(a) the details of steps taken by the Government to improve the living standards of the poor in the country; and
(b) the extent of success achieved in this regard?
(a) the details of steps taken by the Government to improve the living standards of the poor in the country; and
(b) the extent of success achieved in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)
(a) & (b) The Ministry of Rural Development has adopted multi-pronged strategies to improve the living standards of the poor in rural areas of the country with the main focus on increasing livelihood opportunities, empowering rural women, providing social safety net, skilling of rural youth, infrastructure development etc through its Programmes. The details of the Schemes/Programmes alongwith their achievements are as under:-
(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 households 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 stresses on creation of durable and sustainable assets to make the beneficiaries self-dependant. As on 16.03.2021, 15 crore job cards have been issued covering a total of 29.03 crore workers. During the FY 2020-21, around 371 crore person-days of employment have been generated under the scheme.
(ii) Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM): The Ministry is implementing DAY-NRLM across the country 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. Besides, Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), a sub-scheme under DAY-NRLM, has the objective of helping Self Help Group (SHG) and their family members to set-up small enterprises at the village level in the non-farm sector. As on 19th March, 2021, 7.35 crore women have been mobilized in form of 66.6 lakh SHGs, 3.86 lakh village organizations, and 0.34 lakh cluster level federations. Cumulatively, Rs.3.54 lakh crore of Bank Credit has been mobilized for the SHGs. 3.22 lakh Community Level Resource Persons including 96 thousand livelihood resource persons have been trained to assist in the process. In order to provide financial services at the doorstep, 21.8 thousand have been trained to act as para banking personnel known as Banking Correspondents. Interest subventions of Rs.5808.41 crore have been provided in 250 category I districts. The programme has mobilized 1.1 crore women in Agro-ecology practices, 2.87 lakh women have been mobilized as members of Producers’ Enterprises. In the area of non-farm enterprises, 1.34 lakh new enterprises have been promoted.
A study was conducted in 2019 to assess overall impact of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM of Ministry of Rural Development by the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) with the support of the World Bank. The assessment covered 9 states with around 27,000 respondents and 5,000 SHGs across Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The evaluation indicates that an additional exposure to the Mission for 2.5 years led to increase in income by 19% over the base amount, decline in share of informal loans by 20%, increase in savings by 28%, improved labour force participation - proportion of females reporting secondary occupation is higher (4%) in treatment areas, Improved access to other schemes - significant increase in number of social schemes availed by treatment households (6.5% higher over the base value of 2.8 schemes).
(iii) Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen KaushalyaYojana (DDU-GKY) and Rural Self Employment and Training Institutes (RSETIs): 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. 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. Both 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 livelihooods and by strengthening rural economy and rural income. Under the Scheme, 10.30 lakh persons have been trained, out of which 6.66 lakh persons have been placed. During the current FY 2020-21(as on 28.02.2021), out of the target of 65,694, 20,946 candidates have been trained and 44,338 candidates have been placed under DDU-GKY. Under RSETI, 37.04 lakh trainees have been trained both in skills and entrepreneurship, out of which 25.72 lakh persons have been settled. During the current FY 2020-21 (as on 28.02.2021), out of the target of 2,42,040, 2,03,643 candidates have been trained and 1,27,108 candidates have been settled. During the FY 2020-21, the training activity remained suspended over considerable period due to Covid-19 situation affecting thereby the achievements of desired training targets.
(iv) Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G): PMAY-G aims to provide a pucca house with basic amenities to all houseless households and households living in kutcha and dilapidated house by 2022. To achieve the objective of “Housing for All”, the target number of houses to be constructed by the year 2021-22, is 2.95 Crore. As against that, 1.91 crore houses have been sanctioned and 1.33 crore houses have been constructed. During the current FY 2020-21, as on 18.03.2021 (as per A2 report of Awaassoft), 58,25,577 houses have been targeted for construction and 4,04,945 houses have been constructed under the scheme.
(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 the Scheme, since inception till 28.02.2021, 7,50,673 Km. road has been sanctioned for construction, out of which 6, 51,785 Km. road length have been completed.
(vi) Shyama Prasad Mukherji 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 included 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. Under SPMRM, out of the 300 Rurban Clusters, 293 clusters have been identified, 290 Integrated Cluster Action Plans (ICAPs) have been approved and 281 Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) have been approved so far.
(vii) Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY): Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) was launched on 11 October 2014. 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. The Gram Panchayat adopted under SAGY prepare village Development Plans (VDP) through a participatory process under the guidance of Hon’ble Member of Parliament. The VDP includes prioritized time bound activities to achieve holistic and integrated development of the villages. Owing to the efforts made by the States, out of the 2070 Gram Panchayats identified under SAGY, 1587 gram panchayats have uploaded their VDP containing 77,645 projects on SAGY website and implementation of 49,139 projects have been completed as on 18.03.2021.
Apart from this, The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has informed that it is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely "Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM)" to reduce poverty and vulnerability of urban poor households on a sustainable basis. The Mission, inter-alia, aims at enabling urban poor to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities. Also, financial assistance is provided to individuals / groups/ Self Help Groups(SHGs) of urban poor for setting up gainful self-employment ventures or micro-enterprises. Since 2014-15 till 1st March 2021, 10,31,435 urban poor have been imparted skill training to enhance their employability, out of which 5,45,142 skill trained have been given self and wage employment. Loans with the provision of interest subvention have been disbursed to 5,52,081 beneficiaries for self-employment through individual or group micro-enterprises. 5,36,478 Self-Help Groups have been formed, 3,30,900 SHGs have been assisted with Revolving fund and 6,06,545 loans have been disbursed under SHG Bank Linkage Programme for taking up activities for improving incomes. Street Vendor Survey has been completed in 3,315 cities and towns, 42,72,575 street vendors have been identified and 24,36,925 street vendors have been provided ID Cards. 2,257 Shelters for Urban Homeless have been sanctioned out of which 1,582 Shelters are operational.
*****