Schemes of Department of Rural Development, Uttarakhand :

India's soul resides in the villages. Imagine the progress of a country without making changes in the rural economy. The Ministry of Rural Development operates a number of development programs for eradicating rural poverty through the tireless efforts of the Government of India and the State Government. In addition to programs funded by the Government of India in Uttarakhand, the State Government has launched several innovative public welfare programs from its financial resources to eradicate poverty. Programs for Rural Economy and Infrastructure Facility Development, mainly by the Rural Development Department, are self employment programs, employment programs, rural housing programs, rural connectivity and field development programs.
    The State Government is not too far behind in the implementation of rural public welfare programs. Under the innovative initiative taken by the state government, Deendayal Uttarakhand Rural Housing Scheme is being implemented with state financial resources in the area of ??rural housing. Under the 12th Five Year Plan, the State Government is determined to make the residential facility to all poor people, local employment to every unemployed and self-employment by connecting each family with self employment. 
In the implementation of poverty alleviation programs, there is an active role in the selection, planning, execution and maintenance of various welfare schemes of three-tier Panchayats-Gram Panchayat, Zilla Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat of the state. Efforts are being made to make Swavalambi continuously by giving training to the three-tier Panchayats as well as providing training for awareness of duties.

Legislative fund :

At present, the State Government is paying Rs 2.50 crore per annum MLA money every year.Proposals are presented to the concerned Chief Development Officers for the basic requirements and demand based work of the local public, according to the requirements of the experienced members of the Legislative Assembly, in the field, as they are being experienced in the field. The implementation of the works is edited by the Government Department, Panchayat Raj Institutions and other institutions.

Deen Dayal Uttarakhand Rural Housing Scheme (State-funded scheme) :

To provide the permanent accommodation facility to the families residing in the habitatless / unoccupied housing living below the poverty line, the State Government started the scheme under the name of "Deen Dayal Uttarakhand Rural Housing Yojna" by the Uttarakhand Government from 25 September 2007.

Main features of the scheme :

• The main objective of the scheme is to provide financial assistance for the construction of new pucca housing of families having houses / raw houses having below poverty line on the basis of the 2002 BPL survey.
• Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided for construction of housing by providing one-time financial assistance to Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes, members of free bonded workers and people of general caste.

Quantization : The funds available under the scheme are quantified for different categories as follows:

1. During the financial year, at least 19 percent of the total allocation under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Housing Scheme is quantified to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families and 4 percent for Scheduled Tribe families.

2. For all physically and mentally challenged people of all classes, quantity is quantified.

3. There is a provision for the benefit of the unemployed BPL families of the remaining non-SC / ST tribes living below the poverty line.

Priority in selection of beneficiaries : The order of priority in selection of beneficiaries is as follows:

(1) Free bonded workers.

(2) Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes

(A) Families of Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes suffer from atrocities.

(B) Scheduled castes / Scheduled Tribe families whose heads are widows or unmarried women.

(C) Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribe families who suffer from flood, fire, earthquake, cyclone and any natural disaster.

(3) Widows / family members of Defense / Paramilitary forces killed during Kargil / Action.

(4) Non-Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribe families.

(5) Physically and mentally challenged persons

(6) retired staff of security forces / paramilitary forces. 

State Loan Co-Grant Rural Housing Scheme (State-funded scheme) :

The scheme is 100 percent state-funded. All rural households in the rural areas below the poverty line and above poverty line up to Rs 32000.00 are provided benefits by providing financial assistance and government grants to all the homeless families of the income group. Implementation of Yojana is being done in the rural areas of the entire state, which is less than 20km from metropolitan cities and big cities, and in small villages, out of the circumference of at least 5 kms. The total plan benefit including Rs. 40,000.00 loan and Rs. 10,000.00 government grant, is Rs 50,000.00 per business / co-operative banks for each family to be constructed under the scheme.

Uttarakhand Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Agency (USAATA) :

USAATA is a auditing agency set up by the Uttarakhand Government on the orders of the Union Government and Uttarakhand High Court (HC). This agency has been involved in social auditing of MNREGA and Mid Day Meal (MDM) schemes.

Informing about the social audit, the general people have every right to know about the schemes being rolled out by the Government. The people are not generally aware of the schemes which would help them in monitoring actual implementation of the scheme.

The  community participation is vital for establishing an accountable system in any programme, the need of social audit and its working plan of execution. The community based monitoring is the best mechanism for social auditing. Uttarakhand stands in third position in country on social audit of Government programmes.