National

Year-End Review -2022: Ministry of Rural Development

By Odisha Diary bureau

Key Initiatives and Achievements of Ministry of Rural Development (Department of Rural Development) during the year 2022

Under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) a total of 11.37 Crore households availed employment and a total of 289.24 crore person-days employment has been generated (till 15th December, 2022).

Under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) a total of 2.50 Crore houses have been sanctioned and 2.11 Crore houses have been completed till 15th December, 2022. Against the total target of completion of 52.78 lakh houses in the FY 2022-23, a total of 31.43 lakh houses have been completed

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) has its footprints in 6861 blocks of 723 districts across all States and UTs (except Delhi and Chandigarh) under its implementation strategy. It has mobilised a total of 8.71 Crore women from poor and vulnerable communities into 81 lakhs SHGs

Under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) 39,413 Km road length and 1,394 bridges were constructed under various interventions/verticals of PMGSY with an expenditure of Rs. 23,364 crores, including State Share in 2022

RSETIs have trained 3.74 Lakhs of which 2.51 lakhs candidates have been settled till 30.11.2022.

During FY 2022-23, a total of 1,09,293 candidates have been trained & 52,456 candidates have been placed till 30.11.2022 under DDU-GKY programme

Mahatma Gandhi NREGA

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA) is an Act to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing 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.

Objectives

The objectives of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) are:

  1. Providing at least one hundred days of unskilled manual work in a financial year to every household in rural areas as per demand resulting in creation of productive assets of prescribed quality and durability;
  2. Strengthening the livelihood resource base of the poor;
  3. Proactively ensuring social inclusion; and
  4. Strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).

Performance: In the current year 2022, from 1st January 2022 to 15th December, 2022, following significant achievements have been made under the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS:

  1. A total of 289.24 crore person-days employment has been generated.
  2. Households availed employment:
  FY 2021-22 FY 2022-23
   

January 2022

  

February 2022

 March 2022 1st April 2022 – 15th December 2022
Households availed employment 1.99 Crore 2.01 Crore 1.99 Crore 5.38 Crore

As on 15th December 2022, following achievements have been made during the current financial year 2022-23.

    1. The percentage of participation of Schedule Caste (SC) out of total person-days generated is 19.75 %.
    2. The percentage of participation of Schedule Tribe (ST) out of total person-days generated is 17.47 %.
    3. The percentage of participation of women out of total person-days generated is 56.19 %.

Achievements of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA:

      1. GIS based Planning of Gram Panchayats (GPs): The Ministry has initiated an integrated holistic planning of the Gram Panchayats based on watershed development principles (ridge to valley approach) using the Geographical information system (GIS). As on 15th December 2022, plans for 2,62,654 GPs have been designed in a saturation mode for three-years planning.
      2. Yuktdhara Portal: GIS based planning through online portal Yuktdhara as developed by National Remote Sensing Center, ISRO, Department of Space.
      3. National Electronic Fund Management System (NeFMS)/ DBT: Under the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, 99% wage seekers are receiving their wage directly into their Bank/Post Office accounts. It is a big step towards transparency and timely release of wages.
      4. SECURE: SECURE is an online application designed and developed specially for the estimate preparation and approval for Mahatma Gandhi NREGA works. The estimates are based on the standard rates of items and specifications of works, entered for State/ District/ Block for Mahatma Gandhi NREGA related works. The estimates generated are also given online technical and administrative sanctions. As on 15th December 2022, SECURE is implemented in 27 States and 3 UTs across 701 Districts.
      5. Implementation of Geo-MGNREGA: Geo-MGNREGA Phase-I was rolled out on 1st September 2016 for geo-tagging of all completed works which started before 1st November, 2017, under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. Geo-MGNREGA Phase-II was rolled out on 01.11.2017 and under this phase, the geo-tagging of assets is carried out in three stages viz: before initiation of work, during the work and after completion of work. As on 15th December 2022, more than 5.17 crore assets have been geo-tagged and made available in the public domain.
      6. Emphasis on Social Audit: The system of Social Audit is being strengthened. In association with the office of Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG), the auditing standards have been finalized and the implementation of the same has started. Social Audit Units have been established in 27 States and 1 UT. 18 States Social Audit Units have Independent Directors. In the FY 2022-23, out of 2,70,325 Gram Panchayats (GPs), 2,06,114 GPs have been planned for Social Audit.
      7. Skill Development: The project “UNNATI” intends to upgrade the skill-base of the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS workers, and thereby improve their livelihoods, so that they can move from the current partial employment to full employment. This project was launched in the FY 2019-20 and aims to enhance the skill base of 2 lakh Mahatma Gandhi NREGA beneficiaries in three financial years. As on 15th December 2022, 27,383 candidates have been trained.
      8. Cluster Facilitation Project (CFP): The Cluster Facilitation Project (CFP) has been rolled out in 300 blocks of the country, from 1st April 2020. It aims to ensure effective implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA for accelerated Development in 250 blocks of 117 aspirational districts and 50 blocks of other backward regions through better planning, monitoring and coordination by providing thematic experts in various domains at National, State, District and Block level. CFP is operational in 29 States/UTs.

New Initiatives for the implementation of the programme:

    1. Amrit Sarovar: Hon’ble Prime Minister has called for the construction/renovation of at least 75 Amrit Sarovars (ponds) in each district of the country. Amrit Sarovars will play an important role in increasing the availability of water, both on surface and under-ground. Each Amrit Sarovar will have a pondage area of a minimum of 1 acre (0.4 hectare) with water holding capacity of about 10,000 cubic meters. A total of 1,00,000 Amrit Sarovars will be constructed/renovated in the country. As on 15.12.2022, 25,951 Amrit Sarovars have been completed.
    2. Jaldoot App: Ensuring adequate water availability and supply in the rural parts of the country is a national priority. Taking the above into consideration, Jaldoot App was launched on 27th September, 2022 for measuring the water level in a Gram Panchayat through 2-3 selected open wells twice a year (pre-monsoon and post-monsoon). As on 7th December 2022, a total of 3,66,354 wells were measured.
    3. Ombudsperson: Ombudsperson App was launched on 24th February, 2022 for the purpose for smooth reporting and categorization of grievances received from various sources viz. physical, digital and mass media related to the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi NREG Scheme, easy tracking and timely passing of awards on each case as per the guidelines and easy uploading of quarterly and annual reports on the website. It may help the ombudsperson with a greater extent in discharging her/his duty towards the transparency and accountability, towards the objective of eradication of corrupt/ malpractices if any in the process of implementation. As on 15th December 2022, a total of 505 Ombudsperson have been appointed.

Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin

Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) is one of the flagship Programmes of the Govt of India which aims to achieve the objective “Housing for All” by providing 2.95 Crore pucca houses with basic amenities by convergence with other Schemes to all houseless households and households living in kutcha and dilapidated house in rural areas by 2024.

Achievements:

As on 15th December,2022, 2.50 Crore houses have been sanctioned and 2.11 crore houses have been constructed under the Scheme.

Cumulative Physical progress of the Scheme is as below:

Total Number of houses sanctioned 2,49,82,729
Number of 1st installment released 2,42,17,256
Total Houses completed 2,11,17,169

Physical achievement under the Scheme for the year 2022 i.e. starting from 1st Jan,2022 is as below:

Total Number of houses sanctioned in 2022 52,78,721
Total no of 1st instalment released 31,40,691
Total Houses completed 31,43,028

Completion of 2.02 crore houses on 15thAugust, 2022: The Ministry has identified 13 States/UT which have been allocated 90% of the targets under the scheme. Regular meetings are held with these States to enhance the progress under PMAY-G. Through continuous efforts, the Ministry has achieved the milestone of completion of 2.02 crore houses under PMAY-G on 15thAugust, 2022

Celebration of “Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav”: Amrit Mahotsav is being celebrated across the Country to commemorate 75 Years of Independence. Activities under PMAYG was carried out from 1st to 28th November,2021 by the implementing States/UTs to celebrate the event. A list of suggestive activities to be implemented during the event was shared with the States/UTs.

Initiatives:

The Scheme is being implemented and monitored through end to end e-governance solution, AwaasSoft and AwaasApp. AwaasSoft provides functionalities for data entry and monitoring of multiple statistics related to implementation aspects of the scheme. These statistics include, physical progress (registrations, sanctions, house completion and release of instalments etc.), financial progress, status of convergence etc. Since launch of the scheme in 2016, efforts are being taken to make the scheme more beneficiary oriented through introduction of new initiatives. Major initiative taken by the Ministry is as in current FY is as below:

  • Revision of FFI: The Scheme was extended till 2024 with the approval of cabinet. The framework for guideline was revised accordingly and was shared with the States/UTs .
  • Adhaar Based Payment System –ABPS allows Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the PMAY-G beneficiary in his/ her bank account linked with the Aadhaar number of the concerned beneficiary for safe and authentic transaction.
  • PMAYG dashboard- Dashboard provides End-to-End insights to cater the analytical and strategic business intelligence needs to cater the physical and financial progress of PMAY-G scheme at a Glance. The dashboard also provides the actionable insights that include the single screen visualization of entire physical and financial progress and state level reports drillable to block level , analyzing the gap/delays in release of instalments, speed of house construction, age-wise, category-wise data analysis in order to find out anomalies, outliers. It also illustrates the trend analysis for sanction and completion progress using dynamic and customizable data visualization in close coordination with business users.
  • Two provisions have been introduced for the beneficiaries which is as below:
    • The Sanction order of PMAYG beneficiaries can be downloaded through PMAY-G website, RURBAN website and Citizen Centric app with herself or with the assistance of other using their registered mobile number. The more the source of getting the sanction order of beneficiaries, the more chances of all the beneficiaries getting the information on time. It would also curb bad practices followed on handing the sanction order over to the beneficiaries, if any.
    • Universal geo tagging of PMAYG-Houses: Geo tagging of houses is one of the prominent feature of PMAY-G which is being done through Awaassoft/AwaasApp. However, observing the delays in geo-tagging impacting delay the house construction of beneficiaries, the facility has also been added in GeoRurban app. In absence of Awaas App/soft in the vicinity, Geo-tagging of the house can also be done through GeoRURBAN app. The provision has been added to expedite construction of houses for the beneficiary.
  • Penalty provision in administrative fund due to delay in activities undertaken in PMAY-G: The Ministry of Rural development has decided to impose penalties to be deducted from ensuing tranches of central share of Admin Fund under PMAY-G in cases where there are delays in the various stages viz delay in sanction, delay in various instalments and completion to ensure timely achievement of targets.
  • Ombudsperson:

Ombudsperson appointed under MGNREGS and State Level Appellate Authority shall be availed for grievance redressal under PMAY-G, in addition to existing mechanism for redressing the grievances.The Terms of Reference for utilizing services of ombudsperson appointed under MGNREGS for PMAY-G has already been issued to the States/UTs vide D.O. dated 15.09.2022.

  • Area Officer’s app:

The MRD has launched the Area Officer Monitoring Visit App on 21st May, 2021 with the purpose to make real time inspection & evidence based reporting of all the schemes of Ministry of Rural Development. Communication was issued to the States/UTs in the year 2022 to direct the field functionaries to use the App while conducting the monitoring visits of PMAY-G.

  • Loan Product:

Provision of institutional loan i.e. facilitating the beneficiary to avail loan upto Rs. 70,000 from Financial Institutions is one of the salient features of PMAY-G. It was decided for development of loan product in lines with the para 2.2 (i) of the Chapter 2 of the Framework For Implementation (FFI) of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G)- ‘If the beneficiary so chooses, he/she will be facilitated to avail loan of up to Rs.70,000/- from Financial Institutions’.The proposed draft loan product has been approved by the MRD. This matter is under consultation with the Integrated Finance Division of the Ministry for finalization of the loan product.

  • Women Empowerment:

In order to ensure the empowerment of women, all the houses under PMAY-G include names of women members of the household in sanction details/ownership details (either solely or in joint ownership). Accordingly, the female member(s) may be added as secondary owner in the sanction letters where the initial sanction has already been given in name of the male member. A module called women ownership module was developed for the same.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission -DAYNRLM

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a flagship poverty alleviation program implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. This scheme is focused on promoting self-employment and organization of rural poor. It aims to reduce poverty by enabling the poor household to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities resulting in sustainable and diversified livelihood options for the poor. This is one of the world’s largest initiatives to improve the livelihoods of the poor. The Mission seeks to achieve its objective through investing in four core components viz., (a) social mobilization and promotion and strengthening of self-managed and financially sustainable community institutions of the rural poor; (b) financial inclusion of the rural poor; (c) sustainable livelihoods; and (d) social inclusion, social development and convergence.

Major Achievements

  • The Mission has covered 6861 blocks spread over 723 districts across all States and UTs (except Delhi and Chandigarh) under its implementation strategy.

During the period from January to December, 101 new blocks across 17 new districts have been covered.

  • Cumulatively, 8.71 Crore women have been mobilized into nearly 81 lakh Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and 4.68 lakh VOs, out of which `64.07 lakh women have been mobilized into 6.82 lakh SHGs during the year 2022. Around 41006 VOs have also been promoted during this period.
  • Capitalization Support: Cumulatively, about Rs. 19707.24Crore has been provided as Community Investment Support Fund (CISF) to the institutions of the rural poor women under the Mission. During the year 2022, an amount of Rs. 3876.70 Crore has been provided to the SHGs in the form of CISF.
  • SHG-Bank credit linkage: Over the years, the SHG-bank linkage trend has seen tremendous growth in the volume of bank loans accessed by the SHGs. The annual credit linkage amount accessed by 35.87 lakh SHGs in the current year has amounts to Rs. 88955.57 Crore. Cumulatively, Rs. 5.90 Lakh Crore has been accessed by the women SHGs from Banks since FY 2013-14.
  • Non-Performing Assets (NPA): The quality of the portfolio has also shown a marked improvement with NPA declining from 23% prior to the Mission to 2.22% in the current year. This is a result of sustained efforts made by the states to promote timely repayment of loans by the SHGs.
  • Last mile service delivery through the Business Correspondent Agents (BCAs): DAY-NRLM has initiated a novel process of engagement of women Self Help Group (SHG) Members as Business Correspondents (BC) for providing basic banking services in the rural areas of the country. Under this initiative, one BC Sakhi will be deployed in around 1.25 lakh Gram Panchayats. 102558 SHG members have been trained and certified as BC Sakhi in the country and about 88000 of them are already providing digital banking services in the rural areas. 19305 of the trained and certified have been trained in this year and out of the 88000 deployed, around 10000 have been deployed in the current year.
  • Livelihoods under DAY-NRLM: DAY-NRLM promotes sustainable agriculture, livestock and NTFPs in intensive blocks under the Farm interventions. The focus of the interventions is on training and capacity building, and promotion of agro-ecological practices as well as livestock practices to enhance crop and animal productivity. More than 1.96 Crore women farmers have been covered under these interventions with nearly 35.35 lakh households covered during this year. Under the Non-Farm strategy, DAY-NRLM works on Start Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) that aims to support entrepreneurs in rural areas to set up local enterprises. Implemented since 2016-17, more than 2.21 lakh enterprises have been supported under SVEP, with nearly 29000 enterprises set-up during this year.

Major Initiatives during the year 2022

  1. Social Mobilization Campaign

A month-long country-wide campaign was conducted from September 7 to 30, 2022 with an aim to speed up the process of linking rural poor and poor women left out from Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) in all States and Union Territories with women Self Help Groups (SHGs). In doing so, the program was able to mobilize around 16 lakh households in the 649 participating districts. Nearly 1.30 lakh SHGs were formed during the campaign. Additionally, around 15.93 lakh left out households were also identified for mobilization during the campaign.

  1. Sanctioning of OD Limit to SHG members under NRLM

An overdraft facility of Rs. 5000 has been approved for SHG members having PMJDY accounts. This will help the members in meeting their immediate emergency needs without any hassles.

  1. Revision in the Interest Subvention Scheme under DAY-NRLM

The interest subvention scheme under DAY-NRLM was revised to ensure a common scheme all across the country. The revised provisions are as follows:

  1. Banks will extend credit for loans up to ₹3 lakh @ 7% per annum; banks will be sub-vented at a uniform rate of 4.5% per annum
  2. Banks will extend credit for loans above ₹3 lakh and up to ₹5 lakh @ interest rate equivalent to 1 year-MCLR; banks will be sub-vented at a uniform rate of 5% per annum
  1. Amendments in master circular of RBI on DAY-NRLM

After a lot of follow up RBI agreed to raise the minimum levels of Bank linkage amount for SHGs w.e.f. 2022-23, as follows

  1. Loan in First dose/ DP (in case of CCL): 6 times of the existing corpus or minimum of ₹1.5 lakh, whichever is higher
  2. Loan in Second dose/ DP (in case of CCL): 8 times of the existing corpus or minimum of ₹3 lakh, whichever is higher
  1. Lakhpati Women Farmers

With an objective to support the small and marginal farmers getting better income, the 25 million Lakhpati initiative aims at enabling 2.5 Crore SHG Households to earn a minimum annual income of Rs. 1 Lakh within 3 years, through diversified livelihoods activities, by ensuring convergence across all government departments to. The strategy includes focused planning at the district level, adequate and timely support to the household level, building convergence & partnership to leverage more for the initiative and capacity building of staff, community institution and community resource persons.

To drive the initiative a Steering Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary, RD with the representatives from various divisions of the Ministry as members, was formed which is instrumental in reviewing the progress and develop various strategies, give advisory services and suggest course correction needed. An initiative Rural Innovations and Service Enterprise (RISE) has been initiated to foster partnership between Cluster level Federations and Private Sector Players for value chain interventions.

  1. Gender Campaign

The DAY-NRLM, through its gender interventions, has been making strategized efforts in addressing issues of gender equality. These efforts are being done by integrating gender into institutional mechanisms and by strengthening capacities of the community in identifying and addressing gender inequality through its community institutions.

DAY NRLM recognizes Gender Based Violence- a social evil as a major hindrance towards achieving individual and social development and hence aims to take necessary actions for eliminating Gender Based Violence. While systemic interventions are being geared towards addressing this concern, this year a month-long Gender Campaign is being organized from November 25th-December 23rd to add momentum to the work and visibility towards this issue. This campaign will be the initiation of an annual campaign on gender with each year focusing on specific themes responding to issues of gender equity.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)

Pradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojanawas launched as a one-time special intervention to provide rural connectivity, by way of a single all-weather road, to the eligible unconnected habitations of designated population size for uplifting the socio-economic condition of the rural population. The mandate of PMGSY was subsequently widened to include new interventions.  PMGSY-II was launched in the year 2013, with a target to upgrade 50,000 Km of the existing rural road network to improve its overall efficiency as a provider of transportation services for people, goods and services.  Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (RCPLWEA) was launched in the year 2016 for construction/upgradation of strategically important roads chosen in the 44 worst affected LWE districts and adjoining districts in the 9 States.   PMGSY-III was launched in the year 2019 for consolidation of 1,25,000 Km Through Routes and Major Rural Links connecting habitations, inter-alia, to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs), Higher Secondary Schools and Hospitals.

A total of 1,62,373 habitations (more than 99% of eligible habitations) have been provided connectivity since inception of the scheme. This has involved construction of 7,22,780 Km road length and 7,763 bridges under various interventions/verticals of the scheme with an expenditure of Rs. 2,90, 706 crores, including State Share.

Implementation during the year 2022:

Further, 1,002 habitations provided all-weather road connectivity, as a result habitations saturated with all-weather road increased to 99.29% from 98.67% at the end of December, 2022.

A total of 20,625 Km road length and 822 bridges were sanctioned for connectivity to habitations, inter-alia, to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs), Higher Secondary Schools and Hospitals and for construction/upgradation of strategically important roads in LWE areas. Total size of projects sanctioned under PMGSY increased to 7,98,733 km road length and 10,241 Bridges.

39,413 Km road length and 1,394 bridges constructed under various interventions/verticals of PMGSY with an expenditure of Rs. 23,364 crore, including State Share as compared to 41,722 km road length and 1,374 bridges completed in the year 2022 till December, which helped rural population in easy access to social facilities and livelihood opportunities.

With aim to make considerable energy and fuel saving, road length constructed under new/green technology till December, 2022 increase to 16,385 Km as compared to 14,387 km in the corresponding period in the year 2021.

The Ministry organized an International Conference on ‘New Technologies and Innovations in Rural Roads’ in New Delhi from May 24-26, 2022 under Aazadi ka Amrut Mahotsav (AKAM) to deliberate on ways to strengthen and adopt emerging new technologies, new materials, and adoption of established technologies. The Ministry also issued New Technology Initiatives & Guidelines, 2022, wherein it is proposed to enhance the adoption of new/ green technology in construction of rural roads substantially. The programme has provided the useful insights for innovation and use of new technologies, new materials and maintenance managements of low volume roads to engineers, construction agencies, field implementers, academicians, administrators, consultants and others stake holders engaged in the management of rural roads.

The Ministry has introduced one of the latest methodologies in the field of road construction called as Full Depth Reclamation (FDR). FDR involves recycling existing bituminous pavement and its underlying layers into a new base layer through a prescribed process which is pulverizing existing pavement (wearing course, base, and sub-base), blending with cementitious agent, water, corrective aggregates (if needed) as per mix design to produce a cementitious stabilized base. It is a sustainable technology for pavement rehabilitation, least cost alternative, and thinner surface course. It increases the structural capacity of new pavement by providing a stronger and more consistent base. A total of 6,305 km of road length has been sanctioned to the States under FDR technology.

Resonating with the Government of India thrust for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, PMGSY has taken IT initiatives in Geospatial Technology and developed GIS applications such as Geospatial Rural Road Information System (GRRIS) & GeoSadak & Geo-PMGSY Mobile App. Till date, more than 8,00,000 facilities such as schools, hospitals and markets have been identified and same can be visualized in GeoSadak. The dataset will also be helpful in achieving objectives determined under Prime Minister’s Gati Shakti Project. The respective State governments can also utilize this data for formulating schemes relayed to rural development.

DeenDayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY)                                            

With an ambitious agenda to benchmark wage placement-linked programs to global standards, Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) revamped the placement linked skill development program under National Rural Livelihood Mission as DeenDayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) on the 25th September, 2014. DDU-GKY, a standard led outcome driven quality skilling program, aims to contribute to the Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ campaign to position India as the globally preferred manufacturing hub, while dovetailing its efforts to significantly contribute in other flagship programs of the nation.

DDU-GKY is a State led scheme being implemented in PPP mode, based on demand driven target sanction process. The program occupies a unique position amongst other skill training programs, due to its focus on the rural poor youth and its emphasis on sustainable employment through the prominence and incentives given to post-placement tracking, retention and career progression. To ensure quality adherence, DDU-GKY mandates independent third party certification, through Sector Skill Councils (SSC) of NSDC, of every trainee to assess the skill, knowledge and attitude of each trainee. Under DDU-GKY two special programs are being implemented. i.e; ROSHNI program is being implemented for 27 left wing extremist affected areas of 9 States with mandatory residential course with 40% coverage to women candidates and Himayat– All youth of the UT of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are covered under this scheme with 100% central funding.

Key Features of DDUGKY

  • Focus on rural youth from poor families in the age group of 15 to 35 years belonging to: a) MGNREGA worker household if any person from the household has completed 15 days of work, b) RSBY household, c) Antyodaya Anna Yojana card household, d) BPL PDS card households, e) NRLM-SHG household, f) Participatory process of Identification of poor, g) Households covered under auto inclusion parameters of SECC 2011.
  • Mandatory coverage of socially disadvantaged groups, i.e for SC/ST-50%, Minorities- 15%, and Women 33%) & Special focus on Manual Scavengers, PwDs and Women headed household
  • Salary to the placed candidates are given as per the Minimum wages or above, Post-placement support to candidates & Career progression support to training partners.

Key Achievements of DDU-GKY are given below;

  • DDU-GKY is currently being implemented in 27 States and 4 UTs and has over 2369 Training Centres (however 1599 are operational) in 1891 projects, in partnership with over 877 Project Implementing Agencies conducting training across 37 sectors, and over 616 job-roles.
  • Since inception a total of 13.07 lakh candidates have been trained and 7.9 lakh candidates have been placed till 30.11.2022 under DDU GKY.
  • During the current FY 2022-23 a total of 1,09,293 candidates have been trained & 52,456 candidates have been placed till 30.11.2022.
  • For mobilization of candidates KAUSHAL PANJEE app is used. 36.37 Lakh candidates are registered on this app and expressed a desire for training for wage employment and self-employment.
  • Ministry has planned to bring structural reforms in DDU-GKY implementation in DDU-GKY Phase 2.0
  • E-driven Program
  • Online Permanent Registration Number for partners registration
  • Online Proposal appraisal system;
  • Online assessment & certification process;
  • Aaadhar enabled biometric attendance system for Trainee & Trainers attendance
  • DDUGKY project monitoring – Kaushal Bharat ERP System;
  • Geotagging of DDUGKY Training Centers;
  • Online inspection through Inspection App
  • KPI based Project Implementing Agency Ranking
  • Chatbot for DDUGKY
  • CCTV monitoring of Training center.

Year-wise performance of DDUGKY
Year Total no. of candidates trained under DDU-GKY

 

 Total no. of candidates placed under DDU-GKY
2014-15 43,038 21,446
2015-16 2,36,471 1,09,512
2016-17 1,62,586 1,47,883
2017-18 1,31,527 75,787
2018-19 2,41,509 1,37,251
2019-20 2,47,177 1,50,214
2020-21 38,289 49,563
2021-22 97006 45612
2022-23 (till Nov) 1,09,293 52,456

Rural Self-Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs)

In 1982, Canara Bank, erstwhile Syndicate Bank, and SDME Trust, Dharmasthala pioneered the unique concept of Rural Development and Self-Employment Training Institute (RUDSETI) to address the problem of unemployed amongst the rural youth in the Country. Looking at the successful model of RUDSETI, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), GOI took the initiative to replicate the RUDSETI model throughout the Country and advised Banks to establish one RUDSETI-type institution known as Rural Self Employment Training Institute (RSETI) in each of their Lead District in the Country and accordingly the responsibility of opening of RSETIs has been assigned the Lead Bank in the respective Districts.

National Academy of RUDSETI (NAR), the Apex level organization established in the year 2008 entered into an MOU with MoRD in the year 2011 for conducting training and capacity building of the Directors and Faculty members for providing training to the candidates for making them self-employed. Further for Mentoring and monitoring RSETIs, a separate vertical known as the National Centre for Excellence of RSETIs (NACER) was established in the year 2011. Further for evaluation and certification of the trainees the separate vertical Assessment and Quality Assurance (Q&A) has been established for providing certificates to the successful trainees after completion of the training course.

At present, there are 590 RSETIs are functioning covering 572 Districts spreading over 27 States and 6 UTs. These RSETIs are sponsored by 24 Banks including public sector Banks, Private sector Banks, Co-operative Banks &Gramin banks. There are major public sector banks namely SBI, PNB, BOB, Canara Bank, Union Bank, Indian Bank, BOI, and UCO Bank along with other smaller banks are supporting these RSETI for functioning across the Country.

These RSETI are providing training to the Rural Poor candidates in 64 courses in different sectors including agriculture and allied activities. Out of these 64 courses, 59 training modules are aligned with National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF), and reaming 5 are MORD-approved courses and For the Academic FY, 2022 (January 2022 to December 2022), RSETIs have trained 3.74 Lakhs of which 2.51 lakhs candidates have been settled till 30.11.2022.

During the Azadika, Amrut Mahotsav AKAM celebration 75 RSETIs has been identified bMoRD for conducting Pashu Mitra Course. Except for Goa (No RSETI) all RSETIs have achieved 100% target

Key Initiatives are taken by MORD for the improvement of RSETI functioning:-

  • Ministry has increased the grant for the construction of the RSETI building from Rs.1 crore to 2 crore
  • Ministry has taken initiative for completion of the construction of RSETI buildings to ensure in-house training to the candidates across the country
  • Ministry has taken initiative for developing a new MIS for the smooth flow of information among all the stakeholders for further improvement in RSETI functioning
  • Ministry has planned to bring reforms in RSETIs by implementing RSETI 2.0
  • Ministry has taken initiative for developing area-based demand-driven new courses as well as the digital transformation of training modules by developing online training courses.
  • Ministry has taken initiative for developing an APP for the mobilization of candidates as well as tracking of trained candidates after completion of the course for proper settlement
  • Ministry has taken a step toward studying the effectiveness of the training program by engaging outside agencies.

National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP)

 Article 41 of the Constitution of India directs the State to provide public assistance to its citizens in case of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and in other cases of undeserved want within the limit of its economic capacity and development. National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) came into effect on 15th August, 1995 in the direction of fulfilling this Directive Principles of the State Policy. The objective of NSAP is to provide basic level of financial assistance to old age, widow and disabled persons as well as to the bereaved households in the event of death of the bread-winner belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL), identified by the States/UTs as per NSAP Guidelines.

  1. The programme has undergone many changes over the years in terms of the composition, eligibility criterion and funding pattern. Currently, it comprises of five distinct schemes. Details of the eligibility criteria and amount of financial assistance provided under each of these schemes are as follows:

Scheme Amount of Assistance Eligibility criteria
Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme Rs.200 BPL senior citizens in age group of 60-79 years
Rs. 500 BPL Senior citizens of 80 years and above
Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme Rs.300 BPL widows in age group of 40-79 years
Rs.500 BPL widows of 80 years and above
Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme Rs.300 BPL persons with 80% disability in age group of 18-79 years
Rs.500 BPL disability pensioners in age group 80 years and above
National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS)* Rs. 20,000/- To survivor head of BPL families on the death of primary breadwinner aged 18-59 years
           Annapurna* 10 kg of food grains p.m. To BPL senior citizens not receiving old age pension

* NFBS and Annapurna are demand based schemes.

  1.     The States/UTs have been requested to contribute at least an equal contribution under the three pension schemes. Presently, States/UTs are making contributions ranging from ₹50 to ₹3,300 per month. Presently, NSAP caters to 3.09 crore BPL beneficiaries with a scheme-wise ceiling/ cap for each State/UT on the number of beneficiaries. The scheme-wise assistance under NSAP is sanctioned up to the number of digitized beneficiaries or the State/UT cap, whichever is lower. During 2021-22, an amount of Rs.8152.54 Crore was released to States/UTs for implementation of NSAP schemes. An amount of Rs.9652.31 Crore has been allocated for NSAP Scheme for FY 2022-23, out of which Rs. 4988.84 crore has been released to States/UTs upto 12.12.2022.

Key initiatives and Achievements of the Programme

  • To make NSAP more effective, transparent and result oriented, many efforts (policy reforms, increase in budgetary allocation, effective use of Information Technology, etc.) have been done. A brief description of the achievements of this program  from January 2022 to December, 2022( as on 21.12.2022) is given below:-
    • The physical and financial achievements in terms of number of beneficiaries covered and funds released from Jan to Dec, 2022 ( as on 21.12.2022) under schemes of NSAP are given below.
Year 2022 ( as on 21.12.2022)
Beneficiaries Covered  (In lakh) 301
Funds Released      (Rs in crore) 6724.29
    • NIC, DoRD has developed a central MIS – National Social Assistance Programme- Pension Payment System (NSAP-PPS) which facilitates end to end transaction from originating point to disbursement point. It also provides the details of old age, widow and disabled beneficiaries.
    • Data of beneficiaries are digitized by States/ UT. Funds are released to the states on the basis of the number of digitized beneficiaries available on the NSAP portal. Over the years, with sustained efforts digitization reached to 96-97% of the total State ceiling/cap. Presently, almost 100% of the data of all potential beneficiaries has been digitized. To achieve 100% saturation under the pension schemes of the Programme, the present Govt. took the following two decisions:
      • In November 2021, States/UTs were given flexibility to re-allocate beneficiaries under the three pension schemes within the overall ceiling/ cap of the respective States/UTs. As a result 2.82 lakh more beneficiaries got the benefit of pension scheme.
      • In September, 2022, State ceiling cap has been revised up to the actual number of digitized beneficiaries in respect of the States/UTs which have digitization equal to or less than their ceiling in all the three pension schemes and the excess number of beneficiaries of these States/UTs consequent to this revision has been re-allocated to States/UTs that have digitization equal to or higher than their ceiling/cap in all the three pension schemes on a pro-rata basis.
    • At present, 17 States/UTs are using NSAP-PPS for end-to-end disbursement and 13 other States are reporting the transactional data on NSAP-PPS through web service.
    • Efforts are going on to on-board 7 more States/UTs, namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland and UTs of Chandigarh, Andaman Nicobar, Dadra Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu and Ladakh.
    • NSAP-PPS also facilitates States/UTs to capture Aadhaar and SECC TIN numbers of NSAP beneficiaries. At present, status of seeding of Aadhaar and SECC TIN of registered pensioners of NSAP is about 73 % and 32% respectively.
    • To foster transparency and swiftness in transactions, NSAP pension schemes were included under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes in December 2014. At present, almost all States/UTs are DBT compliant except Andhra Pradesh and Nagaland. All States / UTs have already been advised to adopt monthly system of pension payment. 17.77 crore digital transactions have been recorded till 30.11.2022 in 2022.
    • To promote the use of technology, a citizen centric mobile app ‘Sambal’ has been developed to provide information to beneficiaries about (i) NSAP schemes along with state top-ups (ii) enrollment of new applicants, tracking of applications and status of sanctions and disbursements.
    • Guidelines for conducting Social Audit for the schemes of NSAP has been released in 2019 and States/UTs have been advised to use the 1/6th part of the administrative funds allocated under NSAP schemes for conducting social audits for NSAP. NIRD&PR was entrusted to do Social Audit of NSAP in 15 States as a pilot project. Pilot work in 14 States has been completed and ongoing in Telangana state. Reports uploaded on the website. Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu uploaded ATR on SA report on NSAP-PPS while it is awaited from remaining 12 States.MGNREGA has well defined system of Social Audit Units (SAUs) in different States. The States/UTs have been requested in July, 2022 to use SAUs of MGNREGA for conducting NSAP SA.

Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY)

Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) is a unique scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development wherein, for the first time, the leadership, capacity, commitment and energy of the Members of Parliament is being leveraged directly for development at the Gram Panchayat level. Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) was launched on 11 October 2014 with the aim of creating holistically developed model Gram Panchayats across the country. Primarily, the goal was to develop three Adarsh Grams by March 2019, of which one was to be achieved by 2016. Thereafter, five such Adarsh Grams (one per year) are to selected and developed by 2024. These ‘Adarsh Grams’ serve as ‘nucleus of health, cleanliness, greenery and cordiality’ within the village community and becoming schools of local development and governance, inspiring neighboring Gram Panchayats.

The role of Members of Parliament is that of a catalyst. They identify the Gram Panchayat to be developed as Adarsh Gram Panchayat, engage with the community, help propagate the values of the scheme, enable the initiation of start-up activities to build up the right environment and facilitate the planning process. The District Collector is the nodal officer for implementing SAGY. The District collector will conduct a monthly review meeting with representatives of the participating line departments. The Hon’ble Members of Parliament concerned chair the review meetings. The heads of the Gram Panchayats concerned also are invited for these monthly meetings.

Achievements

  1. Identification of Gram Panchayats

The Hon’ble MPs adopted 1,546 Gram Panchayats under SAGY-II (2019-24). In addition, 703 Gram Panchayats across the country under Phase-I of SAGY. Further, 502 Gram Panchayats have been taken up under the Phase-II and 303 Gram Panchayats under Phase-III for development under SAGY as on 15 December, 2022

Table: Phase-wise status of identification of GPs under SAGY, based on information available on the SAGY portal (saanjhi.gov.in) as on 15 December, 2022

Sl. Year No. of SAGY GPs
1                  Phase – I (2014-16) 703
2  Phase – II (2016-19) 502
3                   Phase – III (2017-19) 303
4  Phase – IV (2019-20) 512
5 Phase – V (2020-21) 340
6  Phase – VI (2021-22) 303
7   Phase – VII (2022-23) 239
8    Phase – VIII (2023-24) 152

  1. Village Development  Plan

 The Gram Panchayats adopted under SAGY prepare Village Development Plans (VDP) containing prioritised time-bound activities to achieve holistic progress of the village, through convergence of resources. Under SAGY, VDPs have been prepared for 2,538 GPs and works are under progress. In order to keep track of the progress of projects listed in the VDP, a tracking template has been developed and the progress is monitored online. As on 15 December, 2022, 1,17,671 projects have been completed and 8,100 projects are in progress in these Gram Panchayats.

Sl. No. Phase No. of SAGY GPs No. of GPs that uploaded VDP No. of projects planned No. of projects completed No. of projects in-progress No. of projects yet to start
1 Phase – I (2014-16) 703 689 44952 30619 2970 11363
2 Phase – II (2016-19) 502 439 33075 18990 963 13122
3  Phase – III (2017-19) 303 253 21182 13572 524 7086
4 Phase – IV (2019-20) 512 434 40538 20382 1056 19100
5 Phase – V (2020-21) 340 283 30824 15348 1028 14448
6 Phase-VI (2021-22) 302 234 32472 9307 993 22172
 7 Phase-VII (2022-23) 239 129 16563 5262 377 10924
8 Phase-VIII (2023-24) 152 77 13956 4191 189 9576
9 Total 3053 2538 233562 117671 8100 107791

  1. Capacity Building of the Charge Officers under SAGY

SAGY Division has organised capacity building programmes on SAGY in coordination with NIRDPR on 30 – 31 May, 2022. Over 100 Charge Officers and other SAGY stakeholders have participated in this programme from various States/UTs.

  1. Documentation of Success Stories by IEC Division

The Ministry of Rural Development has documented many success stories from SAGY Gram Panchayats based on inputs shared by the respective State Governments and made them available for public access on the programme website (https://saanjhi.gov.in/SuccessStory.aspx). A few successful initiatives have also been video documented by the Division (https://saanjhi.gov.in/Success.aspx) as well as Doordarshan, Rajya Sabha TV and other broadcasters.

  1. SAGY online module for Integrated Government Online Training (iGOT)

A detailed online training module on SAGY was created and published on the Integrated Government Online Training (iGOT) platform, launched by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

  1. Orientation programme on SAGY for Personal Assistants/Representatives of Hon’ble MPs

An orientation programme on SAGY for the Personal Assistants/Representatives of Hon’ble MPs was organised at Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi on 4-5th August, 2022.

  1. New initiatives undertaken by SAGY Division
  1. SAGY implementation is largely dependent on convergence of existing Government schemes and programmes. To ensure convergence, 26 schemes of various Departments of the Government of India have been amended / appropriate advisories have been issued to accord priority to SAGY in respective schemes. The details are available on the scheme portal.
  2. The SAGY website has been revamped with more pertinent information related to the scheme for comprehensive view by the public. The website contains detailed information, extensive reports, graphs and maps on the progress of the scheme. Also, the portal is linked with Mission Antyodaya website wherein the status of each of the adopted SAGY Gram Panchayats with respect to infrastructure facility and public service delivery along with ranking and gap is available.

III.     An MP Dashboard has been developed on SAGY website wherein MP centrality is more visible. The Hon’ble MPs can log in and check the progress of the selected GP, and review it. The Hon’ble MPs are able to access the MA score to assess the progress. Further, the concerns/views given in the comments section by the user from the GPs are visible to the Hon’ble MP, District Collector, Charge officer for necessary action.

  1. The Ministry has organised training programmes on preparation of Village Development Plan through participatory planning in related areas of SAGY across India. The Ministry has trained SAGY functionaries including State Team of Trainers, State Nodal Officers, Charge Officers and other stakeholders. The programme was attended by State Nodal Officers, Charge Officers and GP representatives from across the country.
  2. The Ministry has conducted a two-day orientation workshop for the representatives of Members of Parliament on 4-5 August, 2022 to leverage the active involvement of the Members of Parliament.
  3. A SAGY Assets Geo Tagging Application has been developed for geo locating of assets created under SAGY.

VII.    A new option for updation of financial status of VDP works has been added on the portal

 

DISHA

Increase in meetings of DISHA Committees: Department is actively pursuing with the State Governments and district administrations to convene meetings as per the Guidelines. As a result, the frequency of DISHA meeting has improved. In the year 2022 (till 20 December 2022), 982 DISHA meetings have been held as compared to 748 meeting during the previous year under the Chairpersonship of Hon’ble Members of Parliament.

  1. Mulitfold increase in schemes on-boarded on DISHA Dashboard:The state of the art DISHA Dashboard was launched by the Honorable Prime Minister on 11th October 2017 as a single source of information in respect of schemes run by various Ministries included in DISHA monitoring system. It aims to create a data driven governance solution for elected representatives for planning, monitoring and evaluating multiple parameters of various schemes under DISHA. Overtime, the number of schemes on boarded on DISHA dashboard has increased manifold. During 2022 (till 20 Dec 2022) a total 76 schemes of 27 various Ministries/ Departments with different geographical granularities such as administrative boundaries of District, Gram Panchayat, Block and villages, have been integrated through APIs for real time data display, on the DISHA Dashboard as compared to 47 schemes during the previous year.
  2. Enhancement in Meeting Reporting Module:To support the operations of DISHA Committee, facilitate structured and effective meetings, a web portal called ‘Meeting Reporting Module’ (https.//rural.nic.in/en/disha) has been developed for State level DISHA meetings and enhanced for District level meetings during 2022. Uploading of Action Taken Report feature has been added in meeting Reporting Module during 2022. The State Level DISHA meeting module has salient features such as Notice Board, Proceedings of Meeting and Summary for state and district level meetings which contains schedules, meeting dates, time, venue, and agenda, meeting notices and assign action points.
  3. Increase in the number of Non-official Members:Considerable number of non-official members have been nominated by MoRD to DISHA Committees this year Based on recommendations from Hon’ble Members of Parliament 106 out of total 295 distinguished persons have been nominated as non-official members in District Level DISHA Committees and 17 out of total 47 distinguished persons have been nominated as non-official members in State Level DISHA Committees during 2022.
  4. Public Launch of DISHA Dashboard:As a next step, the Division is putting in place necessary infrastructure to launch the DISHA Dashboard for the public. The launch is expected to take place in January, 2023.

International Co-operation

The details of Activities/Achievement of IC Division during the year 2022 are as under:

  1. Training/ Workshop:
  • 37 Indian participants participated in 15 training programmes sponsored by AARDO.
  • Shri Mahesh Gahlawat, SSO (RL) attended training programme on RTI Act at Kathmandu, Nepal
  1. Participation in other Meetings/ Conference:
  • MoRD participated in Ministerial Meeting and Expert Working Group Meeting on Poverty Alleviation of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation held under the Chair of Uzbekistan on 27.01.2022. Shri Raghvendra Pratap Singh, Director and Ms. Nivedita Prasad, Deputy Secretary had attended the meeting from DoRD. Shri Karma Zimpa Bhutia, Joint Secretary attended the meeting of the Heads of the Ministries and Agencies of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Member States on Poverty Reduction on 28.01.2022.
  • Participation in Expert Meeting of Agriculture Working Group for BRICS under the Presidency of China.
  • Participation in Ministerial Meeting on Poverty Alleviation held under Chinese Presidency for BRICS.
  • Participation in meetings of the Core Committee on agriculture working group under G-20 India
  • Participation in meeting of G20 Trade and Investment Working Group (TIWG).
  • MoRD has participated in the following meetings of CIRDAP undertaken during the year:
    1. 23rd Governing Council meeting and 33rd Executive Committee meeting of the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP), held from 19th-21st April, 2022, in virtual mode.
    2. Special Session of the Executive Committee Meeting of CIRDAP held on 10th October, 2022, Bangkok (virtual).
  • MoRD participated in the following meetings of AARDO during the year 2022:
    1. 78th Session of the Liaison Committee Meeting held in New Delhi on 31st March, 2022.
    2. 79th Session of Liaison Committee of AARDO held on 28th September, 2022 in New Delhi.
    3. 75th Session of Executive Committee meeting of AARDO held from 29.11.2022 to 01.12.2022 in New Delhi.

  1. Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Co-operation in the field of Rural Development:

The Ministry has signed following MoUs during the year 2022:

  1. MoU signed on 04.02.2022 between MoRD, NCDC and AARDO for the promotion of rural development models and rural areas through Cooperatives/ farmers Organizations in AARDO members’ countries.
  2. MoU signed on 09.03.2022 between MoRD, NCDC and CIRDAP for the promotion of rural development planning, models and rural areas through Cooperatives/ farmers Organizations in CIRDAP member countries.
  3. MoU singed on 17.03.2022 between National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR) and University of Reading (UoR), United Kingdom (U.K.) for collaboration in the field of agriculture and rural development in developing countries.
  4. MoU signed on 02.08.2022 between the Local Government Authority (LGA), Republic of Maldives and the National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR) on Capacity Building & Training (CB&T) of members of local councils & women development committee and staff of local Government Authority.
  1. Visits of delegation:

From 1st January to 20th December, 2022 this Ministry organized meetings/ discussions with the following visiting foreign dignitaries:

  1. A delegation of Uzbekistan headed by H.E.Mr. Ergash Saliev, the Governor of the Djizzakh region, met with Secretary (RD) on 8thAugust 2022 to discuss the Indian Experience on the “Make in India” program, to attract Indian experts to develop the “Make in Djizzakh region” program and further develop trade and economic cooperation between the regions of the two countries.
  2. A study visit Programme of Delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of the Republic of Lebanon to India”, led by H. E. Mr. Louis Lahoud, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of the Republic of Lebanon, Beirut, Lebanon was held on 31 May to 04 June, 2022. Ministry of Rural Development is planning host the delegation. The names of the delegates are as below:
    • H. E. Mr. Louis Lahoud, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of the Republic of Lebanon, Beirut, Lebanon.
    • Eng. (Mr.) Anwar Kozah, Head of Rural Development and Natural Resources Service & Liasion officer to AARDO, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of the Republic of Lebanon, Beirut, Lebanon.

  1. Official visit of this Ministry’s senior officers to Foreign Country:
  1. Shri Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary (RD) has participated as Speaker in VI Regional Conference on Triangular Cooperation, organised under the theme “(Re)thinking partnerships”, from 7th-9th September 2022 at Berlin, Germany.
  2. Visit of Ms. Nivedita Prasad, Deputy Secretary, as a member of delegation, to attend the Fourth Cycle of Universal Periodic Review (UPR), 2022 in Geneva during 07-11 November, 2022
  1. Recognition/ Achievements

Ministry of Rural Development has received Aziz-ul-Haq Rural Development Medal for 2022 for its exemplary work in the field of integrated rural development and its commitment to poverty eradication and promotion of better livelihood opportunities in rural area.

      Dialogue with United Nations Environment Programme

Ministry has undertaken a Policy dialogue with UNEP for greening of rural economy. UNEP will be preparing a work package which includes 3 deliverables:

  1. A policy approach paper with a time-bound strategy for integrating principles of environmental sustainability and inclusive green economy in our programmes.
  2. Ecosystem System based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR) with MGNREGA.
  3. National and global best practices on environment & climate actions for sustainable rural development.

Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission (SPMRM)

Aibawk cluster in the Aizwal district of Mizoram records itself as the first cluster to be completed under the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM). The Cluster is spread over an area of 522 sq.km across 11 villages and covering a population of 10,963, the Aibawk cluster has the locational advantage due to its proximity to Aizwal City.

Focussed efforts to improve the value chain and develop market access have been made under the Mission. Works undertaken to improve market access includes the construction of agri-link road, pedestrian footpaths, and inter-village road connectivity projects etc. Other interventions include the promotion of agriculture & allied activities and eco-tourism. Special efforts were made to conserve the local environment and sites of historical importance to encourage tourism.

The interventions undertaken to improve livelihood are making an impact on the economic well-being of the local populace. Some of these include Dragon fruit cultivation, piggery and poultry activities, nature trail projects, Rurban Eco Estate Phulpui and Nature Park. The Wholesale Market Sateek project has helped the local population within and around the cluster to market their agri-products.

In addition to this, a holistic development approach was employed to provide basic infrastructure like roads, footpaths, drains, water supply, and car parking and social infrastructures like a conference centre, sports infrastructure, and up gradation of facilities at educational institutions. Sports infrastructure like the Badminton court and Futsal Ground has helped economically poor players to represent District and the State Level tournaments.

The joint efforts made by the Centre and State with involvement of the local community have proved a stepping-stone to the second stage of rural development which goes beyond poverty alleviation and tries to meet the aspirations of the people.

Odisha Diary bureau
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