Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana

The Prime Minister of India launched the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) on 11th October 2014. The SAGY aims to develop three Adarsh Grams by March 2019 and develop five Adarsh Grams by 2024. Out of the target of developing three Adarsh Grams, one was achieved by 2016. 

The SAGY is inspired by the values and principles of Mahatma Gandhi. It places stress on nurturing values of patriotism, national pride, self-confidence, community spirit and infrastructure development. The goal of the SAGY is to translate the organic and comprehensive vision of Mahatma Gandhi into reality, keeping in view the current context.

Under this scheme, the people of the Adarsh Grams will be provided quality access to basic amenities and opportunities for enabling them to shape their own destiny. It focuses on developing the villages and motivating the rural people on social mobilisation of the village community.

Objectives of SAGY

The objectives of the SAGY are:

• To start processes that lead to the holistic development of the identified Gram Panchayats.
• To substantially improve the quality of life and standard of living of every section of the population through:
  • Improved basic amenities
  • Enhanced human development
  • Higher productivity
  • Reduced disparities
  • Better livelihood opportunities
  • Wider social mobilisation
  • Access to rights and entitlements
  • Enriched social capital
• To generate effective local governance and local level development models that motivate and inspire the neighbouring Gram Panchayats to adapt and learn.
• To nurture the identified Adarsh Grams as schools of local development to train other Gram Panchayats.

Activities under SAGY

The developmental activities in the identified Adarsh Gram include:

• Personal development.
• Human development.
• Social development.
• Economic development.
• Environmental development.
• Basic amenities and services.
• Social security.
• Good governance.

Identification of Adrash Gram under SAGY

The Minister of Parliament (MP) will identify a suitable Gram Panchayat for developing it as an Adarsh Gram. However, the MP should select a Gram Panchayat other than his/her own village or that of his/her spouse.

A suitable Gram Panchayat would be the basic unit having a population of 3,000-5,000 in plain areas and 1,000-3,000 in tribal, hilly and difficult areas. The MP will identify one Gram Panchayat to be taken up for development immediately, and two others will be taken up later.

A Lok Sabha MP will have to select a Gram Panchayat within his/her constituency. A Rajya Sabha MP will have to choose a Gram Panchayat from the rural area of the district of his/her choice from the state in which he/she is elected. The MP will identify a Gram Panchayat from the nearby rural constituency in urban constituencies with no Gram Panchayats.

Implementation of SAGY

The implementation of the SAGY is as follows:

• After the Identification of Gram Panchayat by the MP, the identification letter of the Gram Panchayat will be uploaded on the portal after due validation by the District Collector or District Magistrate.
• A charge officer is appointed.
• The MP will spearhead the entry point activities, i.e. environment creation and social mobilisation.
• The District Collector will set up a working group consisting of officials and outside professionals or experts to create the draft village development plan.
• A situation analysis of the key constraints, local needs, and available resources relating to the availability of amenities, socio-economic dynamics, services, fulfilment of rights and entitlements of villagers, etc., is made.
• The working group formulates the draft Village Development Plan (VDP) based on the needs prioritised by the people. The VDP will broadly cover the eight activities under the SAGY mentioned above.
• After incorporating the suggestions of the MP, the VDP should be approved at two levels.  First, the Gram Sabha will approve it, and then the District Level Committee chaired by the District Collector should approve it.
• The projects proposed under the VDP will be executed through the convergence of all central and state schemes and partnerships with voluntary, private, and cooperative (PVC) sectors.