RURAL DEVELOPMENT

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RURAL DEVELOPMENT

BestCurrentAffairs.comIn 1952, an organization known as Community Projects Administration was set up under the Planning Commission to administer the programmes relating to community development. The Community Development Programme, inaugurated in 1952, was an important landmark in the history of rural development. This programme underwent many changes and was handled by different ministries. In October, 1974, the Department of Rural Development came into existence as a part of Ministry of Food and Agriculture. In August, 1979, this Department was elevated to the status of a new Ministry of Rural Reconstruction. That ministry was renamed as Ministry of Rural Development and again converted into a Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. It was later rechristened as Ministry of Agriculture in September, 1985. In 1991 the Department was upgraded as Ministry of Rural Development. Another Department viz., Department of Wasteland Development was created under this ministry in 1992.  The Ministry was again renamed as the Ministry of Rural Development in 1999 with three departments viz., Department of Rural Development, Department of Land Resources and Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation. The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation was made a separate Ministry from July 2011. Presently, the Ministry of Rural Development consists of two departments, namely, Department of Rural Development and Department of Land Resources.  The major programmes being operated by the Ministry of Rural Development are: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for providing wage employment; National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) for self employment and skill development; Housing for All: Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Grameen (PMAY-G) for providing housing to BPL households; Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for construction of quality roads; National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) for social pension; Shyama Prasad Mukherjee RURBAN Mission; Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) for improving the productivity of the land.  Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA): The objectives of the scheme are: providing upto 100 days of unskilled manual work in a financial year to every household in rural areas as per demand resulting in creation of productive assets.  To streamline the fund flow mechanism and bring down delay in payment of wages, the Ministry of Rural Development has implemented National Electronic Fund Management System (NeFMS) in 21 states and 1 union territory.  National Rural Livelihoods Mission, renamed as Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana—National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) was launched in 2011. It seeks to reach out to 8-9 crore rural poor households and organize one woman member from each household into affinity based women SHGs and federations at village level and at higher levels. While doing so, DAY-NRLM ensures adequate coverage of vulnerable sections of the society such that 50 per cent of the beneficiaries are members of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, 15 per cent from minority groups and 3 per cent from persons with disability, while keeping in view the overall target of 100 per cent coverage of the rural poor households identified through Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) and through participatory processes of identification of poor households and approved by Gram Sabha.  Community Investment Support Fund is routed to SHGs through federations (primary and secondary level) to support development of suitable livelihoods of members and to initiate collective activities, wherever feasible. A part of the CIF is provided as Vulnerability Reduction Fund (VRF) for supporting the inclusion of very poor communities and making credit accessible to them with or without interest.  National Special Fund Support for Convergence under DAY-NRLP was provided to help states mainstream convergence as an effective method to reduce poverty and empower rural poor.  Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP): MKSP is a sub-component of NRLM to meet the specific needs of women farmers and achieve socio-economic and technical empowerment of the rural women farmers, predominantly small and marginal farmers.  Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana: The Government of India has introduced a new sub-scheme under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) entitled “Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana” (AGEY) from the financial year 2017-18.  It has been decided to set up one Rural Self Employment Training Institute (RSETI) in each district of the country. RSETIs are bank lead initiative with the active support of state government.  Government of India, as the part of poverty reduction strategy, launched the Pradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana (PMGSY) 2000 as a centrally sponsored scheme to assist the states, though rural roads are in the State List under the Constitution. The primary objective of Scheme is to provide connectivity by way of an all-weather road (with necessary culverts and cross-drainage structures, which is operable throughout the year), to the eligible unconnected habitations as per core-network with a population of 500 persons (as per 2001 census) and above in plain areas. In respect of ‘Special Category States’ (North- East, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand), the desert areas, the tribal (Schedule V) areas and 88 selected tribal and backward districts, the objective is to connect eligible unconnected habitations as per Core-Network with a population of 250 persons and above (census 2001).  The rural housing scheme Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) implemented by Ministry of Rural Development, aimed at providing houses to families below the poverty line (BPL) in rural areas has since inception provided assistance for construction of 360 lakh houses.

Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020  In the context of government’s priority for “Housing for All” by 2022, the rural housing scheme IAY has been restructured to Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana—Gramin (PMAY-G), which came into effect from the financial year 2016-17. The main features of the scheme include: (a) providing assistance for BestCurrentAffairs.com construction of 1.00 crore houses in rural areas over the period of 3 years from 2016-17 to 2018-19; (b) enhancement of unit assistance from ₹70,000 to ₹1.20 lakh in plains and from ₹75,000 to ₹1.30 lakh in hilly states, difficult areas and IAP districts.  Article 41 of the Constitution of India directs the state to provide public assistance to its citizens in case of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and in other cases of undeserved want within the limit of its economic capacity and development.  India introduced National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) in 1995 as a centrally sponsored scheme under which 100 per cent central assistance is extended to the states/UTs to provide the benefits in accordance with the norms, guidelines and conditions laid down by the central government. NSAP is a social assistance programme for poor households—for the aged, widows, disabled and in the case of death of the breadwinner, thereby aiming at ensuring minimum national standards in addition to the benefits that the states are providing or might provide in further. Presently NSAP comprises the following schemes for Below Poverty Line (BPL) Households:  Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS): Under the scheme, assistance is provided to person of 60 years and above and belonging to family living below poverty line as per the criteria prescribed by Government of India. Central assistance of ₹ 200/- per month is provided to person in the age group of 60-79 years and ₹ 500/- per month to persons of 80 years and above.  Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS): Under the scheme central assistance of ₹ 300/- per month is provided to widows in the age-group of 40-79 years and belonging to family living below poverty line as per the criteria prescribed by Government of India. After attaining the age of 80 years, the beneficiary would be shifted to IGNOAPS for getting pension of ₹ 500/- per month.  Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS): Under the scheme central assistance of ₹ 300/- per month is provided to persons aged 18- 79 years with severe or multiple disabilities and belonging to family living below poverty line as per the criteria prescribed by Government of India. After attaining the age of 80 years, the beneficiary would be shifted to IGNOAPS for getting pension of ₹ 500/- per month.  National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS): Under the scheme a BPL household is entitled to lump sum amount of money on the death of primary breadwinner aged between 18 and 59 years. The amount of assistance is ₹ 20,000/.  Annapurna: Under the scheme, 10 kg of foodgrains per month are provided free of cost to those senior citizens who, though eligible under IGNOAPS, are not receiving pension under IGNOAPS.  Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) is the flagship placement linked skilltraining programme under the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). Announced in 2014, DDU-GKY is a critical component of the National Skill Development Policy.  DDU-GKY has its roots in the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY). SGSY was formed by the restructuring of the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) in 1999, with a 15 per cent allocation for special projects. In 2010, SGSY was restructured as the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), also known as Aajeevika. The Ministry revised the guidelines in 2013 as Aajeevika Skills with a view to increase the reach of the programme. On Antyodaya Diwas, 25th September 2014, Aajeevika Skills was announced as DDU-GKY with a focus on providing opportunities through skilling for rural poor youth in domestic and global jobs.  Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) was launched in 2014 with the aim to develop one village by each Member of Parliament as a model village by 2016 and two more by 2019.  Till now 702 Gram Panchayats have been identified by Members of Parliament under Phase - I and are taking concrete steps towards their development.  The Gram Panchayats adopted under SAGY prepared Village Development Plans (VDPs) containing prioritized time-bound activities to achieve holistic progress of the village, through convergence of resources.  In order to keep track of the progress of projects listed in the VDP, a Tracking Template has been developed and the progress is monitored online; Panchayat Darpan.  A campaign, namely, Gram Swaraj Abhiyan was also started. This campaign which, undertaken under “Sabka Sath, Sabka Gaon, Sabka Vikas”, is to promote social harmony, spread awareness about pro-poor initiatives of the government.  Seven flagship pro-poor programmes namely, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Saubhagya, Ujala Scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Mission Indradhanush.  Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) was launched in 2015-16 by amalgamating ongoing schemes of three ministries viz., Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programmed (AIBP) and PMKSY (WR) of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR, RD and GR); Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) of the Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Land Resources (DoLR) and the Micro Irrigation component of On Farm Water Management (OFWM) of National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC & FW). Under the erstwhile IWMP, 8214 watershed development projects were sanctioned in 28 states (except Goa) during the period 200910 to 2014-15 covering an area of about 39.07 million hectares, principally for development of rainfed portions of net cultivated area and culturable wastelands.

Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020  In 2015- 16, the IWMP was amalgamated as the Watershed Development Component (WDC) of the

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY). The scheme of National Land Reforms Modernization

Programme (NLRMP) has been renamed as Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme BestCurrentAffairs.com (DILRMP) and is being implemented since 2008. Under it, 27 states/ UTs have computerized the registration of records (RoRs) of land in their respective areas, 19 states/UTs have stopped manual issue of RoRs and 22 states/UTs have uploaded in their websites. Besides, 25 states/UTs have done computerization of Registration and 11 states/UTs have done integration of land records with registration.  The mandate of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), which was set up in 2004, is to ensure the compliance of the provisions of Part IX of the Constitution, provisions regarding the District Planning Committees as per Article 243 ZD, and PESA.  Part IX of the Constitution of India provides for setting up of three tiers of Panchayats (only two tiers in case of states of union territories having population less than 2 million): (i) gram panchayats at village level; (ii) district panchayats at district level; and (iii) intermediate panchayats at sub-district level in between gram panchayats and district panchayats. It also provides for gram sabha (general assembly of registered voters who reside in the area of gram panchayat) as a forum for direct participation of villagers in local governance. The Constitution India has fixed five year term for these panchayats and has made provision for the reservation of seats for women and marginalized sections (scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) of Indian society.  To improve the functioning of PRI, the MoPR implemented the Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA) in the 12th Five Year Plan period i.e., from 2012-13 upto 2015-16.  The Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) will focus on capacity building of Panchayati Raj Institutions for convergent action to deliver basic services and achieve development goals.  e-Panchayat was identified as one of the 27 Mission Mode Projects under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) formulated in 2006.  Under the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) award for the period 2015 —2020 grants to the tune of ₹ 2,00,292.20 crore are being devolved to gram panchayats in the country constituted under Part IX of the Constitution constituting an assistance of ₹ 488 per capita per annum at an aggregate level for 26 states to ensure stable flow of resources at regular intervals which will augment resources available with them to discharge their statutorily assigned functions. The FFC has not recommended grants to NonPart IX areas under Schedule VI in Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Assam, the areas in the hill districts of Manipur, rural areas of Nagaland and Mizoram.  The Department of Drinking Water Supply was created in the Ministry of Rural Development in 1999, which was subsequently renamed as the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation in 2010. Keeping in view the significance of rural water supply and sanitation, the Government of India created and notified the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation as a separate Ministry in 2011. After the notification in June 2019, the Ministry has since been renamed as Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation is the nodal Ministry for the overall policy, planning, funding and coordination of the flagship programmes of the Government of India viz., the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) for rural drinking water supply and the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) [SBM(G)] for sanitation in the country.  Swachh Bharat Mission was launched in 2014. The concept of Swachh Bharat Mission is to provide access for every person to sanitation facilities including toilets, solid and liquid waste disposal systems and village cleanliness. The programme is implemented by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. An Action Plan has been drawn up for Swachh Bharat to become a reality by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The Mission aims to increase the access to sanitation from 39 per cent in 2014 to 100 per cent by October, 2019. The Action Plan calls for an Open Defecation Free (ODF) India in five years.  Intervention in the rural sanitation sector in the country was initially started in 1954 as a part of the First Five Year Plan. The Government introduced a structured scheme in the form of the Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP) in 1986 primarily with the objective of improving the quality of life of the rural people and also to provide privacy and dignity to women. From 1999, a “demand driven” approach under the “Total Sanitation Campaign” (TSC) emphasizing more on Information, Education and Communication (IEC), Human Resource Development (HRD), capacity development activities to increase awareness among the rural people and generation of demand for sanitary facilities was started. The “Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan” (NBA), the successor programme of the TSC, was launched from 2012, aimed at creating Nirmal villages, provided increased incentives through convergence with MNREGS. Though these programmes had their successes, there still remained a large portion of the rural population which did not have access to toilets. To significantly upscale the programme, and bring the focus on the issue of sanitation, the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) was launched in 2014. The focus of the new strategy is to move towards a Swachh Bharat by providing flexibility to state governments (sanitation being a state subject), to decide on their implementation policy and mechanisms, taking into account state specific requirements.  Swachhata Pakhwada was started in April 2016 with the objective of bringing a fortnight of intense focus on the issues and practices of Swachhata by engaging GoI ministries and departments in their jurisdiction.  Namami Gange Programme is an initiative of Ministry of Jal Shakti, comprising making villages on the bank of river Ganga ODF and interventions dealing with solid and liquid waste management. All 4470 villages located across 52 districts of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal has since been made ODF with active help of state governments. Now the Ministry has taken up 24 villages on the bank of river Ganga to transform them as Ganga Grams in coordination with NMCG.

Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020  Ganga Gram is another inter-ministry project between SBM and the Namami Gange Programme. Ministry of Jal

Shakti which is responsible for sanitation in villages on the banks of river Ganga, is also coordinating the Ganga Gram Project. The Project is focused on better cleanliness and infrastructure facilities, through BestCurrentAffairs.com convergence with other departments. Ganga Gram Project was unveiled in 2017 at a grand sammelan of sarpanches where all 4,475 Ganga Grams were declared Open Defecation Free (ODF). Later, state governments identified 24 Ganga villages to be taken up as pilot project to transform them into Ganga Grams which encompasses Open Defecation Free (ODF), renovation of ponds and water sources, promotion of sprinkler irrigation, promotion of tourism, modern crematorium infrastructure, convergence of central and state schemes, proper disposal of waste water, proper disposal of solid waste, water conservation projects, organic farming, horticulture, medicinal plants, awareness drives were also taken up amongst villagers on the degenerating effect of open defecation and improper waste disposal not only for the river but also for the village.  MDWS organized Ganga Chaupal in 2018 and in continuation to this, Ganga Gram Swachhta Sammelans were organized.  Swachhta Action Plan (SAP), a first of its kind inter-ministerial programme for Swachhta, is a concrete realization of the vision that swachhta is everyone’s business.  Swachh Iconic Places:  The Ministry has taken up a multi-stakeholder initiative focusing on cleaning up 100 places across the country that are “iconic” due to their heritage, religious and/or cultural significance. The goal of the initiative is to improve the cleanliness conditions at these places to a distinctly higher level. This initiative is in partnership with ministries of Urban Development, Tourism and Culture with MDWS being the nodal ministry. So far in first two phases, 20 iconic places has been taken up. All these 20 iconic sites have designated PSUs for financial and technical support.  The National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) is a centrally sponsored scheme aimed at providing adequate and safe drinking water to the rural population of the country. The NRDWP is a component of Bharat Nirman which focuses on the creation of the infrastructure.  Government of India’s major intervention in water sector started in 1972-73 through the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) for assisting states/UTs to accelerate the coverage of drinking water supply in ‘problem villages’. A Technology Mission with stress on water quality, appropriate technology intervention, human resource development support and other related activities was introduced in 1986 which was subsequently renamed as the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM) in 1991. In 19992000, Sector Reform Projects were started to involve the community in planning, implementation and management of drinking water schemes which was in 2002 scaled up as the Swajaldhara programme. The programme was revised in 2009 and named as National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP).