Pradhan Mantri Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY)

Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY), Sansad Gram Yojna (Sagy) is a relatively new and effective scheme launched by the prime minister of India – Shri Narendra Modi, with the simple focus of development of Indian villages in their social and cultural aspects. The principle aim is to spread motivation among people to create social mobility among villages. This program was launched amid much fan fare on October 11th of 2014, the birth anniversary of Shri Jayprakash Narayan.

Objectives:

The key objectives of the program include,

1. The development of model villages, also called as ‘Adrash Grams’. This is done by implementation of existing schemes and certain new schemes that are appropriate for the villages in the local context.

2. Create these model villages and then replicate them in other villages all across the country.

Guidelines & Details :

Under this scheme, the idea is to bring all the members of parliament, irrespective of their political affiliations, to adopt one village in their constituency and ensure that the village turns into a model village by the 2019 general assembly elections. Post that they can choose more than one village and make a 10 year plan to improve the village. The following are the guidelines.

1. Each member of the parliament has to choose a village in their constituency that is not their own village or their in-laws village. This has to be a completely separate village.

2. The MP then has to set targets for the village to be called a model village and establish the parameters that will define if the parameters have been met or not.

3. The end goal should be to meet the bare essentials of the village community like, smart schools, universal and accessible healthcare and pukka homes for the villagers.

The funds for this scheme are not separate and are already baked in the union budget. The funds may be raised through, existing schemes such as Indira Awas Yojna, Pradhan mantra gram sadak yojna, Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee scheme and backward region grants scheme. Etc. Other options available for the member of the parliament are sources such as MP Local Area Development Scheme, the gram panchayat’s own revenue, Central and state finance commission grants, and corporate responsibility funds from established corporate in the constituency.

The MP will also establish two committees headed by the rural development minister and secretary of rural development. The committee will be headed by the chief secretary and facilitated by the district collector. They need to be supported by the village gram panchayat members and office bearers. This executive committee will be responsible for monitoring the progress of the implementation of the scheme, identifying the bottlenecks and helping to remove them in the implementation process. They will also establish the operating procedure to undergo the implementation program in a seamless manner.

The committee executives also should ensure that all resources are available for the implementation. While doing so, they will also monitor the monthly progress of the scheme and its ability to meet the final objectives. The district collector will establish the grievance redressal forum and establish a mechanism to address all the grievances during the implementation of the program. While doing so, they will also ensure that the right facilitation is ready for the village to be prepared for the implementation of the scheme in a thought through and established manner.

They will also conduct the baseline survey, of the program and report the progress to the committee and the MP on a regular basis. While doing so, they will also converge the existing relevant schemes under this umbrella scheme. The gram panchayat members and its office bearers will implement the scheme as per the design and the standard operating procedure. But before that they have to be able to clearly identify the goals that are relevant to their village and articulate it with the committee in an effective manner. They will use the resources available and provided to them in the most prudent and effective manner to utilize them to the maximum extent possible. They are also expected to ensure that the whole village participation in the scheme and implementation of the program.

Advantages & Disadvantages :

Since this is an umbrella scheme and not a new scheme, it is expected to bring sanity and clarity to the villagers and the gram panchayat in terms of converging all the schemes under one. The main benefits of such a scheme are.

1. Better utilization of funds available – With all the funds existing in various schemes, there is always a possibility of the funds not being used effectively. This scheme provides the umbrella banner to make use of the funds across schemes in a better manner.

2. Larger scope of growth – since one guideline rule for the scheme is that the chosen village has to be an independent village and not either the MPs own village or their spouses, the possibility of new villages getting developed is high.

     3. Viral effect – The idea is to create a model village that other villages look up to and emulate.                This makes the viral effect and over the years, most villages would be self sufficient and                     developed.

Overall, about 2400 – 3000 villages with an average population of 2500 residents in each village are expected to benefit from this scheme. If this clubbed with the state-level village improvement schemes, then approximately 6000 villages are expected to benefited. However there are some potential or perceived disadvantages. While the advantages overweigh the disadvantages. Some of these said disadvantages are listed below.

1. While utilization of funds at a central or converged level may be an advantage, if there are no sufficient funds in any of those already existing schemes, then this scheme is bound to fail.

2. The need for multiple levels of officials and dignitaries to come together and manage such a huge project is often time consuming and may not be an effective model.

    3. The ownership of the success of this project is not set and it allows various parties to blame                 game if things fail. There does not seem to be a governance mechanism to peg responsibility               and authority at the right places.

However, if the project is designed and implemented in the right format, and in its letter and spirit, this has a huge potential to succeed and become the game changer for the way villages in India are administered and developed. A holistic development including the society and the culture, that is customized to the local needs is the right approach and way forward for India’s millions of villages to be self dependent and successful.