(a) whether the Government has taken any steps toremove the hurdles and improve the rural economy;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) if not, the reasons therefor;
(d) whether any step has been taken for the development of villages and providing basic facilities therein in which positive results have been reported during the last ten years; and(e) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)
(a) to (e) The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA), Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya – Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Shyama Prasad Mukherjee National Rurban Mission and Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) to bring about development of rural economy, removal of existing obstacles of growth and overall improvement in the quality of life of the people in rural areas through employment generation, strengthening of livelihood opportunities, promoting self-employment, skilling of rural youths, provision of social assistance and other basic amenities.
The steps taken by the Ministry of Rural Development for the development of villages and providing basic facilities, scheme-wise are given below:-
(i) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme:
The principal objective of the scheme is to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the household by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. It gives emphasis on creation of durable and sustainable assets to make the beneficiaries self-dependant. Under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, a total of 2649.62 crore persondays have been generated since 2010-11.
(ii) Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM): The Ministry is implementing DAY-NRLM, to tackle the problem of unemployment, especially among women, 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. Besides, Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), the sub-scheme under DAY-NRLM, has the objective of helping Self Help Group (SHG) and their family members to set-up small enterprises in the non-farm sector. A total of 65.63 lakh woman SHGs have been promoted since inception of NRLM.
(iii) Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen KaushalyaYojana (DDU-GKY) and Rural Self Employment and Training Institutes (RSETIs):
The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing two skill development initiatives for rural poor youth under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). These schemes are aimed at increasing employability of rural poor youth either for wage or self employment leading to economic and social development of youth of rural area of the country by removing the hurdles of the rural livelihoods and by strengthening rural economy and rural income.
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) is the placement linked skill development programme for rural poor youth under NRLM being in operation since September, 2014. Under DDU-GKY, a total of 10.63 lakh candidates have been trained and 6.80 lakh candidates have been placed since inception (September, 2014) till December, 2020.
Skill development through Rural Self Employment and Training Institutes (RSETIs) is also being undertaken to enable a trainee to take bank credit and start his/her own Micro-enterprise. Some of such trainees may also seek regular salaried jobs. Under RSETI, a total of 36.49 lakh candidates have been trained and 25.42 Lakh candidates have been placed since inception (2008) till December, 2020.
(iv) Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G): PMAY-G aims to provide a pucca house with basic amenities to all rural houseless households and households living in kutcha and dilapidated houses in rural areas. The target under PMAY-G is to construct 2.95 crore houses during the period 2016-17 to 2021-22. To achieve the objective of “Housing for All” under PMAY-G, a total of 1.998 crore rural houses has been constructed since 2014-2015 (including houses under Indira Awaas Yojana(IAY)).
(v) Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY): PMGSY was started in the year 2000 with the objective to provide all-weather road connectivity to eligible unconnected habitations. The mandate of the scheme was subsequently widened and new interventions viz. PMGSY-II and PMGSY-III were added for upgradation of the existing rural road network which connect habitations to the various facilities and services. The implementation of the ongoing PMGSY has helped immensely in lifting the socio–economic conditions of rural masses by providing them access to the various services and facilities, market place and employment opportunities in various forms. Under PMGSY, a total of 3.97 lakh Kms rural roads length have been completed since 2010-2011.
(vi) Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission (SPMRM): The Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) launched in February 2016, is a scheme with the objective to stimulate local economic development, enhance basic services, and create well planned Rurban clusters. The mission takes cluster as a unit for development. 300 Clusters from all the States/ UTs are selected in the first phase of the Mission in Tribal and Non-Tribal categories. SPMRM provides the Critical Gap Funding to the projects which directly or indirectly bring economic growth. SPMRM aims to provide amenities in four categories viz Basic, Economic, Social and Digital and promotes economic growth through integrated and balanced investments with social inclusion. SPMRM clusters focus on 21 components under the aforementioned amenities, depending on locally identified gaps as per the baseline survey conducted.
(vii) Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY): Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) was launched on 11 October 2014. A total of 2005 Gram Panchayats have been identified under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana till 29.01.2021. Under the SAGY framework, the development of Gram Panchayats is envisaged through effective convergence and implementation of existing development Schemes of Government under the administrative control of respective Ministries without allocation of any additional fund. However, the third-party evaluation of the Gram Panchayats identified during the Phase-I of SAGY has indicated that the scheme has helped in improving the accessibility to basic amenities/ institutions at Gram Panchayat levels.
Besides the above steps undertaken by the Ministry of Rural Development, various other Ministries/ Departments have also undertaken several initiatives for development of villages and provision of basic facilities in rural areas. These include:-
i. For the benefit of farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has launched various interventions and schemes to increase production, generate remunerative returns and provide income support to farmers. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) was launched with a view to provide income support of Rs. 6000/- per year to farmers, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY) provides old age pension to small and marginal farmers, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) seeks to provide insurance coverage for all stages of the crop cycle including post-harvest risks, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) was launched for promoting organic farming, launch of e-NAM initiative was for providing farmers an electronic transparent and competitive online trading platform, Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PMAASHA) is aimed at ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers for their produces etc.
ii. Ministry of Jal Shakti has launched Pra
dhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna-Har Khet Ko Paani-Ground Water Irrigation (PMKSY-HKKP-GW) which aims to provide financial assistance to States for assured ground water irrigation to small and marginal farmers. This scheme is applicable only in areas having stage of ground water development less than 60%, average rainfall more tan 750 mm and with shallow ground water levels (less than 15m below ground level). This scheme has been effectively launched in 2019-20 and is being implemented in the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Telengana and West Bengal.
iii. With a view to increase banking penetration and to promote financial inclusion across the country, Department of Financial Services (DFS) has launched a National Mission on Financial Inclusion known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) on 28th August, 2014 at National level. As on 29.01.2021, total of 27.44 crore beneficiaries have opened the bank account in rural/ semi urban bank branches.
iv. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is also playing important role to improve the rural economy. The following initiatives have been taken by NABARD to improve the lives of rural India:
?Rural Infrastructure Development Fund
?Watershed Development and Tribal Development
?Self Help Group –Bank Linkage Programme
?Joint Liability Group
?Food Processing Fund
?Warehousing Infrastructure Fund
?Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund
v. Department of Telecommunications has informed that a number of schemes with funding from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) have been undertaken for expansion of telecom services in rural and remote areas of the country which aims at the vision of Digital India. BharatNet project is aimed at providing broadband connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.5 lakh) in the country. As on 15.01.2021, a total of 1,51,404 GPs (Including Block HQs) have been made Service Ready in the country. Further, Last Mile connectivity is being provided through Wi-Fi or any other suitable broadband technology, including Fiber to the Home (FTTH), to access broadband/internet services at Public places & Government Institutions such as school, hospital, post offices, Aanganwadi, customer service centres, police station, etc. As on 15.01.2021, Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed at 1,04,026 GPs and 4,84,506 FTTH connections have been provided.
vi. Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) has been implementing Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) w.e.f. 2018-19 for developing governance capabilities of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI). The Central Finance Commission recommends devolution of Grants to Rural Local Bodies to augment the Consolidated Fund of State to supplement the resources of the Panchayats in the States. Under Fourteenth Finance Commission, grants to the tune of Rs.2,00,292.20 crores have been allotted to Gram Panchayats (GPs) for delivering basic services during 2015-2020. A total of Rs. 60,750 crore has been allocated for the period FY 2020-21 under Fifteenth Finance Commission for Basic Grants and Tied Grants. The basic grants are untied and can be used by Rural Local Bodies for location-specific felt needs, except for salary or other establishment expenditure. The tied grants are to be used for the basic services of (a) sanitation and maintenance of open-defecation free (ODF) status and (b) supply of drinking water, rain water harvesting and water recycling.
vii. As regards reliable power supply to rural households, Ministry of Power has informed that all the States/UTs have signed a document on ‘24x7 Power for All’ with the Government of India for providing 24x7 power supply to all households, industrial and commercial consumers from April, 2019 and adequate supply of power to agricultural consumers as per State policy. Further, Government of India supplements the efforts of the States to provide access to electricity through its various schemes including Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana - Saubhagya and Ujjwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY).
viii. Similarly, Scheme of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) provides support for installation of 17.5 lac stand alone solar based irrigation pumps as also solarisation of grid connected 10 lac pumpsets.
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