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.
The objectives of the SAGY are:
The developmental activities in the identified Adarsh Gram include:
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.
The implementation of the SAGY is as follows:
Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) in India aims to develop model villages emphasizing holistic development, social mobilization, good governance, and quality access to basic amenities. One Adarsh Gram was developed by 2016 out of the targeted three. Implementation includes MP selection, village development planning, and leveraging various sectors for project execution.