(a) whether priority has been accorded to the creation of employment opportunities in the
Agro and Rural sector during the Ninth Five Year Plan;
(b) if so, the details of the work done in this direction and the progress achieved in this regard
so far, State-wise;
(c) whether the Government are experiencing any difficulty in this regard; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
DISINVESTMENT, MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRIES OF PLANNING,
STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION AND MINISTER OF STATE IN
THE DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS AND PUBLIC GRIEVANCES (SHRI ARUN SHOURIE)
(a) to (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a), (b), (c) AND (d) OF THE LOK
SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.51 FOR 25.07.2001 REGARDING NINTH FIVE
YEAR PLAN BY DR. M.P. JAISWAL.
(a): One of the objectives of the Ninth Five Year Plan is:
` Priority to agriculture and rural development with a view to
generating adequate productive employment and eradication of
poverty.`
(b) To promote employment opportunities in rural areas, special programmes are
implemented through the Ministry of Rural Development, namely, Swarnajayanti Gram
Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) and Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS). The Khadi and
Village Industries Commission (KVIC) also implements programmes to promote rural
employment opportunities. Employment opportunities created in agro and rural sector
through such programmes are indicated in the Annexure.
(c)&(d) : The programmes are reviewed and evaluated from time to time. Mid-term
appraisal of Ninth Five Year Plan outlines some of the difficulties experienced in
implementing special employment programmes:
? universal coverage in the case of Employment Assurance Scheme triggered increased demand for funds from States beyond their available budgetary resources;
? resources available were spread thinly so as to increase the coverage of issues/beneficiary without any concern for duration of employment;
? the employment generated per person was too inadequate to bring about any meaningful increase in the earnings of the beneficiaries;
? some times needless projects were taken up to avoid lapse of funds;
? in some States, projects were executed by contractors who hired outside labourers at lower wages and in some cases used trucks and tractors instead of labour intensive methods;
? share of women in employment generated under the programmes was low;
? fudging of muster rolls and measurement books resulted in huge loss of funds that could otherwise have been invested in building rural infrastructure;
? the system of registration of job seekers with gram panchayats was generally not in vogue;
? the proportion of registered job seekers who actually got employment was as low as about 25 per cent in sample villages;
? field staff sometime reported bogus figures showing that the targets have been achieved irrespective of the ground situation; and
? such programmes have encouraged corruption both at political and administrative levels.
IRDP and allied programmes such as TRYSEM, DWCRA, SITRA and GKY along with MWS were merged into a single programme under Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) w.e.f. April, 1999. The working groups set up by Planning Commission for Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-07) are going into measures to overcome the difficulties faced in implementing the programmes.
Annexure
Employment Opportunities created in Agro & Rural Sector through selected Programmes of Central Government
State KVI Programme SGSY EAS
Employment generated 1997-2000 Swarozgaris Assisted 1999-20014 Man days of employment generated 1997-20014
(`000)
(`000)
(`000)
Andhra Pradesh 10.66 224 (Feb) 110785 (Feb) Arunachal Pradesh 0.01 4 (Feb) 12178 (Jan) Assam 3.57 30 (March) 69418 (March) Bihar 10.81 232 (March) 128066 (Aug) Chattisgarh ++ 30 (March) 8332@ (March) Goa 0.17 0 (March) 748 (March) Gujarat 3.04 48 (March) 28427 (March) Haryana 2.73 43 (March) 8104 (March) Himachal Pradesh 2.44 19 (Feb) 10826 (Feb) Jammu & Kashmir 3.27 10 (Jan) 24795 (Feb) Jharkhand ++ 30@ (Dec) 6048@ (Dec) Karnataka 4.67 48 (March) 93133 (Mar.) Kerala 6.44 68 (March) 16881 (Feb) Madhya Pradesh 3.90 184 (March) 128964 (Feb) Maharashtra 13.69 176 (March) 92288 (Feb) Manipur 1.38 0 (NR) 4436 (July) Meghalaya 0.42 2 (Feb) 2608 (Dec.`99) Mizoram 0.40 1 (Feb) 4836 (Mar.) Nagaland 0.58 5 (July) 18636 (July) Orissa 5.79 161 (March) 113290 (Mar.) Punjab 5.32 14 (March) 5682 (Mar.) Rajasthan 13.12 79 (March) 62047 (Feb) Sikkim .15 3 (March) 2579 (Feb) Tamil Nadu 33.11 149 (March) 128222 (Feb) Tripura 0.74 23 (March) 12147 (Jan) Uttar Pradesh 32.72 185 (March) 197277 (Jan) Uttaranchal ++ 0@ (Oct) 684@ (Sept) West Bengal 11.82 102 (Feb) 47485 (Feb)
KVI Khadi and Village Industries SGSY Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was launched in April, 1999. Hence data for two years 1999-2000 and 2000-01 is furnished EAS Employment Assurance Scheme 4 Months in bracket show the month up to which data in the year 2000-01 received from States + Less than 500 ++ Newly formed States NR stands for `Not Reported` @ Pertains to the year 2000-2001