Rural development-II

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)

• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was enacted in 2005, with an aim to enhance rural livelihood, by providing at least one hundred days of wage employment to every rural household whose adult member is ready to do unskilled or manual work.
• In the context of Bihar, MGNREG Scheme is an important one which provides wage employment to its huge unemployed workers. Since beginning, this scheme is being implemented very efficiently in the state.
• Since last five years (2015-16 to 2019-20), a steady increase has been observed in the number of job cards issued to the households; in 2015-16, it was 135.3 lakh and it increased by 25 percent to reach 169.8 Iakh in 2019-20.
  • Similarly, 33.8 lakh households were provided employment in 2019-20, while it was only 14.8 Iakh in 2015-16.
  • The work completed under MGNREG scheme has also increased remarkably in the last five years — 1.1 lakh work was done in 2015-16 and by 2019-20 it increased to 4.6 lakhs.
• There is also a substantial increase in employment generated (person-days) and share of women in total employment generated.
  • In 2015-16, a total 668.2 lakh person-days of employment was generated and it reached 1418.9 lakh in 2019-20.
  • On the other hand, the share of women in total employment generated was 40.9 percent in 2015-16, which increased to 55.9 percent in 2019-20.
• There is, however, variation in the progress of MGNREG Scheme within the state.
  • The highest number of job card was issued in East Champaran (7.9 lakh), followed by Muzaffarpur (7.3 lakh), and Samastipur (7.2 lakh).
  • The minimum number of job cards was issued in Sheohar (1.1 lakh), Sheikhpura (1.1 lakh) and Arwal (1.3 lakh) during 2019-20.
• The percentage of job cards issued to the SC households had slightly declined — it is 22.2 percent of total household with job cards in 2019-20, while it was 24.6 percent in 2017-18.
• The number of households with job card demanding employment has steadily increased over the last three years. The number of household with job card demanding employment was 19.6 lakh in 2017-18, which increased by 5.1 lakh and reached to 24.7 lakh in 2019-20.
  • In Arval, the maximum number of (41.1 percent) households with job cards demanded employment, followed by Saharsa (37.8 percent) and Madhepura and Banks (36.0 percent).
  • On the other hand, the share of households with job cards demanding employment was the lowest in Patna (15. 3 percent), followed by Siwan (16.2 percent) and Nalanda (16.8 percent) in 2019-20.
• The percentage of households completing hundred days of employment out of those who obtained employment has been fluctuating — in 2017-18 it was 70 percent, in 2018-19 it was 80 percent, while in 2019-20 it became 60 percent.
• Although households completing 100 days of employment had declined, person-days of employment generated had increased remarkably from 817.2 lakh in 2017-18 to 1418.9 lakh in 2019-20.
  • The maximum person-days of employment was generated in Samastipur (79.9 lakh), followed by Saharsa (67.4 lakh) and Saran (64.2 lakh) in 2019-20. Sheikhpura (8.9 lakh) and Khagaria (12.5 lakh) are the two districts with the lowest person-days of employment generated.
• The share of women in total employment generated has also increased. This increase is steady—in 2017-18 it was 46.6 percent, while in 2019-20 it became 55.9 percent of total employment. In many districts this share is more than 60 percent of total employment generated.
• The MGNREG Act provides list of works that can be done under the scheme. During the last five years, the shares of work on individual land, rural connectivity and rural sanitation have changed considerably.
  • In 2019-20, work on individual land, rural connectivity and land development accounted for more than 95 percent of total work done by under MGNREG scheme.
  • In 2015-16, a total 111.1 thousand work was done, in 2016-17 the number of work had declined, but after that, it has steadily increased for three years and reached 457.8 thousand in 2019-20.
• The financial allocation and utilization of fund is also an important indicator of the program of a scheme. The fund allocation shows the importance of the scheme and fund utilization reflects how successful was the implementation of the scheme.
  • The allocation of funds for the MGNREG scheme had increased between 2018-19 and 2019-20 (from Rs. 3181.83 crore in 2018-19 to Rs. 3425.06 crore in 2019-20), and the average fund utilization for these years was 91.6 percent.
  • Patna has the lowest fund utilization among all the districts in those two years. There were 27 districts which recorded fund utilization of more than 90 percent in both the years.
    • Saharsa (97.9 percent), Arwal (97.7 percent) and Jamui (97.7 percent) recorded the highest fund utilization.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G)

• The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin (PMAY-G) was earlier known as Indira Awas Yojana. It is a Central Government initiative to provide housing for all by 2022.
• This social welfare scheme aims to provide a 25 square meter pucca house with all basic amenities.\
• One feature of this scheme is the division of construction cost, between the Central and State Government, in the ratio of 60:40 in all states, except Himalayan states, Northeastern states and Union Territory. In Himalayan and Northeastern states, it is 90:10 and 100 percent financing is offered for Union Territory.
• 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 pacca house, households that do not have even one literate member above 25 years of agc or families belonging to SC/ST and minority social groups.
• In the context of Bihar, where a large share of population resides in rural areas, PMAY-G is a valuable scheme to provide basic housing facility to rural people.
• The expenditure for IAY/PMAY-G has increased over the last five years; while the expenditure was Rs. 1275.90 core in 2015-16, it became neatly seven times in 2019-20 (Rs. 8210.90 crore). Out of the five years, the scheme was able to achieve its physical targets in three years (2015-16, 2016-17 and 2018-19).

Saat Nishchay 2 : Swachh Gaon Samriddh Gaon

• After successful completion of Saat Nischay 1, the State Govemmcnt has started Saat Nischay 2, of which, the fourth Nishchay is to make villages clean and prosperous.
• This programme has three components:
  • (i) Installation of Solar Street Light: Under this, solar street light will be installed in every village and provisions will be made for its regular maintenance.
  • (ii) Solid and Liquid Waste Management :
    • A proper solid and liquid waste management system will be installed at ward level.
    • Regular cleaning of sewer and streets will be done. Solid waste from every household in villages will be collected and disposed through latest technology.
    • Proper treatment techniques will be used to dispose the sewer waste water.
    • Further, work done under the previous scheme will be taken care of and street, toilets and sewer will be maintained regularly.
  • (iii) Development of Animal and Fishery Resources:
    • By utilizing modern technology, production and processing of milk will done, along with promotion of poultry and fishery.
    • A number of water bodies be will be developed for promoting fishery and latest technology will be promoted so that fish farmers are encouraged to use them for higher production.

Public Distribution System (PDS)

• The Public Distribution System (PDS) is one of the largest welfare schemes in India that aims to reduce poverty and malnutrition. It provides food security to the poor and marginalized people.
• PDS provides food grains at subsidizes rate under Essential Commodities Act 1955. Major commodities under PDS are — Rice, Wheat and Sugar, besides kerosene oil.
• In 2013, National Food Security Act (NFSA) was enacted to ensure the supply of food grains to the poor and vulnerable people.
  • This Act aims to provide a dignified life to poor people by providing quality food grain at low cost. On the basis of Social Economic and Caste Census, 2011 (SECC, 2011), eligible households are identified and linked to the PDS for supply of food grain.
  • In Bihar, the coverage of PDS in rural areas is 85.1 percent and the same for urban areas is 74.5 percent.
• The number of PDS outlets has increased consistently in Bihar; it was 41,483 in 2017 and increased to 47,243 in 2020.
  • As regards social background of PDS dealers, the share of backward castes has declined from 28.7 percent 2017 to 23.8 percent in 2020, but the share of extremely backward castes and Women has increased.
  • In 2017 only 8.1 percent PDS outlet were run by women, which increased to 14.5 percent in 2020.
  • Overall, the backward and extremely backward castes have the maximum share among all social categories in PDS dealership (35.6 percent), followed by General caste (18.0 percent), Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe (16.7 percent) and Women (11.5 percent).
• The allotment and lifting of foodgrain is an important indicator of how successful is the implementation of PDS.
  • During 2014-15 to 2019-20, the percentage of lifting has always been above 95 percent of total allotment. In 2019-20. it was 99.8 percent, the highest during the last five years.
  • The NFSA is well implemented throughout the state. Lifting of wheat is nearly 100 percent, except Arwal (99.3 percent), Nawada (98.1 percent) and Sheikhpura (97.2 percent). Similarly, lifting of rice is also nearly 100 percent, except in Begusarai (98.8 percent), Arwal (98.6 percent) and Darbhanga (96.8 percent).

Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI):

• Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) play a vital role in improving overall rural development through local governance. As elsewhere in India, PRIs is the decentralized, three-level governing system in Bihar, which includes the last unit of governance (Gram Panchayat) and provides power of self-governance to the local bodies.
• It is also an important institution for implementing various rural development schemes, such as schemes related to rural employment, poverty alleviation, rural sanitation and women empowerment.
• Panchayati Raj Institutions have the power to mobilize resources, plan, implement and monitor development programmes for local development.
• In Bihar, PRIs include 38 Zila Parishads, 534 Panchayat Samitis and 8387 Gram Panchayats.
  • In these institutions, there are 1161 Zila Parishad members, 11497 Panchayat Samiti members, and 1,14,691 Gram Panchayat members. Apart from these elected members, there are also supportive functionaries like Gram Panchayat Secretary, Nyaya Mitra, Gram Kachahari Secretary, Zila Panchayati Raj Officers etc.
• The grant to the PRIs from the State Government is based on the recommendations of the Fifth Finance Commission (2015-20).
  • Similarly, the grants to the PRIs from the Central Government is based on the recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance Commission (2015-20).
  • The total grants received by the PRIs is divided among GP, PS and ZP in the ratio of 70: 10:20.
  • In 2019-20, PRIs have received Rs. 5674.70 crore as basic grant. For the construction of panchayat building through Local Area Engineering Organization (LAEO), an amount of Rs. 150.00 crore has been provided to the Planning and Development department of Bihar.
  • As of now, 1113 panchayat buildings have already been constructed against the target of 1435, which is around 77.6 percent of the target.
  • The total grant to the PRIs has significantly increased over the last five years. In 2015-16, the total grants received by the PRIs was Rs. 2652.38 crore, while in 2019-20 it has increased to Rs. 8549.64 crore.
  • The grant received by the Gram Panchayat has substantially increased from Rs. 2583.89 crore in 2015-16 to Rs. 8124.27 crore in 2019-20.
• The nature of the Covid-19 pandemic require response from every level of the government to contain its spread.
  • In Bihar, during the pandemic, the role of PRIs became very crucial due to its large share of rural population. With the help of Disaster Management authority, Gram Panchayats have done a remarkable service during the Covid- 19 pandemic.
  • Every household of each Gram Panchayat was provided with a sanitation kit, which included soap and face mask.
  • In all, 7940 Panchayats were covered under the scheme of distribution of sanitation kit. The number of households receiving soap was 229.06 lakh and the corresponding figure for mask was 213.75 lakh.