MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI SUDARSHAN BHAGAT )
(a): The salient features of the scheme "Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana" (SAGY) are at Annexure I
(b): For identification of Adarsh Gram Panchayats by the Hon’ble Members of Parliament, a Gram Panchayat is the basic unit. It should have a population of 3000-5000 in plain areas and 1000-3000 in hilly, tribal and difficult areas. In districts where this unit size is not available, Gram Panchayats approximating the desirable population size may be chosen. In States which have larger Gram Panchayats, the Hon’ble Member of Parliament (MP) can choose any of them, as Gram Pachayat is the basic unit. The MP would be free to identify a suitable Gram Panchayat for being developed as Adarsh Gram, other than his/her own village or that of his/her spouse. The MP will identify one Gram Panchayat to be taken up immediately, and two others to be taken up a little later. Lok Sabha MP has to choose a Gram Panchayat from within his/her constituency and Rajya Sabha MP a Gram Panchayat from the rural area of a district of his/her choice in the State from which he/she is elected. Nominated MPs may choose a Gram Panchayat from the rural area of any district in the country. In the case of urban constituencies, (where there are no Gram Panchayats), the MP will identify a Gram Panchayat from a nearby rural constituency.
(c): SAGY is primarily about unleashing the power of people who are expected to inculcate pride in village, encourage societal change/Behavioural change, take collective responsibility and initiate People projects. The development of Gram Panchayats identified under SAGY is intended to take place through the convergence and implementation of existing Government Schemes and Programmes without allocating additional funds. In pursuance of above, the relevant Ministries / Departments of the Central Government have been requested by the Ministry of Rural Development to make suitable changes, wherever appropriate, in the guidelines of their respective Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored Schemes / Programmes to enable priority to be given to the Gram Panchayats selected under SAGY. While different Ministries/Departments have made changes in 14 of their Programme/Scheme guidelines, the Ministry is in touch with other relevant Ministries/Departments in this regard. A number of state schemes are required to be converged with this scheme for maximising benefit. This would require the guidelines of State Schemes/Programmes to be suitably amended to give automatic and mandatory priority to the GPs selected under SAGY. The states/UTs have been requested to do the needful in this regard.
(d): Primarily, the goal is for each Member of Parliament to develop three Adarsh Grams by March 2019, of which one would be achieved by 2016. Thereafter, five such Adarsh Grams (one per year) will be selected and developed by 2024. The broad timelines suggested in the SAGY Guidelines for different activities in the selection and development of Adarsh Grams are as under:-
Item of work Time from the date of launch
Selection of Adarsh Gram One month
Awareness generation on the scheme Two months
Environment creation and social mobilisation Three months
Initialisation of First Stage activities Three months
Review of First Stage activities Five months
Completion of preparation of Village Development Plan(VDP) Seven months
Approvals and sanctions Eight months
Activities to begin Nine months
Review of progress of VDP at Gram Sabha level and District Level One Year
The details of villages identified by MPs so far, State/UT-wise are at Annexure II
Annexure I referred to in reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1834 for 30.07.2015
(a) Objectives:
• to trigger processes which lead to holistic development of the identified Gram Panchayats;
• to substantially improve the standard of living and quality of life of all sections of the population
• To generate models of local level development and effective local governance which can motivate and inspire neighbouring Gram Panchayats to learn and adapt
• To nurture the identified Adarsh Grams as schools of local development to train other Gram Panchayats
(b) Values:
• Ensuring the involvement of all sections of society in all aspects related to the life of village,especially in decision-making related to governance
• Adhering to Antyodaya – enabling the “poorest and the weakest person” in the village to achieve well-being
• Affirming gender equality and ensuring respect for women
• Guaranteeing social justice
• Instilling dignity of labour and the spirit of community service and voluntarism
• Promoting a culture of cleanliness
• Living in consonance with nature – ensuring a balance between development and ecology
• Preserving and promoting local cultural heritage
• Inculcating mutual cooperation, self-help and self-reliance and fostering peace and harmony in the village community
• Bringing about transparency, accountability and probity in public life and Nurturing local self-governance
(c) Approach:
• Leveraging the leadership, capacity, commitment and energy of the Members of Parliament (MP) to develop model Gram Panchayats.
• Engaging with and mobilizing the community for participatory local level development.
• Converging different government programmes and private and voluntary initiatives to achieve comprehensive development.
• Building partnerships with voluntary organizations, co-operatives and academic and research institutions.
• Focusing on outcomes and sustainability
(d) Role of Members of Parliament
The basic approach of the Scheme is to leverage the leadership, capacity, commitment and energy of the Members of Parliament(MPs) to develop model Gram Panchayats. The Role of Members of Parliament is to:-
• Identify and select the Gram Panchayat to develop as Adarsh Gram
• Engage with the community in the village and motivate them to take up development activities on their own according to their capacity
• Propagate the values of the scheme
• Initiate start-up activities to build up the right environment
• Facilitate the planning process
• Mobilise additional resources to the extent possible, particularly from CSR and philanthropies
• Fill up critical gaps in the plan using MPLADs funds
• Monitor the progress periodically and take the lead in sorting out issues and problems
• Proactively facilitate transparency and accountability in the programme implementation and help sort out public grievances
• Coordinate with the community to achieve the desired, non-tangible outcomes, particularly the social ones
(e) Planning
• A Village Development Plan would be prepared for every identified Gram Panchayat with special focus on enabling every poor household to come out of poverty.
• Understanding Villages which have achieved success as Model Villages.
• Converging the resources of various Centrally Sponsored and Central Sector Schemes
(f) Key Aspects
• Personal Development : Moral Values , hygienic behavior, daily exercises, free from alcoholism, dignity of labour and promoting volunteerism, respect for women,
• Human Development :universal access to health, balanced sex ratio, no malnutrition, IT enabled class rooms, e-Libraries, e literacy,
• Social development: Volunteerism, honoring village elders, village freedom fighters, violence and crime free village, integrating socially excluded groups like SC/ST
• Economic development: diversified agriculture, dairy and livestock, organic farming, soil health cards, micro-irrigation
• Environment sustainability : tree plantation, rainwater harvesting, watershed development, toilet in each household
• Basic Amenities : piped clean drinking water, road connectivity to main road, electric connection to all homes with 24/7 power, broad band connectivity, mini-bank with ATM
• Social Security: Pensions for all eligible families- old age, disability and widow, Insurance schemes like Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana & Health insurance- RSBY
• Good Governance : e-governance, online certificates.
(g) Identification of Gram Panchayat
• A Gram Panchayat would be the basic unit. It will have a population of 3000-5000 in plain areas and 1000-3000 in hilly, tribal and difficult areas.
• The MP would be free to identify a suitable Gram Panchayat for being developed as Adarsh Gram, other than his/her own village or that of his/her spouse.
• Lok Sabha MP has to choose a Gram Panchayat from within his/her constituency
• Rajya Sabha MP may choose Gram Panchayat from the rural area of a district of his/her choice in the State from which he/she is elected.
• Nominated MPs may choose a Gram Panchayat from the rural area of any district in the country.
• In the case of urban constituencies (where there are no Gram Panchayats), the MP will identify a Gram Panchayat from a nearby rural constituency.
(h) Four Committees for overseeing the implementation of the Scheme
i. Two Committees at the National Level:
• One Headed by Minister, Rural Development
• Second One Headed by Secretary Rural Development
ii. State Level Empowered Committee (SLEC) headed by the Chief Secretary
iii. District Level Committee; Collector / District Magistrate is the Nodal Officer. Charge Officer will be designated to assist the Collector
(i) Role of the District Collector/District Magistrate
• Conduct of the baseline survey
• Facilitation of village level plan preparation
• Converging the relevant Schemes
• Coordination of scheme implementation across line departments
• Review of progress on a monthly basis and reporting to the State and Government of India.
• Adherence to grievance redressal and proactive disclosure norms laid down by the respective scheme guidelines
• Arrangement of frequent site visits to assess progress.
(j) Monitoring & Evaluation
• A separate, real-time web based monitoring system
• Interface enabling the MP and other key stakeholders to log-in and give suggestions/comments, and even raise queries or complaints
• Every process taken under this programme, will be photographed and geo-tagged and made available in public domain.
• The outputs under each activity would be measured every quarter vis-à-vis the physical and financial targets set out in the Village Development Plan.
• A mid-term evaluation of performance would be conducted through a competent independent agency. Also a post-project assessment of performance and outcomes would be similarly undertaken.
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