[67th BPSC] Bihar: Rural Development-II

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)

• The implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) started in the country in 2005 with the objective to offer 100 days of guaranteed unskilled employment to interested rural households.
• These works would strengthen the rural infrastructure in terms of durable individual and community asset creation for the poor families. The Act also targets those families whose working members used to migrate to other places, within or outside the state, in search of livelihood.
• Being one of the largest generators of unskilled employment, MGNREGS has steadily increased the employment opportunity. The number of job cards issued and the number of households provided with employment have constantly increased during 2016-17 to 2020-21.
  • In 2020-21, there were a total of 187.5 lakh job cards, an increase of 29.0 percent over 145.3 lakh in 2016-17. A similar increase has also observed in the number of households provided with employment from 22.9 lakh in 2016-17 to 51.0 lakh in 2020-21 (increase of 132.2 percent).
  • From the table, one can also observe that employment generated and the number of completed work in the last five years have also increased steadily.
• There are many developmental works that have been completed under the MGNREGS. The share of the different categories of work done under MGNREGS has changed over the years.
  • In the last two years (2019-20 and 2020-21) the share of work done on individual land has increased massively — it is 87.0 percent (2019-20) and 88.8 (2020-21).
  • In 2020-21, rural connectivity, land development, water conservation, and water harvesting have been the main focus of works under MGNREGS in Bihar.
  • The total number of works done under MGNREGS has been increasing constantly, from 78, 192 in 2016-17 to 9,82,728 in 2020-21.
• Role of MGNREGS in Environmental Preservation:
  • Natural Resource Management (NRM) is a crucial part of the MGNREGA and, as per the guidelines of the Act, a minimum of 65 percent of work has to be done to preserve environment.
  • NRM aims to strengthen the rural environment by increasing the moisture level of the ground and surfaces. It has been observed that the increase in water table and soil moisture has resulted in an increase in the vegetative cover.
  • A total of 120 lakh plants were planted in 2020-21 and this covers roadside plantations, plantations around traditional water bodies, plantations on government land and finally, plantation on individual lands.
  • These plantations are contributing towards environmental resurgence. The traditional water bodies in the state are freed from encroachments and rejuvenated, followed by plantations around them.
  • Campaigns are also organised to motivate and sensitise the community members, resulting in the plantation on individual lands.
  • The plantation schemes are proposed by Gram Sabha, followed by the technical sanction through Software for Estimate Calculation using Rural Rates for Employment (SECURE).
  • In Bihar, there is a provision of ‘Vanposhaks‘ to take care of plants for five years from the date of plantation.
  • Thus, plantation also helps in strengthening livelihood options of rural households.
• Due to the steep increase in population and careless exploitation of groundwater, the status of environment in Bihar is presently alarming.
  • To protect environment, it is necessary to both expand the green cover as well as increase the groundwater level. Towards this, the State Government has launched Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali mission in 2019.
    • The Rural Development Department (RDD) has been given the responsibility to lead the mission, with necessary cooperation of other relevant Departments.
    • One of the objectives of the Jal-Jeewan-Hariyali mission is to identify all public water storage structures such as pond/ canals / Aahar / Pynes and their renovation.
  • Some other important objectives of Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali mission are:
    • To construct blotting / recharging structures alongside all public wells / hand pumps and tube wells.
    • To construct check dams and other water harvesting structures in small rivers / drains and water storage structures in hilly areas.
    • To create new water resources and build the structure of rainwater harvesting in all government buildings.
    • To motivate villagers to build the structure of rainwater harvesting in private buildings.
    • To organize plantation campaign.
    • To encourage farmers to opt for alternative crops, drip irrigation, organic farming, and other new technologies, so that dependence on the traditional methods of cultivation and irrigation is lessened.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G)

• The Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) was restructured in April 2016 into Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G). It is a Central Government scheme to provide ‘ Housing for All ‘ by 2022. This scheme aims to provide a 25 square meter pucca house to all households with basic amenities.
• The unit assistance was increased from Rs. 70,000 to Rs. 1.20 lakh in plains and from Rs. 75,000 to Rs. 1.30 lakh in Integrated Action Plan (IAP) districts.
• The beneficiary is entitled to 90-95 person- days of unskilled labor under MGNREGA.
• The cost of unit assistance is to be shared between Central and State Governments in the ratio 60:40. The eligible families under PMAY-G are listed on the basis of Socio-economic and Caste Census data (SECC, 2011).
• This scheme aims to improve the living condition of extremely poor families, who do not have their own pucca house.
• Over the years, PMAY-G has exceeded the target of providing pucca houses to the eligible household, except in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
• The expenditure for PMAY-G has increased over the years from Rs. 1275.9 crore in 2015-16 to Rs. 9856.8 crore in 2020-21, an increase of about eight times in five years.
• The share of SC/ST in the total expenditure for PMAY – G has decreased steadily over the years. It is probably because of the fact that the coverage of PMAY-G for SC/ST households in earlier years was very high and, as such, the number of uncovered SC/ST households is now limited.

Distribution of Homestead Land

• The Revenue and Land Reforms Department of the State Government has a crucial role in providing homestead land to the landless and homeless households in the state.
• Under Abhiyan Basera, Mahadalit Development Scheme and Grihsthal Yojana are two major schemes initiated by the State Government for providing housing facility.
• The Mahadalit Development Scheme had started in 2009-10 to make homestead land available to the Mahadalit families without home.
  • Under this scheme, a survey was done to identify the eligible households and all of them were supposed to be provided with the homestead land within five years.
  • But even after 2017-18, it was observed that only 56.1 percent of eligible households had received homestead land.
  • Therefore, this scheme was extended. The rationale behind the extension of the scheme was to ensure that no family remains in Bihar without homestead land.
  • By 2020-21 , the coverage of the scheme has been extended substantially for all of households — Backward Class I (75.0 percent), Backward Class II (69.0 percent), Scheduled Castes (67.3 percent), Scheduled Tribes (71.1 percent) and Mahadalit (72.2 percent).
• As mentioned before, the Department of Revenue and Land Reforms of the State Government plays an important role in providing and distributing homestead land.
• The revenue collected from land was Rs. 972.9 crore in 2016-17, which steadily and stood at only Rs. 253.3 crore in 2020-21. On the other hand, the number of beneficiaries under land distribution increased immensely from 32.0 thousand in 2016-17 to 92.9 thousand in 2020—21, an increase of 138.1 percent in five years.
• Other two schemes (Grihsthal Yojana and Tribal Sub-Plan) were inoperative in 2018-19. In the next year (2019-20), all the schemes were inoperative, because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • However, in 2020-21 , all the schemes became operative again with financial achievements — Mahadalit Vikas Yojana (37.0 percent), Grihsthal Yojana (1.0 percent) and Tribal Sub-Plan (40.0 percent).

Department of Food and Consumer Protection

• An important policy of the State Government is to ensure the availability of adequate, affordable and quality essential commodities for people, especially the poor.
• In eradicating hunger and ensuring proper nutrition of the population, the Public Distribution System (PDS) plays an important role in the state, as elsewhere in India.
• The main aim of PDS, run by the Food and Consumer Protection Department of the State Government, is to ensure food security of the people through supply of foodgrains and other items at subsidized rate to the Priority Households (PHH) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) families.
• The State Government also makes efforts to control food prices, black marketing, hoarding of essential commodities and to protect consumer rights.
• Under PDS, the process of issuing Ration Card to get the essential foodgrains has now been digitized through Ration Card management system, also called Jan Vitran App (JVN).
  • This App provides features to generate new Ration Card for the eligible household, modify existing Ration Card, or surrender them.
  • It also provides features to generate new Ration Cards, in case of a split in the family, or change of Card type, or change of the head of a family.
• The total number of PDS dealers in Bihar was 47,854 in 2021, increasing from 47,243 a year ago.
  • The backward castes account for the largest share of PDS dealership (23.1 percent), followed by general castes (17.8 percent) and castes (15.8 percent).
  • Between 2020 and 2021, this social profile of PDS dealers has not changed much.
• To provide adequate amount of foodgrains to the eligible households, Food Corporation of India (FCI) allocates wheat and rice to the State Government each year.
  • The success of PDS in Bihar can be assessed by looking at the quantity of allotted foodgrains that was lifted by the State Government.
  • These allotments are made separately for two components of PDS-Priority Households (PHH) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY).
• In 2020-21 , the total allotment was 54139.2 thousand tonnes, and the amount lifted was 51725.2 thousand tonnes. This implied a lifting of 95.6 percent.
  • The lifting Of foodgrains from FCI has always been above 95 percent in all these five years.
  • The lifting percentage for foodgrains is very close to 100 percent for both wheat and rice in all the districts.

Panchayati Raj Institutions

• The rural development is the main component of the overall development of the state, because of the large share of its rural population. To strengthen efforts for rural development, Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) are operational in Bihar, which play an important role as the lowest level of the three-tier governance structure.
• The development programmes of the Panchayati Raj Institutions focus on economic development, social justice and environmental protection, and thereby empower the local community.
• The Panchayati Raj Institutions comprise three levels Gram Panchayat ( GP) at village level, Panchayat Samiti (PS) at Block level and Zila Parishad (ZP) at district level.
  • These are not only constitutional bodies to involve local people in planning, implementation and monitoring of various development scheme, it also endeavours to empower vulnerable and marginalized sections of society by their social and economic upliftment.
• Under the PRIs, there are 38 Zila Parishads, 533 Panchayat Samitis and 8067 Gram Panchayats in Bihar.
  • In these institutions, there are 1161 Zila Parishad members, 11,497 Panchayat Samiti members and 11,4691 Gram Panchayat members. They are all elected functionaries.
  • In addition, in PRIs, there are also some paid employees Zila Panchayati Raj Officers (38), Block Panchayati Raj Officers (716) and Nyaya Mitras (6947).
• The different levels of PRI receive grants partly from the Central Government (on the basis of the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission) and the rest from the State Government (on the basis of the recommendations of the Sixth State Finance Commission).
  • For 2020-21 , a total of Rs. 5018.0 crore was received as share of the Central Government fund for the PRIs and is distributed among GP, PS and ZP in the ratio 70:20:10.
  • According to the Report of the Fifteenth Finance Commission,
    • 50 percent of the total grant to the PRIs will be used for the specific needs of institutions, except establishment and committed expenditures.
    • The rest 50 percent will be a tied grant, which can be spent on two basic necessities —
      • first, to maintain the sanitation level and ODF free status of the area and,
      • second, to ensure supply of drinking water, rain water harvesting and water recycling.
    • The PRIs can use this tied grant equally on sanitation and drinking water supply, but in case of saturation in any aspect, the grant can be moved to the other component.
• Between 2016-17 and 2020-21 , the total financial resources of PRIs has increased by 26.6 percent. In 2016-17, it was Rs. 6192.2 crore, while in 2020-21 it was Rs. 7842.4 crore. However, this increase was not a steady phenomenon, there were fluctuations.
• Secondly, the source of finance for Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads is transfers, as recommended by the Central and State Finance Commissions.
  • However, at the Gram Panchayat level, the Finance Commission transfers are supplemented by some project-specific transfers.
  • But, even at the Gram Panchayat level, nearly 80 percent of the financial resources are accounted for by Finance Commission transfers.
• Gram Panchayat Development Programmes
  • At present, for a number of development programmes of the State Government, the Gram Panchayats are the principal implementing agency. The ‘Saat Nishchay’ programme of the State Government is one such development programme.
    • Two components of this ambitious programme were planned to be implemented by the Gram Panchayats Mukhyamantri Gramin Peyajal Nishchaya Yojana and Mukhyamantri Gramin Gali-Nali Pakkikaran Nishchaya Yojana.
  • As regards the Mukhyamantri Gramin Peyajal Nishchaya Yojana, a number of plans have been implemented by the Gram Panchayats to ensure supply of safe drinking water to rural households through pipelines.
    • Generally, an implementation plan is made separately for each ward. The supply of water is planned in each ward through a boring, a submersible pump and distribution pipelines. To ensure the availability and purity of water, a minimum depth of 100 metres is ensured each boring.
    • The execution of the plan is monitored by the Ward Implementation and Management Committee. Till date, out of 58,107 wards under 4291 Gram Panchayats, 56,000 wards have already been provided with piped drinking water facility.
  • For implementation of the Mukhyamantri Gramin Gali-Nali Pakkikaran Nishchaya Yojana, Gram Panchayats have made ward-specific plans, keeping in mind geographical feature of each ward, like type of soil and water drainage pattern.
    • The Department of Rural Development of the State Government has been consulted for preparation of standard procedure for the scheme.

• • Yet another development programme of the State Govemment which is being implemented by the Gram Panchayats is the ‘Solar Street Light Scheme’ in all villages.
    • This scheme falls under Saat Nishchaya-2 of the State Government for the period 2020-25. This scheme also falls under the ambitious programme ‘Swachh Gaon, Sammriddh Gaon‘, which aims to install solar lights in all villages.
    • The scheme will be implemented during 2021-22 and 2022-23, and it Will be maintained for the next five years. The Bihar Renewable Energy Development Authority (BREDA) will enlist the agencies that will implement the scheme by installing solar lights at points identified by Gram Panchayats.
    • The cost of the scheme is Rs. 2000 crore. The transfers recommended by the Fifteenth Central Finance Commission will cover 75 of the total cost of the scheme; the remaining 25 percent will be from the transfers by the Sixth State Finance Commission.

Achievements of Panchayati Raj Institution of Bihar at National Level

• In 2020, Ministry of Panchayati Raj Institution, Government of India has given award to the following Gram Panchayats/ Zila Parishads for their outstanding work during 2018-19.
• Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Purashkar (DDUPSP) (2020)
  • Zila Parishad : Aurangabad
  • Panchayat Samiti : (1) Masaudhi block of Patna district, (2) Akodhigola block of Rohtas district, (3) Kutumba block of Aurangabad district, and (4) Rafiganj block of Aurangabad district.
  • Gram Panchayat : (1) Dawa Gram Panchayat (Jagdishpur block of Bhojpur), (2) Rampur Gram Panchayat (Singhwara block of Darbhanga), (3) Madanpur Gram Panchayat (Madanpur block of Aurangabad), (4) Bharthipur Gram Panchayat (Sakara block of Muzaffarpur).
• Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Purashkar (2020): Motipur Gram Panchayat (Rosera block of Samastipur)
• Bal Hitaishi Gram Panchayat Purashkar (2020): Kutumba Gram Panchayat (Kutumba block of Aurangabad)
• Gram Panchayat Vikash Yojana (2020): Kewati Gram Panchayat (Kewati block of Darbhanga)

Rurban Mission

• According to Census 2011, around 68 percent of India’s population resides in rural areas and, in Bihar, the corresponding ratio is much higher at 89 percent.
• In rural areas, villages are often settled in clusters, with many groups of households in close proximity. Such clusters often show potential for economic growth, with locational and competitive advantage. After some development, such a cluster can be classified as ‘Rurban’.
• Hence, the Government of India has proposed to form the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission to develop such rural areas by providing economic, social and physical infrastructure.
  • The main idea behind the Rurban Mission is to develop a cluster of villages that preserve and nurture the essence of rural community life, with a focus on equity and inclusive urban facilities.
• In Bihar, the Rurban mission is presently operative and, till date, a total of 11 Integrated Clusters Action Plans (ICAP) have been approved in three phases.
  • In Patna and Gaya, two clusters (one in Phase-I and another in Phase-3) have been identified.
  • In the remaining 7 districts (Saharsa, Rohtas, Samastipur, Purnea, West Champaran, Kaimur, Lakhisarai), one cluster has identified in different phases for implementation of the Rurban mission.
  • For the financial year 2020-21, a sum of Rs. 314.88 crore has approved for Critical Gap Funds (CGF) and investment worth Rs. 864.78 crore has also been made for the Rurban mission in Bihar.
  • A total of 579 detailed project reports (DPR) have been proposed for the selected clusters.

Lohiya Swachh Bihar Abhiyan (LSBA)

• The Lohiya Swachh Bihar Abhiyan (LSBA) is a mission-mode programme, comprising Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) (SBM-G) of the Central Government and Lohiya Swachhata Yojana (LSY) of the State Government. The cost-sharing pattern for SBM (G) between the Central and State Governments is 60:40.
• The aim of the LSBA is to ensure universal sanitation coverage in Bihar. This programme is committed to making Bihar free from open defecation through proactive participation of people and giving focus to Behavioural Change Communication (BCC).
  • In 2016, the implementation of the programme was transferred to the Rural Development Department from the Public Health Engineering Department.
  • The Block Development Officers (BDO) have been made responsible for the implementation of LSBA at block level.
• One of the strategies of LSBA is to ensure a beneficiary-led and demand-driven through behavioural change and LSBA would utilize the large SHG base of JEEViKA to promote behavioural change.
  • For LSBA, Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS) has been introduced as a mandatory tool for behavioural change.
  • Under this programme, the focus has been on capacity building of all stakeholders through inter-departmental convergence meetings, district-level workshops and reviews, residential trainings to BDOs, CLTS trainings to Master Trainers and ‘Swachhagrahis’ , and finally, large-scale trainings of masons.
  • To ensure full transparency, many technological interventions have been made under LSBA — introduction of Public Finance Management System (PFMS), Parent Child accounting system for Direct Beneficiary Transfer (DBT) based on Aadhar, website on policy implementation and expenditure details, and Geo- tagging authentication for incentive payment.
  • The PFMS programme has completed the following activities — registration of SBM (G); creation of agencies at state, district and block levels; linking scheme accounts to corresponding agencies; and, registration of technical parameters.
  • LSBA has extended its coverage in Bihar from 22.4 percent in October, 2014 to 100 percent at present, through construction of 1.21 crore Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs) and 8434 Community Sanitary Complexes.
  • After all the villages have self-declared to be Open Defecation- Free (ODF), all of them were physically verified to be actually so.
  • More than 53 thousand Field Functionaries have trained on CLTS and 72 thousand masons have also trained on twin-pit toilet technology.
  • Under the Ganga Action Plan (GAP), 472 villages of 307 Gram Panchayats across 12 districts of Bihar have been declared and verified as ODF.
  • Under LSBA, 1.3 lakh dysfunctional toilets have been made functional and all insanitary toilets have been made sanitary.
  • Under the ‘Swachh Gaon Hamara Gaurav’ campaign, one week per month was dedicated towards sustaining the ODF status.
  • Approximately, 22,000 Swachhagrahis were involved in this campaign to ensure bringing the required behavior change among the communities.
  • To make the communities aware about Solid and Liquid Waste Management, flipcharts and audio-visual materials were developed.
    • Under this programme, 15.1 lakh Individual Household Latrines (IHHL) under BPL and APL have been in 2019-20 and another 4.0 lakh toilets in 2020-21.

Rural Drinking Water

• The State Government assigned this mammoth task to the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) and Panchayati Raj Department (PRD) for all Gram Panchayats (rural areas) in the state or Bihar.
• The programme is distinctive because the State Government has adopted a unique policy mix by dovetailing community participation and control with execution through Rural self government representatives as well as through the public Health Engineering Department to design, build, operate and manage the water systems.
• The programme is based on a unique model or fund mobilization and expenditure in a decentralized manner.
  • On one hand, where the Gram Panchayats share their financial resources, opt for community procurement, own the drinking Water assets and hold the operation and maintenance responsibilities,
  • on the other, the PHED department, operating primarily in quality affected areas, difficult terrains and in previously operated protected water supply areas, through a service provider builds, operates and maintains the water supply system for the next five years under community supervision.
  • In geographical terms, the PHED was assigned the task of 56,544 wards (including 30,272 quality affected wards). In all the remaining non quality areas the Panchayati Raj Department was given this task (in 58,107 wards.
• Being primary department dealing with water issues in the State, the estimates of water treatment plants, model estimates for scheme implementation, simplified Measurement Books (MH), O&M and Reject Management Protocols for treated quality affected water, Quality Manuals for scheme supervision, checklists for user certification as well as departmental scrutiny were developed and circulated by the PHED in the designated areas.
• PRD was mandated to work closely with the local self government institutions and assist them in identifying needs and design the scheme and its implementation process.
  • While the elected representatives of 8386 Gram Panchayats contributed to the planning, implementation and maintenance of the piped water supply schemes, the Government took upon itself the responsibility for policy formation, monitoring and evaluation and financial support.
• For PRD wards, with an intent of more effective decentralization and supervision, the idea of Ward Sabha was conceptualised and necessary amendment was made in the Bihar Panchayat Raj Act 2006.
  • This amendment has decentralized the implementation power of the Mukhiya to a statutory committee headed by Ward Members called Ward Implementation and Management Committee (WIMC).
  • This committee assisted by a Secretary (locally employed) is assigned the task of building, and maintaining the Water supply System through community procurement while also being mandated to collect user charges and using them for maintenance of asset as well as meeting manpower, electricity and other costs.
• Presently, a new Ward level schemes were conceptualized and implemented by the state. various components of this are – Borewell of average 90/125 meter depth, with an overhead tank of 10,000 litre storage capacity on a 8 meter steel staging, run by submersible water pump of 1/2/3 HP with water treatment units installed where ever needed.
  • Water Distribution is through medium density polythene pipes and Household Connection with high density polythene pipes. The pump operator’s chamber is housed under the Steel Staging itself.
  • The progress under this scheme due to its decentralized nature has been fast and worthy of mention. In a short span of just less than 4 years, the state has ensured adequate and safe potable water to around 1.63 crore households- approximately 94.65 percent of the population in the state – up from 4 percent just years back.
  • As on date, they are being provided 70 LPCD Water which is higher than that mandated under norms oF the Union Government.
  • Against the target of 1,14,691 rural wards as on date wards 1,13,025 (PHED: 55423, PRD: 57602) have been covered and remaining are scheduled to be completed by this year
• Considering importance Operation and Maintenance System for Piped Water Supply Schemes, the Government Of Bihar has included this agenda under the Agenda of Good Governance (2020-25) Atmanirbhar Bihar ke Saal Nishchay-2.
  • State Cabinet has approved the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Directives for long term maintenance of piped water supply schemes for PHED and PRD separately.
• Based on successful implementation of Har Ghar Nal Jal, the national policy makers also started the scheme of tap water supply to every household by year 2024.
  • Accordingly, the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India launched a new programme ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ (JJM) and subsumed the erstwhile National Rural Drinking Water Program (NRDWP), World Bank assisted Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (RWSSP-LIS), National Water Quality Submission (NWQSM) and other components of centrally sponsored schemes of rural drinking water Supply. to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household, i.e., Har Ghar Jal (HGJ) by 2024.
    • However, in Bihar work started in this regard in 2016 itself and it is nearing completion in this financial year.
• In the rural areas, there are two schemes — Mukhyamantri Gramin Peyajal Nishchay Yojana (for Quality-affected Areas) and Mukhyamantri Gramin Peyajal Nishchay Yojana (for Non-quality affected Areas).
  • The Quality affected Areas are those where the quality of water is affected by arsenic, fluoride or iron.
  • These two programmes are being implemented through the public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) and Panchayati Raj Department.
  • Bihar has 8386 Gram Panchayats and 1,14,691 rural wards. Out of these, PHED is working in 56,544 wards. Of these wards, drinking water in 30,272 wards come under quality-affected areas and 26,272 under non- quality affected areas.
  • Currently, drinking water in 4742 wards are affected with arsenic, 3791 are affected with fluoride and 21,739 are affected with iron contamination. Of these, work has been completed in 4238 arsenic-affected, 3763 fluoride-affected and 20,996 iron-affected wards.
• Out of 38 districts, 29 in Bihar are affected by either arsenic, or fluoride, or iron.