Smart Village is a concept adopted by national, state and local governments of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, as an initiative focused on holistic

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 ...

, derived from

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

's vision of ''Adarsh Gram'' (Ideal Village) and ''

Swaraj Swarāj ( sa, स्वराज, translit=Svarāja '' sva-'' "self", '' raj'' "rule") can mean generally self-governance or "self-rule". It was first used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to attain self rule from the Mughal Empire and the Adil ...

'' (Self Reliance). Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

launched

Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana ( hi, सांसद आदर्श ग्राम योजना , abbr.: SAGY) is a rural development programme broadly focusing upon the development in the villages which includes social development, cultural dev ...

(SAGY) or SAANJHI) on 2 October 2014, Gandhi's birthday, in addition to

Smart Cities A smart city is a technologically modern urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect specific data. Information gained from that data is used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in return ...

and

Digital India Digital India is a campaign launched by the Government of India in order to ensure that the Government's services are made available to citizens electronically by improved online infrastructure and by increasing Internet connectivity or making ...

, as a development programme for India. The Parliamentarian's Model Village Scheme main goal is for each Member of Parliament and Minister to adopt a rural village and develop it into a model by 2019 under the SAGY guidelines. The vision of SAGY is an integrated village development plan, encompassing ''Personal'', ''Human'', ''Social'', and ''Economic'' dimensions.

Background

Smart Village India gets its foundation from

's vision of '' Adarsh Gram'' (model village) and '' Gram Swaraj'' (Village self-rule/independence). Gandhi in two texts, ''Hind Swaraj'' and ''Gram (Village) Swaraj'', promotes the concept of integrated rural development to impact majority of the population, as the primary initiative after India Independence in 1947. The Eco Needs Foundation has initiated the concept of "Smart Village". Under this project the Foundation is adopting villages and putting efforts for sustainable development by providing basic amenities like sanitation, safe drinking water, internal road, tree plantation, water conservation. The Foundation is also working for inculcating moral values in the society and for improving the standard of living of the villagers. In the concept of "Smart Village" the development of the village shall be based on the five paths Retrofitting, Redevelopment, Green fields, e-Pan, Livelihood. Under the concept of Smart Village, the Foundation has adopted Village Dhanora, Teh. Bari, District Dholpur, a small and remote village of Rajasthan to develop it as India's First Smart Village. The village is situated 30 km away from Dholpur district headquarter and 248 km from Jaipur. The population of the village is about 2,000. The village was devoid of its basic needs like sanitation, internal roads. It was also facing various other similar problems such as lack of access to potable water, non-availability of water conservation system, encroachment on the roads, power fluctuation, non-availability of employment oriented education, unemployment and poverty, so on and so forth. Prof. Priyanand Agale Founder of Eco Needs Foundation and Dr. Satyapal Sing Meena (IRS) Joint commissioner of Income Tax has converted this idea into reality. Smart village "copyright is on the name of Prof. Dr. Priyanand Agale and Dr. Satyapal Sing Meena. smart village Dhanora has become role model of Rural Development. Dhanora village was also given an award by Prime minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi in the year 2018.

Implementation by states

The following states and territories participate in the programme.

References

{{Reflist Projects established in 2014 Modi administration initiatives