About Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana
Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) was launched on 11th October 2014 with the aim to translate the comprehensive vision of Mahatma Gandhi about an ideal Indian village into reality, keeping in view the present context. Under SAGY, each Member of Parliament adopts a Gram Panchayat and guides its holistic progress giving importance to social development at par with infrastructure.
The ‘Adarsh Grams’ are to become schools of local development and governance, inspiring other Gram Panchayats. By involving villagers and leveraging scientific tools, a village development plan is prepared under the leadership of a Member of Parliament. The distinct feature of this Yojana is that it is: Demand Driven, Inspired by Society, and Based on People’s Participation.
Objective Of This Scheme
- To trigger processes that lead to the holistic development of the identified Gram Panchayats
- To substantially improve the standard of living and quality of life of all sections of the population through –
- Improved basic amenities, Higher productivity, Enhanced human development, Better livelihood opportunity, Reduced disparities, Access to rights and entitlements, Wider social mobilization, Enriched social capital
- To generate models of local level development and effective local government which can motivate and inspire neighboring, Gram Panchayats to learn and adapt.
- To nurture the identified Adarsh Grams as schools of local development to train other gram panchayats
Eligibility Criteria
- The Gram Panchayat should be the basic unit.
- The village should have a population of 3000-5000 in plain areas and 1000-3000 in hilly, tribal, and difficult areas. (In districts where this unit size is not available, Gram Panchayats approximating the desirable population size may be chosen.)
- The MP would identify a suitable Gram Panchayat from the rural area of any district in the country, other than his/her own village or that of his/her spouse.
- The MP will identify one Gram Panchayat to be taken up immediately, and two others to be taken up a little later.
- Lok Sabha MP has to choose a Gram Panchayat from within his/her constituency.
- Rajya Sabha MP has to choose a Gram Panchayat from the rural area of a district of his/her choice in the State from which he/she is elected.
- In the case of urban constituencies, (where there are no Gram Panchayats), the MP will identify a Gram Panchayat from a nearby rural constituency.
- The Gram Panchayats once selected by the MP (whose tenures have ended on account of resignation or otherwise) would be continued as such under SAGY irrespective of whether activities have already been initiated in the GP under SAGY or not. The newly elected MPs will have the option to select the GP of their choice and two more subsequently by 2019.
Note:
Primarily, the goal is to develop three Adarsh Grams by March 2019, of which one would be achieved by 2016. Thereafter, five such Adarsh Grams (one per year) will be selected and developed by 2024
Benefits
Activities
The elements of an Adarsh Gram would be contexted specific. However, it is still possible to broadly identify the essential activities. They would include:
1. Personal Development
2. Social Development
3. Human Development
4. Economic Development
5. Environmental Development
6. Social Security
7. Basic amenities & services
8. Good Governance
Personal development:
1. Inculcating hygienic behavior and practices
2. Fostering healthy habits including daily exercise and games
3. Reducing risk behavior- alcoholism, smoking, substance abuse, etc.
Human Development:
1. Universal access to basic health facilities consisting of health card, medical examination
2. Total immunization
3. Balancing the sex-ratio
4. 100% institutional delivery
5. Improving nutrition status for all, with special focus on children, adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers
6. Strong focus on the special needs of Persons with Disability (PWD), especially children and women
7. Universal access to education facilities up to Class X and retention
8. Conversion of schools into ‘smart schools. Smart schools will have IT-enabled classrooms, e-libraries, and web-based teaching and will make all students e-literate required for providing quality education
9. Adult literacy
10. E-literacy
11. Village libraries including e-libraries
Social development:
1. Activities for the promotion of voluntarism like Bharat Nirman Volunteers
2. Building the capacity of the people to fully participate and contribute to local development
3. Activities for honoring village elders, and local role models especially women, freedom fighters, and martyrs
4. Activities for violence and crime-free villages such as:
4.1 Setting up Citizen Committees
4.2 Sensitization, especially in youth
5. Village sports and folk arts festivals
6. Having a village song to instill a sense of pride among the people
7. Celebrating ‘Village Day’
8. Proactive steps for inclusion and integration of socially excluded groups, especially Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
Economic Development:
Promoting diversified agricultural and allied livelihoods, including livestock and horticulture, through-
1. Organic farming
2. Soil health cards
3. Crop intensification such as SRI
4. Setting up of seed banks
5. Collection and value addition to Non-Timber Forest Produce, Livestock development including Gobar Bank, cattle hostel
6. Livestock development including Gobar Bank, cattle hostel
7. Micro-irrigation
8. Agro-service centers
Rural industrialization:
1. Post-harvest technology applications
2. Micro-enterprises
3. Dairy development and processing
4. Food processing
5. Traditional Industries
6. Skill Development of all eligible youth for self-employment and placement
7. Village Tourism including eco-tourism
All the above activities should focus particularly on lifting households out of poverty, for which organizing and federating women SHGs, providing employment to all workers, and bringing about financial inclusion are very important.
Environmental Development:
1. Activities for a clean and green village consist of:
1.1 Providing toilets in each household and in all public institutions and ensuring their proper use
1.2 Appropriate solid and liquid waste management
2. Roadside plantations
3. Tree plantation in accordance with local preferences in homesteads, schools, and public institutions – including green walkways
4. Social forestry
5. Watershed management especially renovation and revival of traditional water bodies
6. Rainwater harvesting- rooftop as well as others
7. Reducing local pollution of air, water, and land
Basic amenities and services:
1. Pucca houses for all houseless poor/poor living in kutcha houses
2. Drinking water, preferably treated piped water with household taps
3. Internal all-weather roads with covered drains
4. All weather road connectivity to the main road network
5. Electricity connection to all households and street lights including from alternative sources of energy, especially solar
6. Pucca infrastructure for public institutions- Anganwadis, schools, health institutions, 7. Gram Panchayat Office, and libraries
8. Civic infrastructure including community halls, buildings for SHG federations, playgrounds, and burial grounds/ crematoria
9. Village markets
10. Infrastructure for PDS outlets
11. Micro mini banks /post offices/ATMs
12. Broadband connectivity and Common Service Centres
13. Telecom connectivity
14. CCTVs in public places
Social Security:
1. Pensions for all eligible families- old age, disability, and widow
2. Insurance schemes like Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana
3. Health insurance- RSBY
4. PDS- universal access to all eligible households
Good Governance:
1. Strengthening of local democracy through strong and accountable Gram Panchayats and active Gram Sabhas
2. e-Governance results in better service delivery
3. Provision of UIDAI cards to all
4. Ensuring regular and punctual attendance of government and panchayat staff
5. Time-bound service delivery in line with Department’s Citizens Charter
6. Holding of Mahila Gram Sabhas before every Gram Sabha
7. Holding a Gram Sabha at least 4 times a year
8. Holding of Bal Sabhas every quarter
9. Proactive disclosure of all information pertaining to the implementation of the program in the public domain and through wall-writing, and notice boards in the local language. This should necessarily include the list of beneficiaries, item-wise budgets, and expenditures.
9. Gram Panchayat acting as an information facilitation center
10. Timely redressal of grievances filed by people, such that:
10.1 Grievances of all nature to be submitted to the Gram Panchayat / Charge Officer and dated receipt to be given
10.2 Grievances are to be redressed within three weeks along with a written reply
Institutionalization of regular open platforms for the airing of grievances and their redressal, coordinated by the Gram Panchayat
Use of Technology and Innovation In SAGY
Adopting and adapting technology and introducing innovation is critical to this program. These would work broadly in the following areas:
1. Space application and remote sensing
2. Mobile-based technology
3. Agriculture-related technology and innovations
4. Livelihood-related technologies and innovations
5. Appropriate building construction technologies
6. Road construction technologies
7. Water supply and sanitation-related technologies