Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) is a

rural development Rural development is the process of improving the quality life and economic well-being of people living in rural areas, often relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas. Rural development has traditionally centered on the exploitation of l ...

programme launched by the central government in India in the financial year 2009–10 for the development of villages having a higher ratio (over 50%) of people belonging to the

scheduled caste The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

s through convergence of central and state schemes and allocating financial funding on a per village basis. The plan is considered ambitious as it aims to bring a number of development programs to the villages. Some of these programs are

Bharat Nirman Bharat Nirman is an Indian plan for creating basic rural infrastructure. It is a step in bridging the gap between rural and urban areas and improving the quality of lives of rural masses. It comprises projects on irrigation, roads (Pradhan Mant ...

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(PMGSY) for rural roads, water supply, housing, electrification and other big-ticket schemes like

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, and sanitation. This program would be applicable to around 44,000 villages which had a scheduled castes population above 50% and so qualified for PMAGY.

Political background

This Program was brought by the UPA coalition government supported by the left parties. The project was aimed at getting a larger political role in scheduled caste (dalit) politics and was thought of strengthening the votebank of UPA leaders in regions having a high dalit population. The program was considered beneficial by the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

party as the scheme gave a direct role to Centre to develop dalits at the grassroots. Congress hoped to improve its election results in states such as

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

, Maharashtra,

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

and

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

which will have a large number of beneficiary villages.

The plan

The Plan aims to build an "Adarsh Gram" (Model village} which has adequate physical and institutional infrastructure, in which minimum needs of all sections of the society are fully met. The village which is progressive and dynamic and its residents live in harmony. All the facilities necessary for dignified living should be available and the residents are enabled to utilise their potential to the fullest. Pradhanmantri Adarsh Gram Yojana was announced by the Finance Minister while presenting the

Union Budget of India The Union Budget of India, also referred to as the ''Annual Financial Statement'' in Article 112 of the Constitution of India, is the annual budget of the Republic of India. The Government presents it on the first day of February so that it coul ...

2009–10. Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) was formally launched in 18 B.B village in

Sri Ganganagar district Sri Ganganagar district is the northernmost district of Rajasthan States and territories of India, state in western India. History Named after Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner, Sri Ganganagar district was part of Bikaner state. This was a m ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

on 23 July 2010. The scheme was launched by Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister

Mukul Wasnik Mukul Balkrishna Wasnik (born 27 September 1959) is an Indian Politician. He was the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment in Government of India. He represented the Ramtek constituency of Maharashtra from 2009 to 2014. He is a member of ...

with a reading of the Prime Minister's message emphasising that the scheme ''aims at integrated development of 1,000 villages, where a majority of the population belongs to the Scheduled Castes.'' The Government press release had mentioned five states

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

, Rajasthan,

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

(225 villages in each state) and

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

(100 villages) for the initial implementation of the program. Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana(PMAGY) comes under the

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is a Government of India ministry. It is responsible for welfare, social justice and empowerment of disadvantaged and marginalised sections of society, including scheduled castes (SC), Other Backwar ...

Funding

In the launching phase the Centre had allocated a sum of to Assam, Bihar and Rajasthan. As a pilot project the program was implemented in 1,000 villages in

, Bihar,

, Rajasthan and

with an allocation of with each village to get per year. In September 2011 the annual funding on the project was raised to per village and had been spent in these villages till then. In the 12 Five Year Plan the government plans to cover 44,000 villages with an allocation of to each villages.

Implementation

The aim of the scheme is to integrated development of the selected villages so that they have all required physical and social infrastructure for an all round socio-economic development. Another objectives of the plan is elimination of disparity between SCs and other communities in terms of common socio-economic indicators such as literacy rate, completion rate of elementary education, infant mortality rate/maternal mortality rate and ownership of productive assets. To ensure the implementation two committees an advisory committee headed by the Deputy Chief Minister and a steering committee headed by the Chief Secretary have been formed.

Works/activities

The scheme aims to cover 50 monitorable indicators under 10 domains which are i) Drinking water and Sanitation ii) Education iii) Health and Nutrition iv) Social Security v) Rural Roads and Housing vi) Electricity and Clean Fuel vii) Agricultural Practices etc. viii) Financial Inclusion ix) Digitization x) Livelihood and Skill Development. More details are available on official website o
PMAGY

References