This File was last Updated/Modified: November 12 2014 08:15:10.

Rural Development

Through the Plans

Five Year Plans : First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth Tenth Eleventh

The function of the Rural Development Division is primarily to provide overall policy guidance in formulation of plans and programmes for Rural Development. This is the nodal Division for matters relating to poverty eradication, employment generation in rural areas and Land Record Modernization Programme (NLRMP). The following specific activities are undertaken by Division;

1. To assist in formulation of rural development programmes to be included in Five Year Plans and Annual Plans and to make periodic assessment of progress achieved.
2. To maintain liaison with Ministry of Rural Development, National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) and other allied organisations mainly and participating in the meetings.
3. To collect information from various Divisions of the Planning Commission, State Governments and also from the Central Ministries which are implementing various schemes related to rural development.
4. To organize Working Group meetings to finalise the Draft Five Year Plan proposals of the State Governments. This involves the preparation of background papers, discussions on inter-se plan priorities, critical examination of plan proposals in relation to plan objectives and approaches, preparation of Working Group Reports giving, inter-alia, outlays and physical targets.
5. Finalisation of the Five Year Plan outlays of the Ministry of Rural Development. Finalisation of Annual Plans of the Central Ministry of Rural Development and State Governments. This includes assessment of progress both in physical and financial terms, in relation to the approved targets and outlays, scheme-wise examination of proposals and reviewing targets and finalizing allocation for next Annual Plan.
6. To provide comments, materials etc. for Public representations, VIP references, Parliament Questions and Agenda items for the meetings of Consultative Committee/ Standing Committee for the Planning Commission pertaining to rural development sector are also attended to.

The Rural Development Division looks after the following programmes being implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD):
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)

The MNREGA was launched on February 2, 2006 and the first full year of operation was 2006-07 covering 200 districts. The programme was expanded to 330 districts in 2007-08 and covers the whole country from 1.4.08. The MGNREGA aims at enhancing the livelihood security of the people in rural areas by providing guaranteed wage employment through works that create durable assets and strengthen the livelihood resource base of the rural poor. The choice of works suggested addresses causes of chronic poverty like drought, deforestation and soil erosion etc. The MGNREGA thus provides a social safety net for the vulnerable groups and an opportunity to combine growth with equity. The implementation of Act ensures that local employment is available to every rural household for at least 100 days in a financial year.

Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)/ National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM):

Swarnjayanti Gram SwarozgarYojana was launched in April 1999 following the restructuring of the erstwhile integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) and its allied programmes along with Million Wells Scheme (MWS). The objective of SGSY is to bring the poor families (swarozgaris) above the poverty lines by organizing them into self-help groups (SHGs) through the process of social mobilization, their training and capacity building and provision of income-generating assets through mix of bank credit and government subsidy. The SGSY programme is conceived as a process-oriented programme for the poor with emphasis on social mobilization and formation of SHGs. Funding pattern is 75:25 between Centre and States and 100% central assistance in case of UTs.
The SGSY has been restructured as National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) renamed as Aajeevika to implement it in a mission mode in a phased manner for targeted and time bound delivery of results. Aajeevika will support creations of strong institutions of the rural poor and will also support them in increasing their incomes through improvements in their existing livelihoods and also diversifying into new livelihoods. In order  to  ensure  a  holistic  approach towards income enhancement of the rural poor, Aajeevika will focus on four streams of livelihoods which would be as follows:

• coping with vulnerabilities – debt bondage, food insecurity, migration, health  shocks
• existing  livelihoods –  stabilizing  and expanding, making them sustainable
• self employment - micro-enterprise development
• skilled wage employment - opportunities in growing sectors of the economy

Key Features of Aajeevika include Universal  Social  Mobilization, Promotion of Institutions of the poor, Training, Capacity building and skill building, Revolving  Fund  and  Capital  Subsidy, Universal  Financial  Inclusion, Provision  of  Interest  Subsidy, Infrastructure  creation  and  Marketing support and Skills and Placement Projects.

Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY)

The Indira AwaasYojana (IAY) is a flagship scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development to provide houses to below the poverty line (BPL) families in the rural areas. It has been in operation since 1985-86.

The funding of IAY is shared between the Centre and States in the ratio of  75:25. In the case of UTs, entire funds of IAY are provided by the Centre. However, in the case of NE States, the funding pattern has been changed and at present is in the ratio of 90:10. The ceiling on construction assistance under IAY is Rs. 70,000/- per unit in the plain areas and Rs. 75,000/- in hilly/difficult areas. In addition, all nationalized banks have been instructed to include the IAY houses under the Differential Rate of Interest (DRI) scheme for lending upto Rs. 20,000/- per housing unit at interest rate of 4% for SC/ST beneficiaries. For up gradation of kutcha houses, the financial assistance is Rs. 15,000/- per unit.

National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP)

NSAP was launched by Government of India on 15th August, 1995 with the aim to provide social assistance benefit to poor households in the case of old age, widows, disabled and death of primary breadwinner of the BPL households. The programme supplements the efforts of the State Governments with the objective of ensuring minimum national levels of well being and the Central Assistance is an addition to the benefit that the States are already providing on Social Protection Scheme. With a view to ensure better linkage with nutrition and national population control programmes, the maternity benefit component of the NSAP was transferred to the Department of Family Welfare, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare from the year 2001-02. NSAP, at present, comprises of Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS), Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS), National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) and Annapurna Scheme.
 The funds under NSAP were released as Additional Central Assistance (ACA) till 2013-14 by the Ministry of Finance on the recommendation of MoRD, as NSAP has been transferred to State Plan w.e.f. 2002-03. From 2014-15, NSAP is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme under Ministry of Rural Development and funds are routed through the consolidated fund of State.

The components and scale of Central Assistance under NSAP is as follows:

• Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS): Rs. 200/- per month per beneficiary to BPL persons who are in the age group of 60-79 years and Rs 500/- per month to 80 years and above.
• Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Schemes (IGNWPS):Rs. 300/- per month per beneficiary who are BPL and in the age group of 40-79 years.
• Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS): Rs. 300/- per month per beneficiary who are in the age group of 18-79 years.
• National Family Benefit Scheme: Rs. 20000/- to the bereaved household in case of the death of primary bread winner of the family. The eligibility criteria are BPL person who is primary bread winner of the family and in the age group of 18-59 years.
• Annapurna Scheme: 10 kg of food grain (wheat or rice) per month per beneficiary to those who are not covered under IGNOAPS.

National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP):

For modernization of land records system in the country, a modified programme, viz., the National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP) has been formulated by merging two Centrally-sponsored schemes of Computerization of Land Records (CLR) and Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA&ULR) in the Department of Land Resources (DoLR), Ministry of Rural Development. The NLRMP was approved by the Cabinet on 21.08.2008.

The integrated programme would modernize management of land records, minimize scope of land/property disputes, enhance transparency in the land records maintenance system, and facilitate moving eventually towards guaranteed conclusive titles to immovable properties in the country. The major components of the programme are computerization of all land records including mutations, digitization of maps and integration of textual and spatial data, survey/re-survey and updation of all survey and settlement records including creation of original cadastral records wherever necessary, computerization of registration and its integration with the land records maintenance system, development of core Geospatial Information System (GIS) and capacity building. Detailed Guidelines and Technical Manual for better implementation of the NLRMP Manuals have been prepared after obtaining inputs from the leading technical agencies as well as from the field experience of States.

The main objective of the NLRMP is to develop a modern, comprehensive and transparent land records management system in the country with the aim to implement the conclusive land-titling system with title guarantee, which will be based on four basic principles, i.e., (i) a single window to handle land records (including the maintenance and updating of textual records, maps, survey and settlement operations and registration of immovable property), (ii) the mirror principle, which refers to the fact that cadastral records mirror the ground reality, (iii) the curtain principle which indicates that the record of title is a true depiction of the ownership status, mutation is automated and automatic following registration and the reference to past records is not necessary, and (iv) title insurance, which guarantees the title for its correctness and indemnifies the title holder against loss arising on account of any defect therein.