Year end review - 2019 : Ministry of Rural Development
- Part 1 -

Press Information Bureau *

The mandate of Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) is sustainable and inclusive growth of rural India by increasing livelihoods opportunities, providing social safety and developing rural infrastructure.

The five major rural development themes around which the current flagship Programmes of MoRD are centered are as follows:
i) Rural Housing (through Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin)
ii)Rural Employment (through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme)
iii) Rural Connectivity (through Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana)
iv) Rural Livelihood (through Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission)

v) Rural Skilling (through Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana and Rural Self Employment Training Institutes) Apart from the above, the NSAP, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee RURBAN Mission (SPMRM) and Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) are other important Programmes of MoRD. The Department is implementing programmes based on the evidence based selection of poor households as per the deprivation criteria of Socio Economic Census (SECC, 2011) data.

MoRD is committed towards creating livelihoods opportunities in farm and nonfarm sectors, improved road connectivity, forward and backward linkages for higher economic returns, greater visibility of women across the supply chain, housing for all in the rural areas with provision of lavatories and electricity and higher order federations of women for establishing rural micro enterprises which propels the economic growth of the rural India.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), launched on 25th December, 2000 for providing connectivity by way of a single all weather road to the eligible unconnected habitations as per core-network with a population of 500 persons in plain areas, and 250 persons & above in respect of special category states like NE, Sikkim, HP, J&K & Uttarakhand, desert areas, tribal & backward districts.

The programme also provides for upgradation of the existing ‘Through Routes’ and ‘Major Rural Links’ (MRL).

Brief Details of the Initiatives of PMGSY:

i. Government approved phase-III of PMGSY for consolidation of 1,25,000 Km Through Routes and Major Rural Links connecting habitations, inter-alia, to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs), Higher Secondary Schools and Hospitals.
ii. Programme guidelines issued and software developed. Training workshops organized for 13 States targeted for transition to PMGSY-III during 2019-20. It is expected to sanction 15,000 Km by March, 2020.
iii. 36,037 Km road length has been constructed and 5,952 habitations have been provided connectivity so far during current year.
iv. E-marg software for maintenance of roads has been developed and is being rolled out in all States.
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs)
Ministry of RD is implementing two welfare schemes in the field of skill development for rural poor youth under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) as follows:-
1. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) which is a placement linked skill development program for wage employment.
2. Skill development through Rural Self Employment and Training Institutes (RSETIs) enabling a trainee to take bank credit and start his/her own Micro-enterprise. Some such trainees may also seek regular salaried jobs.

1. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY)

Currently DDU GKY is being implemented in 27 States and 3 Union Territories and with 641 training partners in 1624 active training centre across the country. Training is being imparted in 52 sectors covering 526 trades through 1414 ongoing projects as on date.

During the current calendar year i.e 2019 (from 1.1.2019 to 20.12.2019), 2.29 lakhs candidates have been trained and 1.39 lakh candidates have been placed across the country.

2. Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs):

Currently there are 585 functional RSETIs in the Country. At present, RSETIs offer training in 61 vocations classified under four major areas viz. agriculture, processing, product manufacture and general entrepreneurship development programme. During the current calendar year i.e 2019 (from 1.1.2019 to 20.12.2019), 262570 candidates have been trained and 143702 candidates have been settled across the country.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM)

1. Launched in 2011, the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) aims at mobilizing about 9 crore rural poor households into Self Help Groups (SHGs) in a phased manner and provide them long-term support such that they diversify their livelihoods, improve their incomes and quality of life.

2. All “automatically included” households and all households with “at least one deprivation” as per the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data constitute the target group of DAY-NRLM. The list of the rural poor is also validated by Participatory Identification of the Poor (PIP) which is further vetted by the Gram Sabha.

3. The major components of the DAY-NRLM are:
a. Promotion of sustainable institutions of the poor
b. Ensuring access to financial services
c. Promote diversified livelihoods opportunities for the poor, in farm and non- farm sectors.
d. Promotion of skill development and access to jobs
e. Promotion of social inclusion, social development and human development

4. The key achievements made under the Mission is furnished below:
a. Geographical Coverage: The Mission has covered 5894 blocks spread over 646 districts across 29 States and 5 UTs under the intensive strategy up to Oct’19.
b. Social Mobilization/Institution Building: More than 6.47 crore women have been mobilized into 58.7 lakh Self-Help Groups (SHGs) up to Oct’

19. During the year 2019-20, up to October, 19; about 67.9 lakh women have been mobilized in to 6.55 lakh SHGs against the target of mobilizing 93.66 lakh women into 8.10 lakh SHGs.

c. Social Capital: Community driven approach is central to the Mission’s implementation strategy. As on date, more than 2.50 lakh Community Resource Persons have been trained on multiple interventions. This includes more than 38,032 trained Krishi Sakhi and Pashu Sakhi who provide last mile livelihoods extension services.

d. Capitalization Support: During FY 2019-20, capitalization support of nearly Rs.743.1 crore have been provided to SHGs and its federations upto Oct, 19. Cumulatively, about Rs.8334.7 crore has been provided as capitalization support under the Mission.

e. SHG-Bank Linkage: More than Rs.2.59 lakh crore of bank credit has been accessed by the SHGs since 2013-14. As on date, outstanding bank loans are to the tune of Rs.88,345 crore against the target of Rs.100986 crore for FY 2019-20.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)

The Ministry has been working towards enhancing water conservation in rural areas through various interventions under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. In the last six months, two major programmes- Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) and 100 Days Programme-completion of Natural Resource Management (NRM) works were launched to augment the focus on taking up water related works. These programmes ensured time-bound mission-mode impetus on water conservation.

Achievements under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA for the Year 2019

Sl. No. THEME/ACTIVITY Achievements (01.01.2019 to 17.12.2019)
1 Person-days Generated 249.65 crore
2 Fund released to States/UTs Rs. 65,961 crore
3 Women Participation 56%
4 Rate of Completion of Works 74.96 lakh works completed
5 Job card verification 53.18 lakh Job Cards verified
6 SECURE(Software for Estimate Calculation Using Rural Rates for Employment)
SECURE has greatly benefitted in creating a transparent system for according administrative approval and technical sanction.

Now, field functionaries can track, remove obstacles and speed up whole process of workflow. SECURE has been implemented 24 States and 3 UTs across 595 districts.

Key initiatives taken up during the Year 2019:

o To lay emphasis on water related works, special drive was taken up under Jal Shakti Abhiyan and 1,220 water stressed blocks were targeted for water conservation in a project mode from 1st July to 15th September, 2019 (Phase I) and 1st October to 30th November, 2019 (Phase II). An expenditure of Rs. 3,158.91 crore was incurred in completion of 3.12 lakh works.

o A 100 Days programme for Completion of NRM Works was also taken up. A focused approach was followed for enhancing implementation of water related works across all the rural blocks from 5th July to 15th October, 2019. 12.47 lakh works were completed.

o The Ministry has initiated an integrated holistic planning of the Gram Panchayats based on watershed development using GIS approach. So far, plans for 12,365 GPs have been designed in a saturation mode for three-years planning.

Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G)

In the context of Government’s priority for ”Housing for All” by 2022, the erstwhile rural housing scheme has been restructured into Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G), which came into effect from 1st April, 2016.

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.The target number of houses to be constructed by the year 2021-22, to achieve the objective of “Housing for All” is 2.95 Crore which is proposed to be achieved in phases.

In the first phase 1.00 crore houses were taken up for construction in 3 years i.e., 2016-17 to 2018-19 and in the second phase 1.95 crore houses would be taken up for construction in 3 years i.e., 2019-20 to 2021-22. PMAY-G enables construction of quality houses by the beneficiaries using local materials, designs and trained masons. For houses to become homes, adoption of a habitat approach through convergence is proposed.

Main features / initiatives under the scheme

I. Unit assistance Rs.1,20,000 in plain areas and Rs.1,30,000 in hilly states/difficult areas/IAP districts.

II. In addition to the unit assistance, the beneficiaries through convergence with Swachh Bharat Mission and MGNREGA would be provided the following :-

a. Rs.12,000/- as assistance for construction of toilet
b. Unskilled wages of 90 /95 person days for construction of house

III. Ensuring Transparency through Identification of beneficiaries

a. Identification of beneficiaries based on housing deprivation parameters as per Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data after due verification by Gram Sabha.

b. Out of a total of 4.04 crore households found to be eligible as per SECC 2011 data, 2.50 crore households have been found eligible for getting assistance under PMAY-G after due verification by Gram Sabha as on 17th December, 2019.

Use of comprehensive E and M- Governance solutions

a. Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT): Under PMAY-G, the assistance to beneficiaries is to be transferred electronically through the AwaasSoft-PFMS platform. This ensured seamless transfer of funds electronically into the Bank/Post Office account of each beneficiary through Fund Transfer Order (FTO). During the year 2019-20 (as on 17th December, 2019), a total of 9.01 lakh FTOs amounting to Rs.29,000.76 crore have been generated involving 79.78 lakh beneficiaries.

b. Evidence based monitoring of house construction using Mobile Application: Capturing and uploading geo-tagged, time stamped photographs of the house at various stages of construction has been made mandatory for sanction and release of assistance to the beneficiaries. The mobile application “Awaasapp” developed for capturing the different stages of construction of houses has reduced the time of verification. As on as on 17th December, 2019, 10.33 crore images have been captured and 5.32 crore images have been approved after due inspection.

o IV. Real time convergence with other schemes

i. Real time web link has been developed with NREGASoft to allow auto creation of a NREGA work against each PMAY-G house sanctioned. This ensures that a beneficiary is able to claim his/her entitlement of 90/95 days of paid unskilled labour for construction of PMAY-G house under convergence with MGNREGA

ii. The guideline of the scheme of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) implemented by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas have been modified wherein beneficiary of PMAY-G is eligible for getting free LPG connection under the scheme.

IN order to ensure real time convergence, the data of the beneficiaries of PMAY-G whose houses have been completed or nearing completion is being shared with Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas through web services so that all the beneficiaries of PMAY-G are provided free LPG connection.

To be continued ....