Year End Review: Ministry of Rural Development

• 20 Jan 2023

For Prelims: MGNREGS, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Gramin, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Deen Dayal Upadhyay - Grameen Kaushal Yojana, National Social Assistance Programme, Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana , Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission.

For Mains: Significance and Efficiency of various schemes launched for the development of rural India.

Why in News?

Recently, the Year-end-review of the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) was released.

• The Year-end reviews of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways were also released.

What are the Key Achievements of MoRD in Different Welfare Schemes?

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)

• About:
  • It aims to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
• Achievements of 2022-23:
  • 11.37 crore households availed employment.
  • 289.24 crore person-days employment has been generated out of which:
    • 56.19% were for women
    • 19.75% were for Scheduled Castes (SCs)
    • 17.47% were for Scheduled Tribes (STs).
• New Initiatives under MGNREGS:
  • Amrit Sarovar: Construction/renovation of at least 75 Amrit Sarovars (ponds) in each district of the country; they will help in increasing the availability of water, both on surface and under-ground.
  • Jaldoot App: It was launched in Sept 2022 for measuring the water level in a Gram Panchayat through 2-3 selected open wells twice a year.
  • Ombudsperson for MGNREGS: Ombudsperson App was launched in Feb 2022 for smooth reporting and categorization of grievances received from various sources related to the implementation of the MGNREGS.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Gramin (PMAY-G)

• About:
  • PMAY-G is one of the flagship Programmes of the Government of India.
  • It aims "Housing for All" by providing 2.95 Crore pucca houses with basic amenities to all houseless households and households living in kutcha and dilapidated houses in rural areas by 2024.
• Achievements till 2022-23:
  • 2.50 Crore houses have been sanctioned.
  • 2.11 Crore houses have been completed.
• New Initiatives under PMAY-G:
  • Aadhaar Based Payment System allowing Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the PMAY-G beneficiaries in their Aadhar linked bank account.
  • Universal geo tagging of PMAY-G Houses done via Awaassoft/AwaasApp and via GeoRURBAN app
  • Ombudsperson appointed under MGNREGS can also be availed for grievance redressal under PMAY-G

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

• About:
  • DAY-NRLM is one of the world's largest initiatives to improve the livelihoods of the poor.
  • The main objective of the scheme is promoting self-employment and organization of rural poor.
• Achievements till 2022-23:
  • 8.71 crore women from poor and vulnerable communities mobilised into 81 lakh Self-Help Groups.
• New Initiatives under DAY-NRLM:
  • An overdraft facility of Rs.5000 approved for SHG members with PM Jan Dhan Yojana account to help them meet their immediate emergency needs without any hassles.
  • The Interest Subvention Scheme under DAY-NRLM was revised to ensure a common scheme all across the country under which:
    • Banks will extend credit for loans up to Rs.3 lakh @ 7% per annum; banks will be sub-vented at a uniform rate of 4.5% per annum.
    • Banks will extend credit for loans above Rs.3 lakh and up to Rs.5 lakh @ interest rate equivalent to 1 year-MCLR (Marginal Cost of Funds Based Lending Rate); banks will be sub-vented at a uniform rate of 5% per annum.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)

• About:
  • PMGSY was launched as a one-time special intervention to provide rural connectivity, by a single all-weather road, to the eligible unconnected habitations of designated population size.
  • PMGSY-II was launched in 2013.
    • Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (RCPLWEA) was launched in 2016.
  • PMGSY-III was launched in 2019.
    • It aimed at consolidation of 1,25,000 km of routes and major rural links connecting habitations, inter-alia, to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs), Higher Secondary Schools and Hospitals.
• Achievements of 2022-23:
  • 39,413 Km road length and 1,394 bridges were constructed with an expenditure of Rs. 23,364 crores (centre + state share).
• New Initiatives under DAY-NRLM:
  • MoRD introduced one of the latest methodologies in the field of road construction - Full Depth Reclamation (FDR) which involves recycling existing bituminous pavement and its underlying layers into a new base layer.
  • Geospatial Rural Road Information System (GRRIS), GeoSadak and Geo-PMGSY Mobile App developed.

Deen Dayal Upadhyay - Grameen Kaushal Yojana (DDU-GKY)

• About:
  • DDU-GKY is an outcome driven quality skilling program that aims to contribute to the ‘Make in India’ campaign to position India as the globally preferred manufacturing hub.
  • It is a State led scheme being implemented in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
  • Two special programs under DDU-GKY:
    • ROSHNI - Being implemented for 27 Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas with 40% coverage to women candidates.
    • Himayat - To cover the youth of the UT of J&k and Ladakh with 100% central funding.
• Achievements of 2022-23:
  • KAUSHAL PANJEE app being used for mobilisation of candidates has so far 36.37 lakh registered candidates.

National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP)

• About:
  • NSAP aims to provide basic level of financial assistance to old age, widows, disabled persons and to the bereaved households in the event of death of the bread-winner belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) category as identified by the States/UTs
    • NSAP aims to implement Article 41 of the Indian Constitution (DPSP).
• Achievements of 2022-23:
  • National Informatics Centre and DoRD developed an NSAP - Pension Payment System (NSAP-PPS) to facilitate end to end transactions.
  • A citizen centric mobile app - Sambal - was developed to provide information to beneficiaries about NSAP schemes along with state top-ups.

Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY)

• About:
  • SAGY is an initiative of MoRD wherein the leadership of the Members of Parliament is leveraged directly for development at the Gram Panchayat level.
    • The District Collector is the nodal officer for implementing SAGY.
  • SAGY aims to create a holistically developed model Gram Panchayats across the country.
    • Under SAGY-II (2019-24), 5 Adarsh Grams (one per year) are to be selected and developed by 2024.
• New Initiatives under SAGY:
  • SAGY website was linked with Mission Antyodaya website wherein the status of each of the adopted SAGY Gram Panchayats (infrastructure facility and public service delivery along with ranking and gap) is available.
  • MP Dashboard developed on SAGY website wherein MP centrality is more visible.
  • A SAGY Assets Geo Tagging Application developed for geo locating of assets created under SAGY.

Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission

• About:
  • SPMRM is a scheme launched by MoRD in 2016 to deliver integrated project based infrastructure in the rural areas, which will also include development of economic activities and skill development.
    • It succeeded the Provision of Urban Amenities to Rural Areas (PURA), announced in 2003.
  • There are 2 categories of clusters under SPMRM: Non-Tribal and Tribal.
  • SPMRM is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS).
• Achievements of 2022-23:
  • Aibawk cluster in the Aizwal (Mizoram) records itself as the first cluster to be completed under SPMRM.
  • Other achievements include:
    • Construction of agri-link road
    • Inter-village road connectivity projects
    • Promotion of agriculture & allied activities and ecotourism
    • Special efforts to conserve sites of historical importance to encourage tourism