Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY)

PMGY was launched in 2000-01 in all States and Union Territories (UTs) in order to achieve the objective of sustainable human development at the village level. PMGY envisages allocation of Additional Central Assistance (ACA) to the States and UTs for selected basic minimum services in order to focus on certain priority areas. PMGY initially had five components viz., primary health, primary education, rural shelter, rural drinking water and nutrition. Rural electrification was added as an additional component from 2001-02. Both financial and physical monitoring of the programme is being carried out by the Planning Commission.

Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)

After a review and restructuring of the erstwhile Integrated Rural Development Program and allied schemes, SGSY was launched in April 1999 and is the only self-employment Programme currently being implemented. The objective of the SGSY is to bring the assisted Swarozgaris above the poverty line by providing them income-generating assets through bank credit and Government subsidy. The Scheme is being implemented on a 75:25 cost sharing of between the Centre and the States.

Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY)

The SGRY was launched in September 2001, by merging the ongoing Schemes of Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY) and Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS). The objective of the programme is to provide additional wage employment in the rural areas as also food security, along with the creation of durable community, social and economic infrastructure in rural areas. The SGRY is open to all rural poor who are in need of wage employment and desire to do manual and unskilled work in and around the village/habitat. The Scheme is implemented through Panchayati Raj Institutions. The scheme envisages generation of 100 crore man-days of employment in a year. The cost of each component of the programme is shared by the Centre and States in the ratio of 75:25.

Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY)

AAY was launched in December 2000. Under the scheme 1 crore of the poorest among the BPL families covered under the targeted public distribution system are identified. Twenty-five kilograms (kg) of food grains were made available to each eligible family at a highly subsidized rate of Rs. 2 per kg for wheat and Rs. 3 per kg for rice. This quantity has been enhanced from 25 to 35 kgs with effect from April 2002. The scheme has been further expanded in June 2003 to all BPL families.

Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY)

The Urban Self-Employment Program and the Urban Wage Employment Program are two special schemes of the SJSRY initiated in December 1997, which replaced various programs operated earlier for urban poverty alleviation. Between the Centre and the States, SJSRY is funded on a 75:25 basis.

Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY)

The VAMBAY was launched in December 2001 to ameliorate the conditions of the urban slum dwellers living below the poverty line without adequate shelter. The scheme has the primary objective of facilitating the construction and up-gradation of dwelling units for slum dwellers and providing a healthy and enabling urban environment through community toilets under Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, a component of the scheme. The Central Government provides a subsidy of 50 per cent, the balance 50 per cent being arranged by the State Government. There are prescribed ceilings on costs both for dwelling units and community toilets.

Rural Housing Schemes

Rural housing schemes such as Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) aim at providing dwelling units, free of cost, to the poor families of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled (STs), freed bonded laborers and also the non-ST/ST persons Below Poverty Line (BPL) in the rural areas. The Scheme is funded on a cost-sharing basis of 75:25 between the Center and States. In additional, the innovative scheme of Rural Housing and Habitat Development and Rural Building Centers (RBCs) was introduced to encourage innovative, cost effective and environment friendly solutions in building/housing sectors in rural areas. A National Mission for Rural Housing and Habitat has also been set up to address the critical issues of ‘housing gap’ and induction of science and technology inputs into the housing/construction sector in rural areas.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)

The PMGSY, was launched in December 2000, to provide road connectivity to 1.6 lakh unconnected habitations with population of 500 persons or more (250 in case of hilly, desert and tribal areas) in the rural areas by the end of the Tenth Plan period. It is being executed in all the States and six UTs. The National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA), registered under the Societies Registration Act, provides Operations and Management support for the program.

New Food-for-Work Scheme

National Rural Employment Programme: The Union Cabinet cleared the ‘new food-for-work Scheme that will eventually be converted into the National Rural Employment Programme based on a National Employment Guarantee Act.

Guarantee For Work : This Guarantees 100 Days Employment To All Able Bodied Person In Rural Areas.

Food-For Work: Initially, the scheme will be implemented in 150 districts, covering almost the entire country, with the bulk of the benefit likely to go to backward districts in Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Centre’s Allocation: The Centre Has Allocated Rs 2020 Crores For The New ‘Food-For-Work’ Scheme. The Scheme Will Be Given 4000 Crores For The Next Six Months.

National Food-For-Work Programme: On November 14, 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the national food-for-work programme. This scheme will provide additional supplementary wage employment through creation of need based economic, social and community assets.

Wage Employment: Under the scheme, five kilograms of food grains per man per day will be given to labours, with a minimum of 25 per cent wages in cash. The Center would provide food-grains and cash component to the states to generated additional wage employment.

MAHATAMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was enacted by legislation on August 25, 2005. It was launched on February 2, 2006.  NREGA is the flagship programme of the UPA Government that directly touches lives of the poor and promotes inclusive growth. The Act aims at enhancing livelihood security of households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The ongoing programmes of Sampoorn Grameen Rozgar Yojna& National Food for Work Programme were subsumed within this programme in the 200 of the most backward districts of the country, in which it was introduced in phase1. In phase-2, it was introduced in 130 additional districts. The scheme was extended to 274 rural districts from April1, 2008 in phase-3.NREGA is the first ever law internationally, that guarantees wage employment at an unprecedented scale. Dr. Jean Drèze, a Belgian born economist, at the Delhi School of Economics, has been a major influence on this project.

On October, 2009, it was renamed after the father of the national on the occasion of golden jubilee of Panchayati Raj in India.

OBJECTIVES

• Augmenting wage employment and strengthening natural resource management through works that address causes of chronic poverty like drought, deforestation and soil erosion and so encourage sustainable development.
• Strengthening grassroots processes of democracy by infusing transparency and accountability in governance. Strengthening decentralization and deepening processes of democracy by giving a pivotal role to the Panchayati Raj Institutions in planning, monitoring and implementation.

UNIQUE FEATURES

• Time bound employment guarantee and wage payment within 15 days.
• Incentive cum disincentive structure to the State Governments for providing employment as 90 per cent of the cost for employment provided is borne by the Centre or payment of unemployment allowance at their own cost and emphasis on labour intensive works prohibiting the use of contractors and machinery. The Act mandates 33 percent participation for women.