance-Based  Maintenance  Contracts  (PBMC),  where disbursements are contingent upon the road meeting defined service levels.
- iv. Quality Control: A three-tier Quality Assurance Mechanism is in place for quality control, comprising PIU-level in-house quality control  as  the  first  tier,  Independent  State  Quality  Monitors (SQMs) as the  second tier,  and  Independent National  Quality Monitors (NQMs) empanelled by National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency(NRIDA) as the third tier.

The MoRD is also taking the  following  initiatives  to  ensure  timely completion  of  the  houses  under  Pradhan  Mantri  Awas  YojanaGramin(PMAY-G):

- i. Regular review of progress at the level of the Ministry.
- ii. Launch of PMAY-G Dashboard for monitoring and supervision of the scheme.
- iii. Timely allocation of targets to the States/UTs and release of adequate funds.
- iv. Regular  follow-ups  with  the  State  to  ensure  release  of  the central  and  state  share  of  funds  and  provision  of  land  to landless beneficiaries in rural areas.
- v. Awards to the best performing States/UTs, Districts based on performance index dashboard, thereby creating healthy competition and motivation among the States/UTs for achieving the  set  targets.  The  PMAY-G  guidelines  provide  that  the States/UTs shall sensitise the selected beneficiaries, preferably at  the  block  level,  at  the  earliest  possible  date  fixed  by  the State Government on different aspects of housing. This includes the  quantum  of  assistance,  stage-wise  instalments  thereof,

different options of the available house type designs suitable to their area, the disaster resilient features,  green  housing designs, materials, technologies and elements (e.g. rainwater harvesting), cooking area, sanitation, water storage, etc. that need  to  be  incorporated  for  houses  in  their  locality.  The beneficiaries  are  also  sensitised  on  the  need  to  take  up construction  of  the  core  house  initially,  the  approximate requirement  of  material  for  construction  of  each  stage,  the availability of the skilled mason / trained rural mason along with their contact details, source for procurement of the material at reasonable rates, sanitation of surrounding areas, etc.

- (c): For  skill  development  in  rural  regions,  the  project  'UNNATI' intends  to  upgrade  the  skill  base  of  the  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA workers, and thereby improve their livelihoods, so that they can move from  partial  employment  to  full  employment.  This  project  was launched  in  December  2019  and  rolled  out  in  April  2020,  but  its progress was impacted by COVID-19. The total achievement till 31st March  2025  is  90,894  candidates.  The  project  has  been  further extended  till  31st  March  2026  with  changes  in  the  Guidelines framework.

Under  PMAY-G,  Rural  Mason  Training  (RMT)  is  a  key  initiative aimed at ensuring quality construction and supporting sustainable livelihoods in rural areas. The programme focuses on developing a pool of skilled and certified masons capable of constructing disasterresilient,  durable,  and  cost-effective  pucca  houses  using  locally available  materials  and  appropriate  technologies.  These  trained masons  contribute  significantly  to  improved  construction  quality, faster completion, and adherence to design and safety standards. So far,  3.81  lakh  candidates  have  been  enrolled,  3.48  lakh  have  been assessed, and 3.08 lakh individuals have been certified as trained rural masons  under PMAY-G.  These trainees have undergone structured on-site training modules, with certification conducted by the  Construction  Skill  Development  Council  of  India  (CSDCI).  This systematic  and  practical  training  approach  ensures  that  masons develop  the  hands-on  skills  required  for  high-quality,  safe,  and durable housing construction in rural areas

Also,  the  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology (MeitY) has taken several measures to promote digital services and skill development in rural areas which are as follows:

- i. DigiLocker: DigiLocker has provided anytime access to authentic digital documents  from original issuer for the common citizen. More than 67.17+ crore users are registered

- with  DigiLocker  to  avail  its  services,  and  more  than  967.01+ crore documents have been issued from 2456 issuers onboarded on the platform.
- ii. Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG), one mobile application for all government services. is operational and offers 2446+ services for individuals.
- iii. National Scholarship Portal (NSP): The platform enables scheme-owning Ministries/Departments and States/UTs to process applications and disburse Scholarships/funds directly into  the  beneficiary's  bank  account  through  Direct  Benefit Transfer  (DBT)  mode.  The  National  Scholarship  Portal  (NSP) serves over 7.47 Crore beneficiaries, with a total disbursement exceeding Rs. 44,181+ Crore. So far, 153 schemes belonging to 13 Ministries/Departments and 21 States/UTs are onboarded on NSP.
- iv. MyGov: MyGov is a Government of India's Citizen Engagement Platform which collaborates with multiple Government bodies/ Ministries to engage people in policy formulation and seeks the opinion  of  people  on  issues/  topics  of  public  interest  and welfare. Presently, over 6.11+ crore citizens are registered with MyGov.  participating  in  various  activities  hosted  on  MyGov platform.
- v. Common Services Centres (CSCs): CSCs are offering government and business services in digital mode enhancing last  mile  connectivity  in  rural  areas  through  Village  Level Entrepreneurs  (VLEs).  Over  800  services  are  being  delivered through  CSCs.  As  of  January  2026,  5.54  lakh  CSCs  are functional across the country (in rural and urban areas), out of which  4.32  lakh  CSCs  are  functional  at  the  Gram  Panchayat level (rural).
- vi. The Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA): PMGDISHA was initiated to reach digital literacy in 6 crore rural households  (one  person per household) nationwide.  As  against  6  crore,  6.39  crore  individuals  were trained across the country. The Scheme was implemented by CSC e- Governance Services India Limited through 4.39 Lakh Common  Service  Centres  spread  across  2.52  Lakh  Gram Panchayats in the country.

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