Question : MAHILA KISAN SASHAKTIKARAN PARIYOJANA

 

(a) the aims and objectives of the Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) and beneficiaries under it including SC, ST and Minority communities, State/UT-wise;

(b) whether the Government has achieved the targets under MKSP, if so, the details thereof;

(c) the details of the funds allocated/released to States under the said Yojana along with its utilization reported by the States during each of the last three years and the current year, State/UT and year-wise;

(d) whether the Government has received complaints of corruption, irregularities and misappropriation of funds under the said Yojana during the said period;

(e) if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise during the above period; and

(f) the corrective steps taken by the Government in this regard and the monitoring mechanism put in place to monitor and review it?  

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI SUDARSHAN BHAGAT)  

(a) Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) was announced in the budget of 2010-11 as a sub- component of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) to meet the specific needs of women farmers and achieve socio-economic and technical empowerment of rural women farmers. The primary objective of the MKSP is to empower women in agriculture by making systematic investments to enhance their participation and productivity, as also create and sustainable agriculture based livelihoods for rural women. There are two sub components under MKSP i.e., Sustainable Agriculture and Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP). The specific objectives of both the components are as follows:

  Specific objectives of Sustainable Agriculture component of MKSP are as under:  

(i) To enhance the productive participation of women in agriculture;

(ii) To create sustainable agricultural livelihood opportunities for women in agriculture;

(iii) To improve the skills and capabilities of women in agriculture to support farm and non-farm-based activities;

(iv) To ensure food and nutrition security at the household and the community level;

(v) To enable women to have better access to inputs and services of the government and other agencies;

(vi) To enhance the managerial capacities of women in agriculture for better management of bio-diversity;

(vii) To improve the capacities of women in agriculture to access the resources of other institutions and schemes within a convergence framework.  

The key objectives of NTFP component of MKSP are as under:  

(i) To develop a sustainable model for livelihood promotion of NTFP collectors

(ii) To ensure a better control of the institutions of the NTFP collectors over the NTFP value chain

(iii) To promote regeneration of NTFP species to improve the bio diversity and enhanced productivity

(iv) To build the capacity of the community in sustainable harvesting and post harvesting techniques to increase their income

(v) To promote local value addition of NTFP to ensure higher returns

(vi) To develop market linkages for NTFP

(vii) To develop a pool of community resource persons to enable the community institutions to manage their activities

(viii) To enable women to have better access to their entitlements and services of the government and other agencies

(ix) To promote the use of ICT to improve the livelihoods opportunities of the NTFP collectors  

The projects under MKSP are conceived in such a manner so as to target the Poorest of the Poor and most vulnerable women such as SC/ST, minorities, landless and the Primitive Tribal Groups.  

(b) The impact assessment study is possible after completion/conclusion of projects sanctioned in the initial phase against the result framework specified in the proposals of the Project Implementing Agencies.  

(c) MKSP is a demand based Programme. The funds are released in three installments of 25:50:25. 1st installment of central share is released after approval of Project Approval Committee. Subsequently 2nd and 3rd installments are released only after utilization of 60% and 80% of funds, respectively. The details of state wise allocation and release are given in Annexure-A.  

(d) to (f): No such complaint has been received under MKSP till date.