Rural Development

S e c t o r R e p o r t

July 2021
Copyright ©2021 Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), NITI
Aayog, Government of India

All rights reserved. This report or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or
used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of
DMEO, NITI Aayog, Government of India.

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recommendations (hereinafter 'content') in this publication should neither be
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Analysis by IPE Global Pvt. Ltd.

Survey Partner Kantar Public

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

PREFACE

The Government of India (GoI) spends close to Rs. 14 lakh crores annually on development activities,
through nearly 750 schemes implemented by Union Ministries. To improve the effectiveness and
efficiency of public finance, and the quality of service-delivery to citizens, all schemes have been
mandated to undergo third party evaluations, to provide an evidentiary foundation for scheme
continuation from 2021-22 to 2025-26. In 2019, the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office
(DMEO), NITI Aayog was assigned the task of evaluating 28 Umbrella Centrally Sponsored Schemes
(UCSS), which are schemes/programmes funded jointly by the Centre and the States and implemented
by the States. This historic exercise, undertaken between April 2019 and February 2021, evaluated 125
Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), under 10 Sectors, together covering close to 30% of the GoI’s
development expenditure, amounting to approximately Rs. 3 lakh crore (USD 43 billion) per annum.

In order to fulfil this mandate to the highest standard possible, to optimize both the robustness and the
uptake of the evidence generated, DMEO adopted a nationally representative mixed methods evaluation
methodology and a consultative review process for the reports. Through qualitative and quantitative
analysis of secondary literature, analysis was done at three levels: the sector, the umbrella CSS and the
scheme itself. The studies thus produced then underwent a review process involving consultations with
NITI Aayog subject matter divisions, concerned Ministries and Departments, and external experts.

The present report is an outcome of this evaluation study and presents an analysis of the Rural
Development Sector based on primary and secondary data collection. In this Report, we seek to cover
rural development sector in India, identifying the intended and actual contribution of GoI schemes to
sector outcomes. This includes areas for more focused effort to achieve national priorities/SDGs. It also
identifies opportunities for convergence of the schemes within the sector to other developmental
programmes of the Central and the State Governments as well as with private sector, corporate social
responsibility (CSR) efforts, international, multilateral and bilateral aid, etc.

We hope that this Report will further our understanding of the Rural Development Sector and help us
move towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the National Development Agenda, to
promote the well-being of all sovereign citizens of India.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairman NITI Aayog, and Shri Amitabh
Kant, Chief Executive Officer, who have been the driving force, first in entrusting this important
responsibility to the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO) and subsequently as
mentors throughout the study, in providing all necessary support and guidance for the completion of the
project. We also express our gratitude to the Ministry of Finance for recognizing the crucial need for
evidence in the deliberations and decisions pertaining scheme budget allocations.

Our invaluable partners in this exercise have the Department of Rural Development, with all its officials,
without whose cooperation this evaluation would not have been possible. We are grateful to them for
providing us access to available data, for patiently sharing their expertise through Key Informant
Interviews (KIIs), and for providing their vital comments on the draft reports during various stages of the
study. A detailed list of the Key Informant Interviews can be found in the annexures to this report.

In our federal structure, equally important partners in this endeavour have been the State Governments
of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand,
Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and their Chief Secretaries.
Officials across the State governments have extended their gracious cooperation to the study, for which
we are deeply thankful.

Next, we must thank our external experts, Mr. S Vijay Kumar, Ex-Secretary, Ministry of Rural
Development, TERI, and Dr. P Siva Ram, NIRD&PR for helping refine and rationalize the report through
their insightful comments, corrections and feedback. From the fundamentals of the sector to the latest
developments, they helped ensure that the report was as comprehensive, cogent and technically robust
as possible, within the short timeframes available.

M/s IPE Global Ltd., the consultant firm, has done a remarkable job, particularly given the significant
challenges of scale, time and resources presented by this project. Adding to the constraints, the global
pandemic and the COVID-19 lockdown did not stop them from delivering top quality work. Particular
appreciation is due to Dr. Manoj Mishra (Team Leader); Mr. Amod Khanna (Deputy Team Leader) and
their team; Kriti Gupta (Manager); Rai (Research Associate), Beatriz (Research Associate), Ashish
(Research Associate) and Shipra (Research Associate); and field partner Kantar Public led by Ms. Pallavi
Dhall (Director); Mr. Abison Paul Anchalackal (Associate Director) and their team.

At NITI Aayog, this exercise would not have gotten off the ground without the consistent support of the
Procurement Management Committee and Bid Evaluation Committee, particularly Mr. Sonjoy Saha,
Adviser (PPP/PAMD), Dr. A.P Singh, Ex-Adviser (Agriculture) and Ms. Sanchita Shukla, Director, Internal
Finance Division. Staffs at the NITI Aayog Rural Development vertical, particularly Ms. Sanyukta
Samaddar (Adviser) and Ms. Vandana Sharma (Deputy Adviser) have also been instrumental in seeing
this project to fruition. The Internal Finance Division further merits special mention here for their
extensive efforts.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

DMEO team has been at the core of the studies - in this sector specifically, Ms. Priyanka Dua, Mr. Saumya
Chakravorty and Mr. Rajpal Singh worked on every last detail of this herculean endeavour, under the
guidance of Mr. Akhilesh Kumar, Director and Dr. Shweta Sharma, Consultant-II. Special thanks are
extended to Ms. Harkiran Sanjeevi, ex-Deputy Director General who played an important role in
completing the study. The team would also like to thank Dr. Amrit Pal, Mr. Lav Bhardawaj, Ms. Priyanka
Sethi, Mr. Vijender Kumar, Mr. Ankit Choudhary, Ms. Ayesha Ayaz, Mr. Jayanta Patel and Mr. Manoj Pankaj
for their support at various stages of the study. Across packages, Deputy Director General Mr. Ashutosh
Jain also oversaw coordination, standardization and monitoring of the study design, analysis and
implementation processes. They were supported by the Evaluations Core Team: Dr. Shweta Sharma, Mr.
Anand Trivedi, Ms. Sanjana Manaktala, Ms. Vatsala Aggarwal, Mr. O.P. Thakur and Mr. Jayanta Patel. The
DMEO administration and accounts officers, including Mr. D. Bandopadhyay, Mr. Munish Singhal, Mr. D.S.
Sajwan, Mr. Manoj Kumar and others provided vital support on documentation, approvals, payments etc.

In accordance with the massive scope and scale of the exercise, this report owes its successful completion
to the dedicated efforts of a wide variety of stakeholders.

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Contents
1. Sector Level Analysis .............................................................................................................................................. 1
1.1. Background of the Sector .................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Performance of the Sector ............................................................................................................................... 10
1.2.1. Infrastructure ............................................................................................................................................ 22
1.2.2. Livelihoods ................................................................................................................................................. 28
1.2.3. Social Safety Net....................................................................................................................................... 31
1.2.4. Global Benchmarking ............................................................................................................................ 35
1.2.5. Cross Sectional Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 42
1.3. Issues and Challenges ......................................................................................................................................127
ANNEX 1: DETAILS OF KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS (KIIS) .................................................................... 136
ANNEX 2: BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................... 186

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List of Acronyms
AAP Annual Action Plan
ABPO Assistant Block Programme Officer
ABPS Aadhaar Based Payment Systems
ACA Additional Central Assistance
ADB Asian Development bank
ADIP Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase
ADO Agriculture Development Office
AGEY Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana
AIBP Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme
AIC Atal Incubation Centres
AIR All India radio
ALP Aadhaar Linked Payments
ANPR Automatic Number Plate Recognition
APL Above Poverty line
APR Asia and the Pacific Region
AWC Anganwadi Centres
BBBP Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
BCC Behavioural Change Communication
BDO Block Development Officer
BDSP Business Development Service Providers
BMCU Bulk Milk Cooling Units
BMMU Block Mission Management Unit
BNV Bharat Nirman Volunteers
BPL Below Poverty Lines
BPO Block Programme Officer
BPT Block Planning Team
BRC Block Resource Centres
CAD&WM Command Area Development & Water Management
CAG Contemplor Audit General
CAMC Comprehensive Maintenance Contract
CAPART Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology
CB Capacity Building
CBI Cantilan Bank Inc
CBO Community based organisations
CBPWD Community-based participatory watershed development
CBRI Central Building Research Institute
CCMA Citizen-Centric Mobile Application
CDM Community Development Movement
CDMU Cluster Development and Management Unit
CEF Community Enterprise Fund
CEF Community Enterprise Fund
CEGC Central Employment Guarantee Council
CEO Chief Executive Officer
CEPT Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology
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CFR Community forest right

CFT Cluster Facilitation Team
CGF Critical Gap Funds
CGTFS Credit Guarantee Trust Fund Scheme
CIF Community Investment Fund
CISF Community Investment Support Fund
CLF Cluster Level Federation
CLRP Community Livelihoods Resource Persons
CMAT Community Monitors and Auditors Team
CMRD The Centre for Media and Rural Documentation
CMSPGHS Chief Minister’s Solar Powered Green House Scheme
CNCPL Comprehensive New Connectivity Priority Lists
CPI Consumer Price Index
CPI-AL Consumer Price Index - Agricultural Labour
CPIO Central Public Information Officer
CPI-R Consumer Price Index- Rural
CPI-RL Consumer Price Index - Rural Labour
CPMU Central Programme Management Unit
CRM Common Review Mission
CRP Community Resource Persons
CRRI Central Road Research Institute
CSDCI Construction Skill Development Council of India
CSIR Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
CSO Civil Society Organisation
CSP Customer Service Provider
CSR Corporate Social Responsibility
CSS Centrally Sponsored Scheme
CSSC Community Social Support Committee
CUPL Comprehensive Upgradation Priority Lists
CWS Current Weekly Status
CWT Community Watershed Team
CYSD Centre for Youth and Social Development
DAY Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana
DBT Direct Benefit Transfer
DDP Desert Development Programme
DDRS Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme
DDUGJY Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana
DDU-GKY Deen Dayal Upadhaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana
DFID Department for International Development
DLP Defect Liability Period
DMEO Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office
DMF District Mineral Foundation
DMMU District Mission Management Unit
DP Development Plan
DPAP Drought Prone Area Programme
DPC District Programme Coordinator

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DPM District Programme Manager

DPMU District Project Management Unit
DPO District Programme Officer
DPR Detailed Project Report
DRDA District Rural Development Authority
DRRP District Rural Roads Plan
DST Department of Science and Technology
DWCRA Development of Women and Child in Rural Areas
EAG Expert Advisory Group
EAS Employment Assurance Scheme
EC Executive Committee
ECAI External Credit Assessment Institutions
EDD Empowered Deliberative Democracy
EDI Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India
EGS Employment Guarantee Scheme
EGS Employment Guarantee Scheme
EPWP Expanded Public Works Programme
ER Elected Representative
ESDP European Spatial Development Perspective
EU European Union
FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation
FC Finance Commission
FGD Focus Group Discussion
FMS Fund Management System
FPC Farmer Producer Company
FPO Farmer Producer Organizations
FPS Fair Price Shops
FRA Forest Rights Act
FTO Fund Transfer Order
GAP Gender Action Plan
GB Governing Body
GBC Gender Budget Cells
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GGGI Global Green Growth Institute
GHG Green House Gas
GOI Government of India
GP Gram Panchayat
GPDP Gram Panchayat Development Plan
GPRMP Gram Panchayat Road Maintenance Plan
GPS Global Positioning System
GRIMMS GIS enabled Road Information Management & Monitoring System
GRRIS Geospatial Rural Road Information System
GRS GramRozgar Sahayak
GS Gram Sabha
GST Goods and Services Tax

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HDB The Housing and Development Board

HP Himachal Pradesh
HR Human Resource
HSCAS House Site-cum Construction Assistance Scheme
HSNP The Hunger Safety Net Programme
IAP Integrated Action Plans
IAY Indira Awaas Yojana
IBS Individual Beneficiary Scheme
ICAP Integrated Cluster Action Plan
ICAR Indian Council of Agricultural Research
ICDS Integrated Child Development Services
ICT Information and Communication Technology
IDA International Development Association
IEC Information Education Communication
IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development
IFR Individual Forest Right
IGNDPS Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme
IGNOAPS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme
IGNWPS Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme
IIFM Indian Institute of Forest Management
IIPA Indian Institute of Public Administration
IIT Indian institute of Technology
ILO International Labour Organisation
IPC Interpersonal Communication
IPPE Integrated Participatory Planning Exercise
IRDP Integrated Rural Development Programme
IRMA Institute of Rural Management, Anand
ISRO Indian Space Research Organisation
IWMP Integrated Watershed Management Programme
JAM Jan Dhan Aadhaar Mobile Trinity
JGSY Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana
JRY Jawahar Rozgar Yojana
KII Key Informant Interview
KMC Knowledge Management and Communication
KMU Knowledge Management Unit
KSS Kesabchak Srijani Sangh
KVIC Khadi and Village Industries Commission
LAC Latin America and the Caribbean
LBI Livelihood Business Incubator Centers
LFPR Labour Force Participation Rate
LGD Local Government Directory
LIFE Livelihood in Full Employment
LPG Liquefied Petroleum Gas
LWE Left Wing Extremism
MB Measurement Book

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MCP Micro-Credit Plan

MDMS Mid-Day Meal Scheme
MENA The Middle East and North Africa
MFI Micro Finance Institute
MGNREGA Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
MGNREGS Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
MIP Micro-investment Plan
MIS Management Information System
MKSP Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojna
MKSY Mahila Kisan Shramasakthi Yojana
MLA Member of Legislative Assembly
MoA Ministry of Agriculture
MOOC Massive Open Online Course
DORD Ministry of Rural Development
MoWCD Ministry of Women and Child Development
MPCE Monthly Per Capita Expenditure
MPRLP Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project
MSC Migration Support Centre
MSME Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
MSP Minimum Support Price
MUDRA Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd
NABARD National Bank for Agriculture And Rural Development.
NACER National Centre for Excellence of RSETIs
NBCP National Bio-Mass Cookstoves Programme
NDDB National Dairy Development Board
Ne-FMS National Electronic Fund Management System
NEGF National Employment Guarantee Fund
NFBS National Family Benefit Scheme
NFFWP National Food for Work Programme
NFHS National Family Health Survey
NGO Non-Government Organizations
NHAI National Highways Authority of India
NHB National Housing Bank
NHM National Horticulture Mission
NIC National Informatics Centre
NIC National Informatics Centre
NIOS National Institute of Open Schooling
NIPFP National Institute of Public Finance & Policy
NIRDPR National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj
NLEC National Level Empowered Committee
NLM National Level Monitors
NMBS National Maternity Benefit Scheme
NMMU National Mission Management Unit
NPM Non-Chemical Pest Management
NQM National Quality Monitors
NRDC National Research Development Corporation
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NRDWP National Rural Drinking Water Programme

NREP National Rural Employment Programme
NRETP National Rural Economic Transformation Project
NRIDA National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency
NRLM National Rural Livelihood Mission
NRLP National Rural Livelihoods Project
NRM Natural Resource Management
NRO National Resource Organisations
NRRDC National Rural Road Development Committee
NSAAC National Social Assistance Advisory Committee
NSAP National Social Assistance Plan
NSDC National Social Assistance Advisory Committee
NSS National Sample Survey
NSSO National Sample Survey Organisation
NSQF National Skill Qualification Framework
NTFP Non-timber forest products
NTFS Non-Timber Forest Products
NTSA National Technical Support Agency
NU National Unit
OBC Other Backward Caste
ODR Other District Roads
OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
OFWM On Farm Water Management
OJT On-the-Job Training
OLM Odisha Livelihoods Mission
OMMAS Online Management, Monitoring and Accounting System
OOMF Output-Outcome Monitoring Framework
OPM Oxford Policy Management
PBF Programa Bolsa Família
PC Producer Companies
PCCBP Plastic cell-filled concrete block pavement
PCI Pavement Condition Index
PD Programme Division
PDO project development objectives
PDS Public Distribution System
PF Programme Fund
PFMS Public Fund Management System
PHC Primary Healthcare Centre
PIA Programme Implementing Agency
PIB Press Information Bureau
PIN Professional Institutional Network
PIO Public Information Officer
PIU Project Implementation Unit
PLFS Periodic Labour Force Survey
PMAY Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana

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PMAYG Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin

PMGKYP Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana Package
PMGSY Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
PMKKKY Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana
PMKSY Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana
PMU Project Management Unit
PMUY Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
PO Programme Officer
PPP Public Private Partnership
PRC Performance Review Committee
PREM People’s Rural Education Movement
PRI Panchayati Raj Institute
PSNP Productive Safety Net Programme
PSS Panchayat Swayam Sevak
PSU Public Sector Undertaking
PTG Primitive Tribal Group
PTR Pupil Teacher Ratio
PURA Provision of Urban Amenities In Rural Areas
PVTG Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups
PwD Person with Disability
PWL Permanent Waiting List
QR Quick Response
RBI Reserve Bank of India
RBS Resource Block Strategy
RBV Resource Based Views
RCIP Rural Connectivity Investment Programme
RCPLWEA Rural Connectivity Projects for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas
RD Rural Development
RF Revolving Fund
RFIP Rural Financial Institutions Programme
RHKN Rural Housing Knowledge Network
RKVY Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana
RLEGP Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme
RPD The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act
RS Rozgar Sahayak
RSBY Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana
RSETI Rural Self Employment Training Institutes
RTI Right to Information
RUDA Rural Urban Disparity Analysis
SAC Social Audit Committee
SAGY Sansad Aadarsh Gram Yojana
SAPCC State Action Plans on Climate Change
SARAS Sales of Articles of Rural Artisans Society
SAU Social Audit Unit
SBD Standard Bidding Document
SBM Swacch Bharat Mission
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SCC Scheduled Castes Component

SCM Smart Cities Mission
SCs Scheduled Castes
SCSP Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan
SCTS Social Cash Transfer Scheme
SDG Sustainable Development Goals
SDP Skill Development Plan
SECC Socio Economic Caste Census
SECURE Software for Estimate Calculation Using Rural Rates for Employment
SEGC State Employment Guarantee Council
SEGF State Employment Guarantee Fund
SGA The Selling, General and Administrative expenses
SGRY Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana
SGSY Swarn Jayanti Gramswarozgar Yojana
SHGs Self Help Groups
SLACC Sustainable Livelihoods and Adaptation to Climate Change
SLBC State Level Bankers Committees
SLEC State Level Empowered Committed
SLSC State Level Standing Committee
SMF The Social Management Framework
SMMU State Mission Management Unit
SNA State Nodal Agency
SOC Soil Organic Carbon
SoR Schedule of Rates
SPMRM Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission
SPMU State Project Management Unit
SPV Solar Photo Voltaic
SQC State Quality Control
SQM State Quality Monitor
SRLM State Rural livelihood Mission
SSA Sub-Saharan Africa
SSM State Skill Missions
STC Scheduled Tribe Component
STs Scheduled Tribes
STSA State Technical Support Agencies
SVEP Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme
SVYM Swamy Vivekananda Youth Movement
TA Technical Assistant
TAG Technical Advisory Group
TCE Thiagarajar College of Engineering
TCPO Town and Country Planning Organisation
TEDA Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency
TISS Tata Institute of Social Sciences
TRYSEM Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment
TSP Tribal Sub Plan

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TSPL Talandi Sabo Power Plant Limited

UCSS Umbrella Centrally sponsored scheme
UIF Unemployment Insurance Fund
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNESCAP United Nations Economic & Social Commission for Asia & The Pacific
UNICEF United Nations Children Fund
UR Unemployment Rate
USAID United States Agency for International Development
VC Village Clusters
VMC Vigilance and Monitoring Committee
VO Village Organizations
VPPC Village Poverty Reduction Committee
VRF Vulnerability Reduction Fund
VRP Village Resource Persons
WHA World Health Assembly
WHO World Health Organisation
WPR Work Population Ratio
YSD Youth for Social Development

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1. Sector Level Analysis

1.1. Background of the Sector
The rural economy of India represents a domain of opportunity for India’s growth and development
within the current policy discourse. This perception of rural opportunity also bundles together ideas
about the propensity for innovation1, technology, mechanisation, and entrepreneurship and value chains.
The current push for inclusiveness and investing in collectives for rural and national development rests
squarely upon this set of intertwined ideas. DoRD has played a key role in steering rural India’s
development agenda through implementation of various programmes. It has been a catalyst in affecting
change in the rural panorama through poverty alleviation, employment generation, infrastructure
development and extending social security net to the rural population.
Evolution of the Sector
Rural development as a sector has had a chequered journey of evolution. Since Independence there have
been four phases in which the approach towards addressing issues in rural development has undergone
changes in emphasis. An overview of these phases is given below:
First Phase: Structural Reform
The early phase of rural development lasted for almost a quarter of a century, from the First to the Fifth
plan period, which focused on establishment of Community Development Blocks, piloted in the first plan
and later extended to cover the entire country. The Second plan brought in the need for the establishment
of village Panchayats and formulation of District Plans and hence brought the need for strong District
Development Administration to function as an agency of change towards a new social order2.
The approach during the Third to Fifth plan was an extension of the principle of community development
laid down in the previous plans with an added dimension of technology adoption and mobilization of
resources by local institutions so that they are able to decrease their dependency on schematic assistance
from the centre and become self-reliant and locally rooted3.
Rural development was largely subsumed within agriculture within the Third, Fourth and Fifth plans.
There was neither a separate ministry nor a department to deal with issues in rural development for the
first four plans. It was towards the beginning of Fifth plan period that a separate department of Rural
Development was constituted within the confines of Ministry of Agriculture.
Second Phase: Targeted Approach
The Sixth Plan was an important milestone in defining the rural development as a sector for three major
reasons: First, for the first time in the plan documents, rural development emerged as a separate sector
and a chapter was devoted to it. Second, the plan brought the element of special area approach through
launch of programmes like the Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP), and Desert Development
Programme (DDP). Third, special employment programmes were formulated and launched during this
period, namely the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) for self-employment and the
National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) for wage employment.

1Sumberg, J. and Hunt, S. (2018). Rural areas and Innovations: Claims, Evidence and Implications. Unpublished background paper

produced for IFAD’s Rural Development Report 2019, "Investing in Rural areas".
2 Planning Commission. (1956). Second Five Year Plan. Government of India.
3 Planning Commission. (1969). Fourth Five Year Plan. Government of India.

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This phase was instrumental in initiating a move away from growth oriented public investment towards
a targeted approach to address poverty and disparities. The approach continued and was expanded
during the Seventh and Eighth plan periods with launching of Training of Rural Youth for Self-
Employment (TRYSEM) and Development of Women and Child in Rural Areas (DWCRA). This added to
IRDP, Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP) and Jawahar Rojgar Yojana (JRY) as
subsets of NREP.
The phase experienced organisational changes in dealing with the business of rural development at the
Central level. The separate department of Rural Department was upgraded to a full-fledged ministry in
1979 as Ministry of Rural Reconstruction and later rechristened as Ministry of Rural Development in
1982. There was a short period when rural development was merged with agriculture and the ministry
was reconstituted as Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (1985). However, since 1991 the
Ministry of Rural Development has been a separate ministry at the central level.
Third Phase: Entitlement Based Approach
The seeds of entitlement approach were sown with the introduction of NSAP and Employment Assurance
Scheme (EAS) during the Ninth Plan period. The former created an eligibility framework that made
specific households entitled to benefit under the scheme. EAS, influenced by Employment Guarantee
Scheme (EGS) of Maharashtra, assured guaranteed employment at minimum wages for 100 days in
designated areas in the country.
The Ninth Plan also saw introduction of Swarn Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) programme that
was further expanded in the Tenth Plan as a major livelihood diversification programme through
promotion of micro enterprises using the instrumentality of Self Help Groups (SHGs).
The dominant perspective for rural development during this phase was on strengthening the productive
potential of rural economy and providing more opportunities to the rural poor in economic processes.
Fourth Phase: Empowerment Approach
Recognising multiple deprivations faced by the poor, and the socio-economic inequalities faced by
different social groups, the Eleventh Plan underwent a paradigm shift to design interventions that
empower the poor who in turn will create demand and institutions to directly address poverty in all its
manifestations. Wage employment programmes were merged in to MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) to guarantee 100 days of unskilled work all over the country. This
became a demand-based wage employment seeking programme that was self-targeting the poor. SGSY
programme was expanded in scope and further deepened in the Twelfth Plan as National Rural
Livelihood Programme, which aims at creating a network of institutions of poor and becoming the vehicle
for diversification of livelihoods away from agriculture.
Moving away from the Below Poverty Line (BPL) approach to deprivation-based approach, this phase
used SECC data to target the poor with inclusion as the operating principle for intervention for poverty
alleviation.
National Priorities
The India Three Year Action Agenda4 recognised the appearance of an integrated economy with blurring
of distinction between rural and urban areas in the rural landscape. The challenge has been the inability
of ‘job creation to keep pace with the shift from agriculture to non-farm-based sector”. Thus, the primary
focus was on increasing efficiencies in implementation, a greater emphasis on boosting skill and

4 NITI Aayog. (2017). Three Year Action Agenda, 2017-18 to 2019-20. Government of India.
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employment generation and ensuring basic service to all villages. With strengthening of Panchayats,
enabling them to respond to local needs, the need for convergence between programmes was underlined
as a strategic concern to create synergetic impact at the rural level.
The CSS in key identified sectors are being taken up in the National Development Agenda. The formation
of Shivraj Singh Chouhan Committee (2015) is a testimony to the efforts of the Union and States/UTs to
work as Team India in the spirit of Cooperative Federalism towards realization of the goals of Vision
20225. The objectives include the provision of basic amenities to all citizens equitably for ensuring quality
of life, with self-respect and dignity. It also includes the provision of appropriate opportunities to citizens
so they can realize their potential. Since, a significant amount of Plan Transfers to States/UTs are routed
through CSS, and since many CSS interventions are in the social sectors, the Committee has provided
recommendations on the design of CSS to be effective and outcome-oriented. Moreover, it suggests for
adequate funding and implementation of CSS to be sufficiently flexible to enable the States to efficiently
implement them according to local requirements and conditions.
The Strategy for New India @ 756 disaggregated 41 sectors into four sections - drivers, infrastructure,
inclusion and governance. The drivers, as engines to boost economic performance, have laid emphasis on
creation of good quality jobs. The aim is to absorb out-migration of labour from agriculture and to
increase women’s participation in workforce. Creation of modern rural infrastructure and integrated
value chain is expected to bring in transformative impact in rural areas as last mile connectivity will be
provided to all villages and all Gram Panchayats will be digitally connected. Inclusivity will be ensured by
improving living conditions through housing for all that includes a pucca house with connection to
drinking water, toilet, twenty-four-hour electric supply and access. Recognising the regional imbalance,
117 aspirational districts have been identified which will be provided with improvement in health and
nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, skill development and basic
infrastructure.
Centrally Sponsored Schemes in Rural Development
DoRD envisages social and inclusive growth of the rural sector through multi-dimensional strategies such
as using rural infrastructure as the engine of development and facilitating the growth of agricultural and
allied activities to improve the overall quality of life of the masses. Roads are one of the key drivers of
development upon which almost every other form of infrastructure depends. They are the catalysts in
bringing development to the areas of health, education, sanitation, and telecommunication. With this
view, the Government of India (GoI) in the year 2000 came up with a nationwide plan under the PMGSY.
Housing is another social infrastructure that affects the rural masses. Housing for poor is seen as a
necessary, public entitlement which is required to keep the poor from becoming even more vulnerable
either through unemployment, ill-health or political unrest. PMAY-G is the flagship programme
contributing to DoRD’s fulfilment of this vision.
A key aspect that comes to mind while talking about rural development is how people can be partners in
this journey to bring sustainable growth in such a way that meaningful and sustainable livelihoods are
provided. MGNREGS is a flagship programme of DoRD and has become a frontrunner in providing jobs to
the masses. The component of direct employment to the rural people helps in eradication of poverty as
the wages earned enhance the income of the households while the word “guaranteed” in itself provides
assurance of giving social security to rural households and covering them against economic as well as
agricultural shocks. Another scheme that covers the domain of poverty eradication and employment is

5 Report of the Sub-group of chief Ministers on Rationalization of CSS (October 2015)

6 NITI Aayog. (2018). Strategy for New India @ 75. Government of India.
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 Sector Report: Rural Development

DAY-NRLM. This scheme has its mandate in reaching out to the poorest of the poor families in rural areas
instead of just BPL households. The programme federates needy individuals into community based
organisations (CBOs), namely women based Self Help Groups (SHGs) and its federations, linking them to
sustainable livelihoods opportunities and nurturing them until they become self-sustainable. The
programme seeks to empower the women of the household, inculcate micro-saving habits and provide
them with financial assistance via banks for taking up entrepreneurial livelihood activities.
While able-bodied and willing people are taken care of by the above mentioned schemes, there remain
certain sections of society who are predisposed to risks such as poor health, unemployment and loss of
earning member of a family. National Social Assistance Programme provides social assistance to the most
needy and vulnerable groups – elderly, widows, people with disability and those households whose
primary breadwinner has passed away.
All these programmes have synergies pointing towards better inclusivity and sustainable growth of the
sector, as envisioned by DoRD. PMAY-G allows for the convergence with MGNREGS to compensate the
beneficiary for the employment foregone while constructing his or her own house. Similarly, convergence
of DAY - NRLM and MGNREGS works (Category C works under MGNREGS) promote agricultural
productivity by creating durable infrastructure required for bio-fertilizers (NADEP and Vermi-
composting pits) and post-harvest facilities, including pucca storage facilities for agricultural produce.
Considering the vulnerability of beneficiaries in NSAP, the scheme converges with DAY - NRLM for
enrolment of NSAP women in SHGs and collection and convergence of SHG network data to NSAP.
A detailed scheme analysis of how each CSS contributes to DoRD’s goals and visions is provided below.
Figure 1: Contribution of Umbrella Schemes to the Sector

Source: Analysis by evaluators

The next section provides a detailed overview of the contribution of the CSS to the three themes identified
above – Infrastructure, Livelihoods and Social Safety Net.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

(A) INFRASTRUCTURE
DoRD is contributing to development of rural infrastructure through CSS schemes – PMGSY for roadways;
PMAY-G for housing; MGNREGS through assets creation; and SPMRM by providing urban amenities in
rural India.
PMGSY
Launched in 2000, PMGSY aims to provide all-weather roads to all unconnected habitations in rural areas
with a population of 500 and above in plain areas and 250 and above in hilly, desert, tribal and backward
districts. The programme draws on the model of decentralised network planning for rural roads that have
been carried out with full involvement of Panchayat institutions.
PMGSY-II was launched in 2013 to consolidate existing rural road network by upgrading existing selected
roads based on their economic potential and role in facilitating growth of rural markets and hubs. PMGSY-
III was launched in 2019 as a separate vertical of road connectivity in LWE, initially affecting 44 districts
of the country.
PMAY-G
Restructuring the erstwhile IAY programme, the PMAY-G was launched in 2016 to fulfil the objective of
Housing For all by 2022. The programme aims to provide a pucca house with basic amenities to all rural
houseless households and households living in kutcha and/or dilapidated houses. The programme
provides assistance of Rs. 1.2 lakhs in plain and Rs. 1.3 lakhs in Hilly States, North Eastern States, difficult
areas and IAP districts for construction of a house of 25 sq. m. The beneficiary is linked to SBM for
assistance of Rs 12,000 for construction of toilet and 90/95 person days of employment under MGNREGS
as financial support for unskilled wages.
MGNREGS
MGNREGS has bearing on rural infrastructure by way of creation of sustainable assets. The aspect of
natural resource management under the scheme contributes to enhancing the national resource base
(through water conservation, drought proofing, renovating water bodies, rural connectivity and so forth)
and furthering sustainable development7.
Eligible works under MGNREGS are reviewed regularly and the list of permissible works has expanded
from its original menu. The emphasis is on works that aim for soil and water conservation; enhancement
of assets for agriculture, livestock and fisheries; infrastructure that promotes rural drinking water and
sanitation; drought proofing and flood control works; and development of structures that expand the
scope for irrigation and/or enhance availability of water for agriculture and allied activities. The
guidelines of MGNREGS allow the Panchayats to select particular works from the framework of
permissible works for implementation as part of MGNREGS.
SPMRM
Launched in 2016 the SPMRM programme is designed for economies in transition from predominantly
rural in character towards urban economy in structure and content. The programme identifies a rurban
cluster as a cluster of geographically contiguous villages with a population of about 25,000 to 50,000 in
plain and coastal areas and with a population of 5,000 to 15,000 in desert, hilly or tribal areas.
Programme entails a project-based approach for intervention that will attract funds from different

7 Ministry of Rural Development. (2018). Annual Report.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

schemes to converge resources and linkages for giving impetus to thematic based growth of economic
activity. The programme is comprehensive as it encompasses provisioning of urban service in the cluster
so that the cluster improves in terms of ease of living as well as ease of doing business. To overcome
shortcoming in resources there is provision of gap funding up to Rs 30 crores based on the DPR prepared
for the cluster. The first phase of the programme targets intervention in 300 rurban clusters at the
national level.
(B) RURAL LIVELIHOODS AND EMPLOYMENT GENERATION PERFORMANCE
The two main programmes which provide necessary connect to the rural livelihoods building blocks are
DAY - NRLM and MGNREGS. While MGNREGS aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people living
in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household
whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work, DAY– NRLM aims at eliminating rural
poverty through promotion of multiple livelihoods for each rural poor household and enhancing self-
employment and skilled-wage employment opportunities.
MGNREGS
India has a long history of implementing workfare programmes to provide unskilled workers with short-
term employment on public works that becomes the basis for income transfer to poor households during
periods of absence of employment opportunities. These programmes have used this workforce to create
durable assets that are consequently expected to generate a second round of employment benefits to the
labour force. The experiences of wage employment programmes implemented by State Governments
with Central assistance led to the enactment of MGNREGA in September 2005. Apart from providing
employment guarantee, MGNREGA also aimed at creating durable assets to strengthen the livelihood
resource base of the rural poor so that in the long run, if successful, the programme will self-eliminate
itself.
The implementation process of MGNREGS utilises a bottom-up approach based on demand driven, self-
selecting, and rights based architecture programme. Restrictions on the use of machines to ensure
employment of labour, regulating labour, material ratio, mandating female labour force participation rate
(33 percent), giving preference to vulnerable groups for wage employment opportunities (women in
special circumstances, persons belonging to particularly vulnerable tribal groups, etc.), task based wage
determination, provisions of unemployment allowances are aspects that distinguish it from the earlier
similar attempts at workfare programmes. Direct income transfer lays the foundation for expansion of
bank linkages and bank transfer of wages for a large section of the rural population that was hitherto
financially excluded from the formal banking institutions.
DAY-NRLM
DAY- NRLM seeks to reach out to all rural poor households and impact their livelihoods significantly by
2024–25. This is envisaged to be achieved through universal social mobilisation of rural poor women,
their institution and capacity building, financial inclusion, creating an enabling environment for
sustainable livelihoods and rural self-employment. It emphasises convergence with other programmes
of the DoRD and other Central Ministries, programmes of State governments, with Non-Governmental
Organisations (NGOs), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the private sector. Conceived initially for
13 States8, that accounted for almost 85 percent of the poor in India, DAY-NRLM seeks to establish
efficient and effective institutional platforms for rural poor that will enable them to increase household
income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial and public
services. It has attempted to leverage resources (capital and service delivery) for the poor from private

8Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal,

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

commercial banks and other government programmes.

(C) SOCIAL SAFETY NETS
India has started conceptualising Social Safety Nets as a crucial and critical tool to fight poverty and
achieve desired development interventions since 1950. Driven by the rights-based initiative, Article 41
of the Indian constitution has clearly emphasized the role of State in providing public assistance to its
citizens in case of unemployment, old age, sickness, and disability or “other cases of undeserved want”.
The principle of fundamental rights of the citizen in ensuring social safety nets is also in conformity with
the global mandates on ensuring Social Safety Nets. “Minimum social protection floor” has been widely
acknowledged and accepted by United Nations (part of Sustainable Development Goals) and its various
agencies, including the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization
(WHO).
The five main programmes which provide a platform to the social security architecture in India are Public
Distribution System (PDS), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Mid-Day Meal Scheme
(MDMS), MGNREGS and pensions for widows, disabled and elderly as part of NSAP. They have been
conceptualised to address structural roots of poverty through combining safety nets (food and non-food)
with structural reforms and long-term interventions with the aim of increasing human capabilities and
addressing structural poverty through them.
There are five schemes under NSAP that are presently being implemented by DoRD. These schemes target
BPL beneficiaries who also fall under the following eligibility criteria:
Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension Scheme: The scheme provides pension to persons belonging to BPL
families who are above 60 years-old. A sum of Rs. 200 per month is provided monthly by the Central
Government to persons in the age group of 60 to 79 years-old and Rs. 500 to persons above 80 years.
Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme: Targets widows above 40 years-old. Monthly
assistance is given in the amount of Rs. 300 per month by the Central Government and raised to Rs. 500
for widows above 80 years-old.
Indira Gandhi Disability Pension Scheme: Persons with at least 80 percent of disability who are above
18 years-old are provided monthly cash assistance of Rs. 300 per month by the Central Government. The
amount is raised to Rs 500 after completing 80 years.
National Family Benefit Scheme: A sum of Rs. 20,000 is provided as one-time assistance in the event of
death of the household’s primary bread winner by the Central Government. The deceased needs to be in
the age group of 18-59 years.
Annapurna Scheme: The scheme targets senior citizens who, though eligible under IGOAPS, are not
receiving pension. They are entitled to receive 10 kg of food grain per month as assistance by the Central
Government.
The States not only tops up the amount of assistance provided by the Central Government but have also
extended the scheme to other beneficiaries for which they utilise their own sources of funds.
The rural development sector has always been at the forefront of India’s priorities in terms of putting
greater emphasis on increasing the beneficiary coverage and budget outlay on these CSSs over the years.
Besides, older safety nets’ disbursement like in-kind subsidy mechanism (PDS) have been supplemented
by cash transfers or Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) in the form of pensions for elderly, widows and
disabled (NSAP) and MGNREGS payment.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Rural Development and 73rd Amendment

The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution provides constitutional status and institutional framework to
Panchayats to strengthen grass-root democracy through elected local self-governing bodies in the rural
areas of the country. The Amendment envisages that the Panchayats be endowed with such power and
authority that will enable them to plan and implement schemes for economic development and social
justice (Article 243, Constitution of India). To facilitate functional decentralization, the amendment listed
29 subjects in the Eleventh Schedule that can be entrusted to Panchayats in the country.
The rural development sector engages with Panchayats at three critical levels: to bring functional
coherence between the programmes of the sector and the functional role assigned to Panchayats under
the constitution; to remove dissonance in planning so the Panchayats can fulfil their constitutional
mandate; and to bring about convergence between programmes at district and sub-district levels.
(a) Functional coherence
Among the subjects entrusted to Panchayats, there are specific ones directly related to the rural
development sector. These subjects include land improvement including soil conservation; minor
irrigation, water management and watershed development; social forestry and farm forestry; rural
housing; poverty alleviation programmes; social welfare, including the welfare of the handicapped and
mentally retarded; welfare of weaker section, particularly Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; and
maintenance of community assets9.
The importance of the subjects devolved to Panchayats was reinforced by the Sub-Group of Chief Minister
for Rationalisation of CSS. The priority sub-sectors within rural development identified by the Sub-Group
included, among others: poverty elimination-livelihood, jobs and skill development; rural connectivity-
electricity, access roads and communication; and housing for all- rural and urban10. The Sub-Group
reiterated that the list of RD sector flagship schemes was to include MGNREGS, NSAP, PMGSY, IAY
(reformulated as PMAY-G), and DAY-NRLM. Within these schemes, the Sub-Group identified MGNREGS
and NSAP as the “Core of the Core schemes” (along with other 5 other schemes) implying that these
schemes will have the first charge on funds available under the National Development Agenda.
(b) Dissonance in Planning
Since the enactment of the 73rd amendment, the State governments have been creating enabling
provisions and environment for the Panchayats so that they can fulfil their constitutional mandate to plan
for economic development and social justice. There were serious shortcomings that were restricting the
process and scope of planning by Panchayats. The devolution report of the Ministry of Panchayat Raj11
noted that the normative formula-based grants have been “overshadowed by the discretionary window
of grant-in-aid for public purpose by CSS and State scheme involving parastatals and parallel structures
bypassing local governments”. The net result was that the local government focused a lot of their time
and effort in performing the agency function rather than on strengthening their own systems for revenue
collection, improving governance, and delivery of local services.
The Gram Panchayats Development Plan Guidelines 2018 listed institutional challenges and
opportunities which have the potential to enable Panchayats to plan for sustainable development and
social justice. These challenges included the need to enhance the degree and level of people’s
participation in the Gram Sabhas; harnessing social capital in the form of PRI-SHG convergence; bringing
about convergence of funds, schemes, and initiatives; creating a robust MIS and e-enablement of
Panchayats; and integrating spatial and sectoral planning.

9 The subjects mentioned are as they are listed in Eleventh schedule of the Constitution of India
10 Same as Footnote 21.
11 T.I.S.S. (2016). Devolution Report - Where Local Democracy and Devolution in India is heading towards?

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

(c) Convergence
The 14th Finance Commission recommended that each Gram Panchayat have one Development Plan (DP)
that will encompass plans for all the 29 subjects listed in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution. A
single DP provides an opportunity for generating synergies in benefits and impacting the individual,
group and village level. These synergies are only possible if a framework for convergence is used and
implemented for the development of GPDPs (Gram Panchayat Development Plans).

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

1.2. Performance of the Sector

Winds of Change
In history, rural India stands at the cusp of golden era of growth and prosperity. The evidence is all there
to see: rural demographic advantage - education rather than just the age12, propensity of economic
mobility13, tele-density14, transition from a predominantly rural to quasi-urban society15, renewed vigour
of coping strategies adopted by the rural households under shocks – internal, external and price related16,
propitious appreciation for circular economy particularly among the youths and the maturing gig
ecosystem17.
The demographic advantage transition offers opportunities and challenges. They include an increased
labour supply, increasing savings, investment of relatively more resources per capita leading to better
health and educational outcomes, and increasing domestic demand, with increase in consumption levels,
leading to increasing GDP per capita, and decreasing dependency ratio.
With all its diversity and plurality the rural landscapes are weaving a new paradigm of an inclusive rural
transformation that is characterised by: increasing the growth rate of climate adaptive agriculture;
increase commercialization and marketable surpluses by recognising strong interdependencies between
rural and urban settlements; diversification in production patterns and livelihoods; expansion of decent
non-farm employment and entrepreneurial opportunities; improvement in rural wages and access to
services and infrastructure; and greater access to rights and entitlements through enhanced social
capital. These changes have made rural spaces multi-layered with in-built complexities that demand
nuanced public policies that are able to create synergetic impacts to:
1. Deliver improved well-being for rural population (across economic, social and environmental
dimensions);
2. Growth dynamics for rural economy across various regions;
3. Deploy range of policy instruments (infrastructure, investments, addressing market failures, and
support sustainable innovations);
4. Foster multi-sectoral approach that engages public agencies, the private sector and non-
government organization, and is inclusive of different population groups and geographies;
5. Integrate delivery to enable sectoral policies that match the needs and circumstances of different
rural regions;
6. Understand the spectrum of rural regions ranging from those in an urban area to remote
representing different policy opportunities and challenges.
Panchayats: Institutional architecture for change
The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution provides constitutional status and institutional framework to
Panchayats. It aims to strengthen grass-root democracy through a system of elected local self-governing
bodies in the rural India. The Amendment has endowed Panchayats with power and authority to plan and
implement schemes for economic development and social justice (Article 243, Constitution of India). The

12Lutz et. al. (2019). Education rather than age structure brings demographic dividend, PNAS, June 25, 2019, vol. 116, no. 26,

12803.
13Li, Millimet, Roychowdhury (2019). Economic Mobility in India: estimation using noisy data.
14 Government of India. (2019). Economic Survey. (Vol. 2) 2018-2019. Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs,

Economic Division. New Delhi.

15 I.I.P.S. (2018). IIPS estimates.
16 Shah, A. (2017). Patterns, processes of reproduction and policy imperatives for poverty in remote rural areas of India, paper

presented at international workshop “Understanding and addressing spatial poverty traps: an international workshop”. Spier
Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa; Chronic Poverty Research Centre and the Overseas Development Institute.
17 Bhandari and Dubey. (2018). Let’s think afresh about how to govern India’s gig workforce. Retrieved at

[Link]
[Link]. Accessed on 17/02/2020.
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 Sector Report: Rural Development

strengthening of democratic governance paved the way for the citizenship paradigm-based safety net,
which gives the citizen a sense of entitlement18.
India’s citizenship paradigm-based safety net is founded on principles of rights-based approach and
displays a pattern that reduces the likelihood of class-based conflict19. For rural India, the transition has
been a movement from social citizenship that entails civil rights (such as freedom of speech, faith and
others), towards political rights and finally resting on social rights which is the driver of welfare state
expansion20. Regardless of the directions and design, rural India is a combination of democratic needs,
competitive politics, rising economic insecurity and genuine concerns for the poor. The effort is to break
new ground by deploying solutions for rapid, sustainable and resource-efficient growth both at the
household and individual level.
Qualitative interviews have highlighted the importance of local institutions in the implementation of
Rural Development schemes. Gram Panchayats were mentioned as the first important institution for
implementation of schemes. Block and District level officials in Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya have confirmed that the roles and responsibilities of Gram
Panchayats are key in awareness generation, identification of beneficiaries and coordination with other
departments.

“All State government schemes are implemented via Rural Development Department, Zillah Parishad and Panchayat
Raj, department which is a three-tier Panchayat Raj system. (…) With proper coordination with the Panchayat
Committee and Zillah Parishad, we implement all the schemes introduced by the State as well as Central government.
Our objective behind all this is that every eligible person should get benefitted from the schemes” - DRDA, Rajasthan
“For public participation, there is the Gram Panchayats, the Panchayat functionaries, the people living in that area
and the departmental functionaries, like Panchayat secretary, ADO, BDO and nodal officers” - DRDA, Uttar Pradesh

In fact, J-PAL evidence on rural development from the finance and governance sectors show the relevant
contribution of awareness generation and information dissemination efforts to social welfare
programmes across the country.
Box 1: Case Study on Information and Application Assistance in Social Welfare Programmes

Information and Application Assistance in Social Welfare Programmes

Simpler enrolment procedures and assistance with bureaucratic mediation can help increase take up of social
programmes, especially for the most vulnerable. Eligible citizens may lack information regarding the programme
or demonstrate confusion about the application process, leading them to select out of these programmes.
● In a randomized evaluation in the context of the Widow Pension Scheme in Delhi, groups of women were
provided with information, basic assistance to fill out applications and intensive assistance to mediate
with bureaucrats.
● Providing information alone increased application rates, but only among literate women.
● Application rates increased in groups of women who received basic and intensive mediation assistance
with the impact being greater for vulnerable women, including those who were illiterate, politically
disconnected or lacked autonomy in the household.

18 Daigneault, Pierre-Marc (2014). Three Paradigms of Social Assistance. SAGE Open. École Nationale D’administration Publique

(ÉNAP), Québec, Canada.

19 Pingali et al. (2019). Reimaging safety net programs, transforming food systems for a rising India. Pp. 135-164. Retrieved at
[Link] per cent2F978-3-030-14409-8_6.pdf. Accessed on 15/02/2020.
20 Kapur, D, Nangia, P. (2015). Social Protection in India: A Welfare State Sans Public Goods? India Review, 14:1, 73-90, DOI:

10.1080/14736489.2015.1001275.
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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Source: Gupta, S. (2017). Perils of the Paperwork: The Impact of Information and Application Assistance on
Welfare Program Take-Up in India. Job Market Paper.

Rural Transformation
Rural transformation refers to the metamorphosis of the economic, social and spatial structure of the
rural India through multiple processes which include changes in the structure of the production system,
livelihood diversification, rural–urban linkages, infrastructure development, educational attainment and
changes in the aspiration and way of life and many more21. Exogenous and endogenous factors influence
these processes. It includes land reforms, infrastructure development, innovations in agriculture, rural-
industrialization, access to water for cultivation, method of cultivation, cropping pattern, pattern of land
ownership, etc22. The heterogeneous nature of rural transformation shows that in the wake of
transformation of the rural economy, the importance of agriculture is declining, aided by multiple
“distress-push” and “demand pull” diversification, thereby leading to occupational diversification owing
to structural transformation. This has varied implications for households in rural areas. The situation
demands a strategy of consolidation and a strategy of survival23.
The ensuing paragraphs present the evidence of transformation that rural India faces at present.
(a) Declining share of agriculture in rural income
In the last four decades, Indian rural output has increased by almost seven times—Rs. 3,199 billion to Rs.
21,107 billion at 2004–05 prices—but the share of agriculture in rural income has reduced from 72.4
percent to 39.2 [Link] representative data suggests that 88 percent of farming households
rely on some form of non-farm income sources to sustain their livelihoods25. Non-farm income is
becoming an important source of food security and dietary diversity26. As the central agrarian question
in India remains the availability of productive land, non-farm sector helps maintain income for the
landless and the smallholder. It is well established that Indian agriculture is dominated by smallholders,
and fragmentation of land is the root cause of poverty and inequality in rural areas27. Income from the
non-farm sector is potentially a major poverty-reducing strategy and often picks up the slack when
agriculture is not doing well28.
(b) Movement towards rural non-farm sector
The transformation of the workforce in India away from low-productivity agricultural sector into
manufacturing and other tertiary activities has been slow. More than 60 percent of the rural workforce
continues to be employed in agriculture-based livelihoods, despite the share of agriculture output being

21 Guin, Debarshi (2018). From Large Villages to Small Towns: A Study of Rural Transformation in New Census Towns, India.

International Journal of Rural Management, 14(2) 87–109, Institute of Rural Management; SAGE Publications.
22 Rao, Nair (2003). Change and Transformation in Rural South India: Findings from Village Studies. Economic and Political

Weekly Vol. 38, No. 32 (Aug. 9-15, 2003), pp. 3349-3354.

23Nagaraj, Bantilan. (2014); Dynamics of rural labor markets in India: Implications for inclusive development strategy; working

paper series No. 57; ICRISAT research program; Markets, Institutions and Policies;
24Chand, Srivastava, Singh (2017); Changing structure of Rural economy of India: Implications for employment and growth;

Discussion paper, NITI Aayog.

25 Chandrasekhar, Mehrotra, (2016); What would it take? Doubling Farmers’ income by 2022; EPW Commentary, vol. 51, Issue

no; 18; 30th April 2016

26 Mishra & Rahman (2018); Does non-farm income affect food security? Evidence from India; IGIDR, Mumbai and Tata-Cornell

Institute (TCI); Dyson School of applied economics and management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
27Chakravorty, Chandrasekhar, Naraparaju (2016); Income generation and Inequality in India’s Agriculture sector; the

consequences of land fragmentation, IGIDR, November 2016 [Link]

accessed on Feb 10, 2020
28Haggblade, S., Hazell, P., & Reardon, T. (2010). The rural non-farm economy: Prospects for growth and poverty reduction. World

Development, 38(10), 1429–1441. [Link]

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

around 17 percent. There has been a decline in the share of cultivators, but the share of agricultural
labour has increased; the desired transition from rural to urban occupation has not taken place.
With overall economic growth, better rural infrastructure and declining rural-urban travel time
distances, the composition of the rural non-farm sector in India has changed; construction and
manufacturing sectors have become major employment sources. According to the estimates based on the
National Sample Survey (NSS), construction sector employs 30.1 percent of the total non-agricultural
employment29. Manufacturing employment, on the other hand, stands at 22.1 percent, while services
employ 45.1 percent of the labour force. Unprecedented growth in the construction and the service sector
over the last decade has led to a greater number of jobs but also led to greater casualization of the labour
force. Lack of formal written contracts between the construction workers and their employers raises the
issue of job quality. Even among the formal sector employees in the non-farm economy, such as
manufacturing or services, only 60 percent have a formal contract, depriving a majority of social security
benefits30.

29National Sample Survey

30Saha,P., &Verick, S. (2017). Casualization and shift of rural workers to non-farm activities. In Rural labour mobility in times of
structural transformation (pp. 127–150). Singapore: Springer Singapore. [Link]
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 Sector Report: : Rural Development

Figure 2: Employment Transition Trend(agricultural share in total employment)

Source: Census Data (1991, 2001 and 2011)

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

The agricultural share in total employment has nearly halved from 1991 to 2011, decreasing from 57
percent to 28 percent (Figure-2 above). However, States have been transitioning at different paces. Less
than 20 percent of the population remains engaged in agriculture in Goa and Kerala, but in States like
Mizoram and Andhra Pradesh, slightly more than 40 percent of employment still comes from the
agricultural sector.
Despite urban wages growing faster than rural wages31, census records indicate that rural to rural
migration patterns dominate migration streams and many individuals continue to work as agricultural
labourers. Also, labour markets have not been able to employ excess underemployed labour from the
agricultural sector and agricultural labour productivity continues to remain low with vast differences by
region.
(c) Migration: a fact of life
Regional comparative advantages (or the lack of it) in resource availability benefit some regions over
others. In addition to the growth of local and global demand for goods and services, these comparative
advantages in inputs have intensified regional disparities in growth rates. Secondly, various labour
market resistances have inhibited a smooth transition of labour from agricultural to the non-agricultural
sectors32.
The rural to rural migration in the agricultural sector is largely owing to the difference in agricultural
productivity across States. Low rural to urban migration, more characteristic of the agricultural to non-
agricultural migration, has been slower due to poor access to appropriate skills, in addition to
geographical challenges that migration poses. The physical geographical distance has a robust negative
association with internal migration across Indian districts and States33. The stock of “rural-rural”
migrants is also negatively correlated with per capita Net State Domestic Product, and its pattern across
States mirrors “intrastate” migration flows, with Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh characterized by a
disproportionately high stock of rural-rural migrants34.
The findings of the Government of India’s recent Economic Survey reinforce the importance of cultural
similarities through a strong contiguity effect; controlling for distance, States that share common borders
see about 65 percent more migration between them than States that do not share such a border. Also,
because of the migration of productive male labour, an increase in the feminization of agriculture is taking
place35. In view of its trends of migration, India can look to borrow some learnings from other countries
who have instituted mechanisms to reduce rural to urban migration. Some of these learnings are
presented below:
Box 2: Case Study on Reducing rural to urban migration

Reducing rural to urban migration

Migration affects the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. In the next decades, demographic trends,
globalization, inequality, and climate change are likely to further increase migration pressures both within and
across countries. It is often seen that as a result of migration, rural areas lose a vital and potentially dynamic

31Bhagat, R. B. (2017). Migration and urban transition in India: Implications for development. United Nations expert group

meeting on Sustainable Cities, Human Mobility and International Migration. Retrieved from
[Link]
32Kone, et. al (2016). Internal Borders and Migration in India, Mimeo, The World Bank, Washington D.C.
33Same as Footnote 43.
34Nayyar & Kim (2018); India’s Internal Labor Migration Paradox: The Statistical and the Real; Policy research working paper

(8356), World Bank Group – Finance, competitiveness and innovation global practice (February 2018)
35 Pattnaik, I., Lahiri-Dutt, K., Lockie, S., Pritchard, B. (2017): The feminization of agriculture or the feminization of agrarian

distress? Tracking the trajectory of women in agriculture in India, Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, DOI:
10.1080/13547860.2017.1394569

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

share of their workforce. This raises questions regarding the future of agriculture given that, worldwide, farmers
are ageing while deep-seated changes in agricultural practices are needed to step up food productivity and make
agricultural production sustainable36. FAO, in its information note on rural transformations, highlighted
challenges and opportunities for rural areas in terms of migration. This is presented below:
Challenges Opportunities
• Loss of human capital, highly skilled workers • Migration can reduce pressures on local
and agricultural labour may affect crop labour markets and resources, as migrants
production and food availability. find employment opportunities elsewhere.
• Migration of young men may cause ageing • Female migration and women’s control
and feminization of rural populations and over remittances can contribute to rural
increased work burdens on those left behind. women’s empowerment.
• Remittances may be used towards • Remittances reduce liquidity constraints.
consumption rather than productive They can cover for basic needs, provide
investments. insurance in case of crisis and shocks, or be
• Remittances may lead to changes in land invested in agriculture. Remittances can
use and titling. Conversion of agricultural land improve the stability of access to quality food
to land for housing may lead to rising land and support food production.
prices and falling agricultural production, • Migrants can increase local human capital,
which may affect food security. through skills and technology transfers,
• Irregular or distress migration may be knowhow, and social networks.
dangerous for the migrants themselves.
Low-skilled migrants are more vulnerable to
precarious jobs, unsafe working conditions,
and weak access to social protection.
FAO also identified some learnings from countries to address issues around migration. Some of them have been
outlined below37:
• Conducting a situation analysis in Ghana and addressing data gaps for policy formulation: Ghana is
witnessing increasing internal migration, emigration, transit migration and immigration involving regular,
irregular, seasonal, temporary and voluntary and forced dimensions of migration. Data gaps were identified
as a significant issue in understanding and addressing the variable components of migration and resulting
impacts on food security and nutrition. To address this, Ghana first undertook a situation analysis of the
existing data sources and current practices among data collection agencies and ministries, resulting in the
formulation of the strategy for the National Migration Database for Ghana. Part of the strategy also included
coordination among government ministries. Ghana has used this information to develop Migration Profiles
– or characteristics of various migrants – in order to target policies to address their needs.
• Zimbabwe established a dedicated Migration and Development Unit: Within the Ministry of Economic
Planning and Investment Promotion, this unit acts as a focal point for all migration and development issues,
including food security and nutrition. The aim is to have a dedicated unit that could map the range of policies
and coordinate with all the entities involved without creating competing priorities or responsibilities. The
unit intends to: (i) formulate/implement/monitor national migration and development policy, legal and
institutional frameworks; (ii) facilitate mainstreaming of migration policy and practice in national and
sectoral development plans such as national budgets, youth policies and national censuses and surveys; (iii)
identify and commission research on migration and development; (iv) identify and engage with diasporas
for investment and development initiatives; (v) formalize and harness the positive impacts of labour
migration for national socio-economic development; (vi) ensure enforcement of measures to protect and
promote the human rights and well-being of migrants; (vii) identify and initiate skills retention programmes

36 FAO, Reducing distress migration through decent rural employment. Rural Transformations - Information Note #4, 2015
37 FAO, Strengthening Sector Policies for Better Food Security and Nutrition Results, 2017

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

and measures to mitigate brain drain; and (viii) identify and initiate economic and community development
for migration programmes to address root causes of migration.
• In Vietnam, studies have shown that migration is a key strategy for households in economic difficulty and
searching for better livelihood opportunities; at the same time, they face considerable risks as a result of a
lack of adequate social protection coverage. Current schemes are residence- based, which reduces migrants’
ability to take benefits with them as they move. The policy framework is not very responsive to “spontaneous
migration” from rural to urban areas or to the increasing amount of circular and temporary migration. This
has resulted in a two-fold problem: (i) vulnerabilities of migrant workers as a result of poor enforcement of
labour laws in the formal sector; and (ii) lack of awareness of migrants of their rights or avenues to express
concerns or problems. Addressing these issues can help to ensure that rural-to-urban migrants in Vietnam
become agents of development and diminish the risks they face in terms of food insecurity and malnutrition.
In conclusion, FAO identifies specific obstacles to policy change and potential solutions as given below38:

Obstacle How to address

Competing interests among migration and Create multi-ministry/inter-sectoral coordination
food security and nutrition authorities and group(s) and incorporate food security and nutrition
lack of inter-sectoral coordination actors in migration policy-making and vice versa
Lack of understanding of food security and Conduct training/workshops on food security and
nutrition issues nutrition for migration authorities
Lack of understanding of migration, labour, Conduct training/workshops for agricultural
social protection and youth issues among stakeholders
agricultural stakeholders
Policies and programmes not addressing the Incorporate the most vulnerable into policy dialogue
most vulnerable/those who require the most
assistance
Lack of funding for policy and programme Identify potential resources within the government and
implementation externally among partners, as well as explore
innovative financing mechanisms (e.g. diaspora
support; migrant investments and contributions)
Lack of monitoring and evaluation of policy Create a monitoring and evaluation framework,
impact to make the case that change is needed including impact assessments, with dedicated roles and
resources

(d) Emergence of rural urban continuums

The trends of migration have led to blurring of urban-rural distinction. It is becoming increasingly hard
to distinguish between census towns and towns with urban administrative status. Villages proximate to
census towns are not very different from those proximate to statutory towns39. Hence, instead of a rural-
urban binary, we now have a rural-urban continuum which is expanding along with structural
transformation of the economy. Villages have begun to exhibit urban characteristics - peri-urbanization.
Peri-urban regions have become important hubs helping the diversification of economic activity through

38Same as Footnote 54.

39Chandrasekhar, S., & Mukhopadhyay, A. (2017). The changing nature of rurality: Reframing the discourse on migration and
commuting. In Rural labour mobility in times of structural transformation (pp. 183–207). Singapore: Springer Singapore.
[Link]

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

creating agglomeration effects, and access to amenities and generation of employment beyond farms. In
villages located closer to towns, the share of non-farm activities could be as large as 70 percent 40.
(e) Declining labour force participation
Table 1: Sector–Wise Growth rates during FY 2014-15 to 2018-19

Sector Real Growth between FY 2016-17 to FY 2019-20

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 2.8%
Industry 2.5%
Services 6.9%
Gross Value Added 3.9%
Source: Economic survey 2019-20, Vol.2 Government of India, Ministry of Finance41

The growth rates reflect the changing contours of the sector at large. The growth in agriculture sector has
been fluctuating. It increased from -0.2 percent in FY 2014-15 to 6.3 percent in FY 2016-17, and then
declined to 2.8 percent in FY 2019-20. The overall industrial sector growth is estimated to be 2.5 percent
in FY 2019-20 as compared to 6.9 percent growth in FY 2018-19. The industrial growth was subdued due
to decrease in domestic demand for key sectors such as automotive and pharmaceuticals and
underperformance of exports and liquidity crunch owing to reduced lending by NBFCs. The services
sector growth rate also had a deceleration trend during FY 2019-20. It is expected to grow at 6.9 percent
in FY 2019-20 as compared to 7.5 percent in FY 2018-19. The gross value added for FY 2019-20
(estimates) exhibits a weakening momentum owing to downward growth rate of the key sectors.
As per Periodic labour Force Survey (PLFS) estimates, Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in India
has declined to 36.9 percent in 2017-18 from 39.5 percent in 2011-12 (NSSO) as per usual status. In rural
areas, it has declined by 3.6 percentage points. The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) has declined to 34.7
percent in 2017- 18 from 38.6 percent in 2011-12 (NSSO). The WPR has declined by 4.9 percentage points
in rural areas. The unemployment rate (UR) in India stood at 6.1 percent with 5.3 percent in rural areas
as per usual status. As per Current Weekly Status Approach (CWS), the UR was 8.9 percent with 8.5
percent in rural areas. Further, as per PFLS 2018-19 estimates, labour force participation is noted to be
55.1 percent for males and 19.7 percent for females.
Table 2: Key Labour Market indicators for all Age Groups in FY 2017-18 (in percent)
Indicators Rural
Usual Status: activity determined on the reference period of 365 days preceding the date of the survey.
LFPR (Labour Force Participation Rate) 37.0
Work Participation Rate (WPR) 35.0
Unemployment Rate (UR) 5.3
CWS: person who is unable to get work even for an hour in the last seven days of reference week despite available
and seeking for work is considered as unemployed
LFPR 35.7
WPR 32.6
UR 8.5
Source: Annual report, PLFS (2017-18)

(f) Consumption picking up

Consumption has always been a strong and major driver of growth in the economy. Within total final
consumption, it is the private final consumption expenditure that has a major share (close to 60 percent)
in the economy’s GDP. The share of food in total consumption has gone down by around 6.5 percentage

40Sharma, A. (2016). Urban proximity and spatial pattern of land use and development in rural India. The Journal of Development

Studies, 52(11), 1593–1611.

41Growth rates at basic prices for 2016-17 to 2019-20 (estimated).

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

points in rural areas. Rural wages growth which was declining seems to have bottomed out and has
started to increase since mid-201842.
(g) Access to banking services
Access to banking services towards enabling financial inclusion to promote economic growth and
reducing poverty and inequality is essential. The data on the penetration of banking infrastructure in
rural India in terms of percentage of banks located in the rural regions shows that 34.2 percent of the
total bank branches are located in rural areas of the country. The coverage in the central region is the
highest (23.6 percent) followed by eastern and southern regions (21.5 and 21.1 percent, respectively)43
and lowest being in the north eastern region (4.1 percent). Considering the operational cost per
transaction for the bank to operate in a rural region, a digital channels / platform offers potential
solutions including creating low-cost service models that offer incentives to multiple industry
participants (such as telecom providers, banks, and payment providers), improving digital literacy, and
expanding broadband and digital banking infrastructure within the country. The Philippines experience
of improving financial inclusion provides valuable lessons in the box below:
Box 3: Case Study on improving access to banking services in Philippines

Improving access to banking services in Philippines

In Philippines Caraga region, the average family poverty incidence is 30.8 percent, compared to the national
average of 16.5 percent. Only around 24 percent of families in this region have bank deposits. Further, it is
estimated that 7 out of 10 adult savers keep their savings at home, and borrowers tap informal sources for funds
such as family, relatives, or friends (62 percent) or informal lenders (10 percent). Better inclusion of this large
unbanked or under-served part of the Philippine population into the formal financial system will help reduce
vulnerability and risk for the individuals and is likely to have a positive effect on economic development.
Philippines’ National Strategy for Financial Inclusion propagates that the financial system also reaches the
underserved or marginalized sectors of the population through the use of technology and other innovations to
reach the financially excluded. With this background, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Cantilan Bank Inc. (CBI)
signed an agreement to conduct a pilot study on cloud-based core banking technology. Under the project, CBI
moved from a conventional on-site core banking system to the cloud-based SaaS Instafin. In January 2019, CBI
turned off its legacy system leading to a more efficient and flexible way of doing business leading to cutting costs,
improving client convenience, and, in turn, drawing more people into the formal financial system. The outline of
the project is given below44:

42 Same as Footnote 31.

43Retrieved at [Link] Accessed on 19/02/2020.
44 ADB. (2019). Cloud-Based Core Banking in the Philippines.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Learnings
• Building in time allowance for “the unknown” into the implementation schedule may lead to a more
realistic timeline.
• Working with a cloud-based SaaS and a service provider in a different time zone can be challenging,
especially during technically intense periods.
• The longer-than-expected transition process—operating old and new system in parallel for more than a
year.
• Continuous training to ensure effective use of the system is necessary, but traditional forms—bringing
branch level staff to headquarters—is costly and time consuming. Using new communications
technologies would reduce costs and save time.

Government interventions

With rural India being home to 65.97 percent45 of the population, having an annual growth rate of 0.4
percent, and being endowed with vast majority of the land, water and other natural resources,
complementary to cities through connections related to the flow of people, goods and services, diversified
economies beyond agriculture and other natural resource based sectors, structural challenges and above
all with a huge potential for significant contribution to the national productivity growth, DoRD has
embarked on a vision of an all-inclusive and sustainable growth model46.
The focus is to deliver a level of well-being, a quality of life that has economic, social and environmental
dimensions. Economically, the need is to make local employment productive and competitive. Socially,
the need of households is to have access to a broad set of services and a community that is cohesive and
supportive. Environmentally, the need is to provide a pleasant place to live.
The policy focus evolves away from short-term and sectoral support towards helping to build conditions
favourable for the long-term growth of rural economies. It focuses on investing in human capital,
infrastructure, innovation which are enabling factors for growth, rather than short-term responses that
seek to protect existing economic activities. In effect, the present rural policies involve:

45Retrieved
at [Link] Accessed on 19/02/2020.
46Retrieved
at [Link] . Accessed on
09/10/2020.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

i) An engagement of a broad array of actors and multi-level governance mechanisms. This

necessitates collaboration and engagement of governments (both Central and the State) at
multiple levels and involvement of the private sector and the third sector.
ii) Building capacities for the implementation of all the rural programs. The attempt is for long term
capacity building that makes rural communities more engaged in processes of development and
more resilient to shocks.
iii) Focus on integrated investments and delivering services that are adapted to and meet the needs of
rural community / areas. There is strong interconnectedness to make better use of investments
and more efficiently deliver services.
iv) Coordinated and mutually reinforcing sectoral policies and the mix between them that are
rebalanced to meet differing local needs. Shift has been on framing of policy interventions that do
not target administrative boundaries in silos to harness synergies that are present between rural
and urban areas.
Qualitative evidence described the context of implementation of Rural Development programmes in
terms of administrative capacity to achieve such objectives. On the one hand, officials from Uttar Pradesh,
Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan pointed out the current shortage and limited capacity of staff
to implement schemes in the Rural Development sector. On the other hand, coordination among
implementing bodies at different levels was perceived positively by District and Block officials.

“We have a very good coordination with the state as well as with the local bodies. We share a good coordination
with our rural local bodies and also a good coordination with the state administration. We don't face any kind of
problems at the time of release of the state components or at the time of reporting etc”- District Magistrate,
Haryana
“We have great coordination with the District level. The coordination is at the District level. The DC is also involved
in some schemes. We have monthly review meetings where all the centrally sponsored schemes are reviewed. We
take action and we keep getting directions from the District level” - BDO, Himachal Pradesh
“The manpower structure at the District and Block levels face challenges. They do not have sufficient number of
BDOs which is required. The Panchayat Secretaries, who run the entire system on the field, are not in adequate
numbers. They are less, due to which there is double load on a single manpower” - DRDA, Uttar Pradesh
“Skill development should be done and staff should be increased" – District Magistrate, Andhra Pradesh
“There is a lack of human resources in some departments”- District Magistrate, Jharkhand
“If 100 posts are there, then only 50 percent is filled. The rest 50 percent is always unfulfilled. Lack of human
resources is an issue here” - ADF, Rajasthan

CSS Programmes in Rural Development

The interventions undertaken by DoRD comprise three-pronged strategies, which include strengthening
institutions to be drivers of change to bring about transformation in the life and livelihoods of
beneficiaries; creating an enabling environment for building social capital; and making convergence
between schemes and programmes a reality to generate synergies in implementation and impacts. This
evaluation attempts to answer how rural development as a sector contributes towards (a) bringing
transformation in the way things are planned and executed with a focus on infrastructure, livelihoods and
social safety net as a critical enabler of growth and prosperity in rural areas (b) creating an enabling
environment for the people and systems, with a focus on mainstreaming the population through various
institutions and ensuring inclusiveness and (c) facilitating convergence among and between institutions,

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

systems, and communities47 to come together at the input, process and output levels. These aspects have
been elaborated below for the three themes of Infrastructure, Livelihoods and Social Safety Net:

1.2.1. Infrastructure
Transformation
Development of rural infrastructure promotes economic growth, improves the standard of living of the
population and reduces the incidence of poverty by generating both farm and non-farm employment.
According to a World Bank estimate, a 1 percent increase in the stock of infrastructure leads to
proportionate increase in the GDP of a country48. In spite of the importance of infrastructure, significant
deficiencies have persisted in rural infrastructure. The quantity and quality of infrastructure facilities are
substantially lower in rural areas than in urban areas.
For example, as per the 76th Round of the NSS (2018), 96 percent of the households in rural areas have
own dwelling unit and among these 76.7 percent have a house of pucca structure. However, 56.6 percent
households in rural areas had access to a bathroom. Out of these 48.4 percent used bathroom attached to
the dwelling unit.
Figure 3: Percentage of households by type of house in rural areas

Source: NSS 76th Round, 2018

The NSS further notes that among households living in houses in rural areas, 93.9 percent had electricity
for domestic use. However, 48.6 percent of households in rural areas had exclusive access to principal
source of drinking water.
The need for rural infrastructure is met through various schemes of the DoRD. Roads, Housing and Public
Works are among some of the key basic infrastructures, which have a direct bearing on livelihood
generation, rural to urban migration and overall quality of life. All three are a part of DoRD’s schemes for
asset creation in rural areas through PMGSY, PMAY-G and MGNREGS.
Till 2000, around 30 percent of India’s population lacked access to all-weather roads even though India
has one of the largest and densest road networks in the world, with a total of 3.3 million km. Moreover, a

47Evidence based and outcome focused convergence with institutions such as IIT, IRMA, NIRD, NIPFP, IEG etc. and creation of

various other advisory groups for human resources towards outcome-based staffing (in Panchayats) information technology
(creation of DISHA platform for assessment of all flagship programmes), financial inclusion (flow of bank credit to SHGs),
markets and value chain (to create an institutional framework for taking rural products to scale, nationally and internationally)
and internal audit for risk analysis.
48 Ghosh, Madhusudan. (2017). Infrastructure and Development in Rural India. Margin. The Journal of Applied Economic

Research.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

large part of rural roads was in poor condition49. In late 2000, GoI launched the National Rural Roads
Programme (PMGSY) to improve rural connectivity in a systematic manner.
Along with roads, public housing programmes have been present for a long time in India. They started
with the rehabilitation of refugees immediately after Independence and since then, it has been a major
focus area of the government as an instrument of poverty alleviation. Rural housing, as an independent
programme, started with Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) in January 1996. Although IAY addressed the
housing needs in the rural areas, there were certain gaps in the scheme, such as lack of transparency in
the selection of beneficiaries, non-assessment of housing shortage and weak mechanism for scheme
monitoring. To address these gaps and in view of the Government’s commitment to providing “Housing
for All’’ by the year 2022, IAY was re-structured into Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G)
w.e.f. 1st April 201650.
Along with a focus on roads and housing, India has engaged in several Public Works programmes,
particularly in times of famine. The largest experiment was the Maharashtra Employment Guarantee
Scheme (EGS), which began as a drought relief programme in the 1970s and continued as an anti-poverty
programme. The EGS served as a model for the advocacy of rural employment programmes in the early
2000s. Following the 2000 drought in Rajasthan, a strong people’s movement emerged with a demand
for jobs to provide relief from drought. In a separate yet related development, the Supreme Court of India
also expressed an opinion in response to Public Interest Litigation linking the Right to Food with Right to
Work and asked for speedy implementation as well as expansion of Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana
(Total Rural Employment Scheme), the precursor of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act. A growing economy combined with rising inequality made it desirable to implement a
programme with broad appeal, giving rise to MGNREGS51.
Despite creating opportunities for employment, infrastructure facilities available in urban areas remain
a pull factor for rural to urban migration. Against this backdrop, the Rurban Mission aims to bring urban
amenities to rural India by building 300 rural clusters of growth across the country to bridge the rural–
urban divide related to infrastructure and services; act as a vehicle of regional development; and attract
investment in rural areas52. The current Rurban Mission has its genesis in the idea of former President
Dr. APJ Kalam, who proposed a policy called Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA). He
emphasized the need for greater connectivity — physical, electronic and knowledge-related — in rural
areas. When introduced in 2004, PURA was critiqued for challenges related to inadequate institutional
capacity and lack of convergence among existing rural development programmes53. In its remodelled
form as PURA 2.0, water supply, sanitation and physical infrastructure gained prominence over
connectivity as the basic tenets of reducing urban–rural disparity54. In 2016, PURA 2.0 gave way to
SPMRM with added provisioning of economic activities, developing skills and local entrepreneurship.
Apart from fulfilling national priorities, the rural development CSS schemes are essential to achieve
internationally committed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)55. Rural Infrastructure development
through these schemes is contributing in the achievement of SDG 1 (No Poverty) by providing rural
population with access to resources; equal opportunity to fulfil basic needs (house, water, sanitation and

49 World Bank (2011). India Rural Roads.

50 Retrieved from [Link] Accessed on 09/12/19.
51Desai, S., Vashishtha, P., & Joshi, O. (2015). A Catalyst for Rural Transformation.
52 Same as Footnote 14.
53Likhi A (2014) Growth Centered Approach under PURA: The Way Forward for the World Bank India Country Partnership

Strategy 2013–2017. World Bank Blog.

54 Chatterjee S (2014) The ‘Rurban’ Society in India: New Facets of Urbanism and its Challenges. IOSR Journal of Humanities and

Social Science 19(8), 14–18.

55 NITI Aayog. (2018). SDG India Index: Baseline Report 2018. New Delhi: NITI Aayog.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

energy) and earn a livelihood, by creating public works assets. They also contribute in the achievement
of SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Resilient Infrastructure), SDG 10 (Reduce Inequality) and SDG 11
(Sustainable Cities and Communities)56.
From the rough, mountainous terrain of Himachal Pradesh to the dry, rugged landscape of Rajasthan,
roads constructed in rural areas are now revitalizing local economy, raising incomes, and improving the
quality of rural life57. With improved access to raw materials due to construction of roads, small industries
located in rural areas have been able to reap the benefits of economies of scale. Apart from the economic
impact, the social impact of improved connectivity in rural areas is also noteworthy. Construction of
PMGSY roads has contributed to regular teacher attendance of schools. Further, there is improvement in
the access to preventive and curative health facilities, which in turn has improved the quality of life of
people living in rural areas58. On the other hand, rural roads also face significant challenges. Rural road
networks consist predominantly of roads of gravel or earth construction. The problem with gravel roads
is that, due to erosion and wear, its life span is reduced significantly. The roads constructed under PMGSY
also face quality issues, considering that only 28 percent of roads constructed under the scheme are
within the 5 year maintenance period. The remaining 72 percent have outpaced the timeline of
maintenance, which should occur at least once within 5 years of construction59.
Although PMGSY focuses on providing new feeder roads to localities that did not have paved roads, in
practice - many projects upgrade pre-existing roads60. Since the scheme’s objective was to connect
greater number of locations to the external road network at the lowest possible price, routes terminating
in habitations were prioritised over routes passing through habitations and linked to larger roads. The
prioritisation originally aimed to connect all habitations with populations greater than 1,000 people by
2003, all habitations with population greater than 500 people by 2007, and all habitations with
population over 250 people after that. The thresholds were lower in desert and tribal areas, as well as
hilly States and districts affected by left-wing extremism. Roads constructed in rural areas have a bearing
on houses located within the habitations. The cost of materials used in house construction reduces due
to improved connectivity. Further drainage facilities to be provided in the houses improve due to
availability of pucca roads and proper sewerage. Impact Assessment study on PMGSY in Uttar Pradesh
suggests that drainage systems in communities must be considered in the designing and construction of
roads61, as there is a significant correlation between improved road infrastructure and improved
residential infrastructure.
Moving further, the discussions surrounding the idea of affordable housing in rural India have come a
long way from IAY to PMAY-G. With a higher unit cost, PMAY-G allows for the construction of larger
houses (min 25 sq. m) using local materials and local house designs. Amenities include a cooking area,
toilet, LPG connection, electricity connection and water supply through convergence, and beneficiaries
can plan their homes as per their need. The use of SECC data for the selection of beneficiaries in PMAY-G
instead of BPL population as per IAY is also a relevant step. This filter has ensured that genuinely poor
homeless and those living in dilapidated houses were selected. Further, a large number of households
from vulnerable groups and also women have been selected as beneficiaries62.
PMAY-G has also leveraged the benefit of technology. The use of technology through geo-tagging of assets
and payment directly into the account of beneficiary through IT-DBT platform have ensured transparent,

56Kumar. (2019) Discussion Paper on Rural Roads and SDGs: TERI.

57Same as Footnote 66.
58Retrieved from [Link] .Accessed on 9/12/2019.
59Retrieved from [Link] Accessed on 12/11/2019.
60 Asher S, Novosad P, The Employment Effects of Road Construction in Rural India, 2014
61Retrieved from [Link] on 9/12/2019.
62 Retrieved from [Link] on 9/12/2019.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

hassle-free and quality programme implementation63. In the first phase of PMAY-G, 98.27 lakh houses
were sanctioned, of which 89.78 lakh have been reported to be completed, against the target of 1 crore
houses in rural areas. However, the scheme is facing the challenge of providing houses to landless
beneficiaries as it approaches its target completion. In addition, the full implementation of AwaasPlus
would push for a revision of the existing list of beneficiaries.
MGNREGS has a bearing on rural infrastructure by way of creation of sustainable assets. The aspect of
natural resource management under the scheme contributes to enhancing the national resource base
(through water conservation, drought proofing, renovating water bodies, rural connectivity and so forth)
and furthering sustainable development64. It has been found that MGNREGS has helped in crop
intensification and diversification and has also led to an increase in household income. For example,
improved management of natural resources has increased the potential of irrigation in agriculture and
has further led to an increase in groundwater table. The benefit of improved assets creation (such as farm
ponds, vermi/Nadep pits, soak pits, wells, rural housing, goat sheds, cattle sheds) provides a thrust on
livelihood security.
The Ministry went further from improving different facets of rural infrastructure to develop entire
clusters whose population can leverage urban amenities. Such clusters have 21 desirable amenities,
which are all encompassing in nature65. A 'Rurban cluster', is a cluster of geographically contiguous
villages with a population of about 25,000 to 50,000 in plain and coastal areas and with a population of
5,000 to 15,000 in desert, hilly or tribal areas. The amenities to be provided are further classified into
three heads:66
Basic Amenities: Sanitation, Piped Water Supply, Solid Liquid Waste management, Street lights and
electrification, access to village streets with drains, inter-village roads connectivity, public transport, LPG
gas connection and allied.
Social and Digital Amenities: Health, Education, Digital Literacy, Citizen Services Centres, Environment
Conservation, Housing, Sports Infrastructure, Social Infrastructure, and Social Welfare.
Economic Amenities: Skill development linked to economic activities of cluster, Agri-Services,
processing, and allied activities, MSMEs strengthening & SHG formation, Tourism Promotion67.
Enabling Ecosystem
The benefits generated due to development of infrastructure facilities in rural areas enable the rural
population to raise their standards of living. Rural road connectivity is a key component of rural
development as it creates an ecosystem that enables access to economic and social services and hence
generates increased agricultural incomes and productive employment opportunities in India68.
Specifically, greater market integration and thereby enabling ecosystems results from the implications
on prices of goods imported from outside the village, variety in the household consumption basket,
technology adoption in agriculture, human capital investments in children and adolescents, and
occupation choices of adolescents as well as adults, labour force participation rate of prime-aged women
having a direct bearing on profitability, such as selling perishable goods69.

63 Retrieved from [Link] .Accessed on 9/12/2019.

64 Same as Footnote 23.
65 Ministry of Rural Development. (2019). Presentation on SPMRM-Mission Brief. Programme Division.
66 Retrieved from [Link] Accessed on 7/12/2019.
67 Same as footnote 83.
68Retrieved from [Link]
yojana. Accessed on 11/12/2019
69Agrawal, Shilpa (2018); Do Rural Roads create pathways out of poverty – evidences from India. Journal of Development

Economics 133 (2018) 375–395

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

In a similar manner, affordable housing enables the use of houses as units of consumption and
production. This is especially relevant in the context of rural areas as people use their houses for the
purpose of livestock shelter, which in turn contributes as their additional source of income.
MGNREGS has multiple layers of enablement attached to it. The scheme’s planning process starts at
village level with Gram Sabhas, where individuals and households register their interest in obtaining
work. This step strengthens the Panchayati Raj institutions of local self-governance. Further, enablement
at the implementation stage of MGNREGS mandates involves compulsory wage-employment for women.
45 percent of women workers under the scheme stated that it was their first cash earning activity.
Secondary literature has identified access to paid work as a key enabling factor for a rise in women’s
bargaining power within the household70. The “Support Modules” in MGNREGS - Social Audit, Cost
Estimation, Grievance, Staffing & Training - capture information required for enabling processes and thus
help in effective decision making71. SPMRM as a scheme is conceptualised around the idea of providing
an ecosystem in rural areas that enables transformation of rural areas into urban.
Qualitative interviews across the country have raised some of the positive impacts of Rural Development
infrastructure initiatives in the lives of scheme beneficiaries. Officials from District and Block levels of
administration have pointed out the spillover effects of infrastructure advancements in the well-being of
rural citizens.

“There have been many changes in rural infrastructure. Earlier, the villages were not having any connecting roads.
The streets in villages were also not clean and proper. The roads have been now improved to the extent of 60 and 70
percent. In the villages at present, there are Anganwadi buildings, Panchayati buildings. All these have been
constructed” - District Magistrate, Andhra Pradesh
“At many places, there were no roads. Now, we have constructed the roads and we are joining the last mile
connectivity. Especially because there are hilly areas, there was a trouble in transportation and there are a lot of
canals and rivers and all in this area. So we have made small bridges also on those water bodies so that the land
masses can be joined”- District Magistrate, Jharkhand
“Before 2.5 years, the scenario of Godda was lacking in infrastructure so much in the sense of production,
preservation, quality of work etc. This area was lacking in all these things. Since we started implementation of
schemes, we are seeing huge change in these things. (…) Total 328 kilometres of roads have been built till now, 201
Panchayat Bhavans have been built, and electrification is done in all of them. There are 171 Panchayats currently
where SCE establishment is done. We have made drinking water facilities available at all common places in
saturation mode. We have achieved 61 percent of our goal in housing” - Aspirational District Fellowship,
Jharkhand
“Huge investment is gone into all kinds of infrastructure. In roads connectivity, bridges. (…) There is significant
improvement in harbour facilities and there is recent improvement is agricultural warehouses”- District
Magistrate, Tamil Nadu
“If we are talking about development, I have noticed it in all the 3 levels. One is infrastructure and development, the
livelihood and their standard living and also social and financial. 80 percent of the constructed roads and the
interlocking roads have got connected. And these are connected to villages and cities around. There are proper
drains, and because of these facilities proper housing facility has developed. So because of all these, there have been
changes in the cleanliness of the village and the livelihood of the rural areas. Similarly, there are facilities for toilets,
grocery market, community Panchayat centre is there. So this has brought changes in their mind set of the society
also and when the people acquire social and financial stability, their mind set and their livelihood and also in their
actions you can notice a development. This leads to further development as a whole” - BDO, Uttar Pradesh

70Sameas Footnote 68.

71Retrieved from [Link]
5/12/2019

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

“The biggest changes that can be seen are in road connectivity. Earlier it was less, but now almost every village has
road connectivity, and there have been changes in construction of houses also. The quality of work is better than
before” - BDO, Jharkhand

Convergence
The current convergence efforts occurring within DoRD for development of rural infrastructure are
presented below:
• PMAY-G and MGNREGS – The beneficiaries of PMAY-G receive 90-95 person days of wage employment
for the construction of their respective houses through MGNREGS.
• MGNREGS and DAY-NRLM – Synergy between DAY-NRLM and MGNREGS is utilized by facilitating the
farmers identified under Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojna (MKSP) and other sustainable
agriculture-based interventions, taken up under DAY-NRLM to create and access these assets under
MGNREGS72.
• PMGSY and MGNREGS - Schedule-I of MGNREGS reads as: “Providing all-weather rural road
connectivity to unconnected villages and to connect identified rural production centres”. The Ministry
has standardized its specifications for all non-Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (non-PMGSY) roads
to be taken up under MGNREGS programme73.
• DAY-NRLM and MGNREGS- Category C Works under MGNREGS are classified as ‘Common
Infrastructure for NRLM Compliant Self-Help Groups’. These include works for promoting agricultural
productivity by creating durable infrastructure required for bio-fertilisers and post-harvest facilities
including pucca storage facilities for agricultural produce, and common work sheds for livelihood
activities of self-help groups. 74
• NSAP and DAY-NRLM - The State Livelihood Missions have been directed to proactively enrol all the
women beneficiaries of NSAP in the SHGs of DAY - NRLM. At the micro-level, using the SHG network,
data on the needs of each family should be collected and converged75. NSAP guidelines also suggest
the use of DAY-NRLM in the process of identification of beneficiaries and gives priority to NSAP
beneficiaries and/or their children in trainings under Aajeevika Skills Programme.
• NSAP and MGNREGS - MGNREGS guidelines provide for proactively seeking and providing job cards
and employment to NSAP beneficiaries of rural areas and/or their family members under the
programme.76
• NSAP and PMAY-G - PMAY-G implementing agencies have been directed to undertake special efforts
to provide housing under the programme to eligible beneficiaries under NSAP77.
Apart from within DoRD, the Ministry creates synergies with other Ministries to bring harmony in rural
development. For instance, in order to build toilets and provide electricity in Awaas houses, PMAY-G
converges with SBM-G of Ministry of Jal Shakti78 and Saubhagya of Ministry of Power, respectively79. The

72 Same as Footnote 88.

73Department of Rural Development. (2018). MGNREGA Master Circular- A guide programme implementation.
74 Same as Footnote 88.
75Department of Rural Development. (2014). NSAP - Programme Guidelines
76Same as Footnote 92.
77Same as Footnote 92.
78 Previously part of Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation. In May,2019 Ministry of Jal Shakti was formed by merging of two

ministries; Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation and Ministry of Drinking Water and
Sanitation.
79Department of Rural Development. (2018). MGNREGA Master Circular- A guide programme implementation. Ministry of Rural

Development.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

above convergence takes place at the level of financial resources, as Rs.12, 000 from SBM-G is provided
to Awaas beneficiary for construction of toilets. Further, construction of Anganwadi centres is at times
taken up under MGNREGS using appropriate labour intensive and cost-effective technologies.
Expenditure up to Rs. 5 lakhs under MGNREGS is allowed and the balance cost as per the State-specific
estimate may be mobilised from the ICDS scheme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development80.
Convergence with multiple ministries is also witnessed. For example, a component of Natural Resource
Management (hereafter, NRM) within MGNREGS convergences with Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee
Yojana (PMKSY), IWMP and Command Area Development and Water Management81. Here, PMKSY falls
under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare, IWMP falls under the DoRD and CAD&WM falls
under the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

1.2.2. Livelihoods
Transformation
Rural livelihoods are the set of activities in which the socio-economic systems constitute to determine
the income generation in rural areas. In a country like India, where agriculture mostly depends on the
advent of the monsoon, the farmer is always exposed to the vagaries of weather and economic shocks
and vulnerabilities. In many parts of the country, the farmers get to work on their farms for only one
season, i.e. kharif which provides around 80-100 days of employment, leaving them unemployed for most
of the time in a year. In line with this, the Economy Survey (2018) noted that weather patterns can impact
farm incomes in the range of 15 percent to 18 percent on average, and up to 20 percent to 25 percent for
un-irrigated areas.
Although agriculture is still the primary income-generating activity and farmers produce food crops for
their subsistence in order to address their food security, thus the income generated from the sale of the
crops is not the only source of income they rely on. A poor household in rural areas is also dependent on
other self-employed work (for instance, collection of forest produce, animal husbandry etc.) or as casual
wage labour. In fact, in the non-agricultural sector, wage employment constitutes around 62 percent of
total employment82. In 2011-12, out of 195 million wage employees, 74 million (or 38 percent) were
regular/salaried employees and 121 million (or 62 percent) were casual wage workers. 41 percent of the
males were in regular/salaried employment and 59 percent in casual employment and women were even
less prevalent than men in regular/ salaried employment. Their share in regular/salaried employment
and in casual work was 30 percent and 70 percent respectively, indicating higher casualization of wage
labour amongst women.83
The Government of India took cognizance of the need and importance of uninterrupted access to
livelihood of the poor and the need for ensuring livelihood security with a minimum and equal pay.
MGNREGS was thus launched to provide employment in lean agricultural season and also to address the
exploitation of casual workers in terms of depressed wages and to promote a higher share of women in
wage labour. The scheme aims at enhancing livelihood security of the rural poor by providing at least one
hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult
members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
Agriculture and other sources of employment in the farm and non-farm sectors in rural areas are
unorganised. DAY- NRLM, with its network of primary and federating institutions, aims at creating an
ecosystem that organizes the unorganized. Sub-schemes within the programme, such as MKSP and the

80Same as Footnote 96.

81Same as Footnote 96.
82International Labour Organization. (2018). India Wage Report, wage policies for decent wage and inclusive growth.
83Same as Footnote 99.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

concept of Krishi Sakhi and Pashu Sakhi, address various agricultural segments. Non-farm sector
potential and demand is catered to by RSETIs established at each of the Lead Districts to conduct training
for rural unemployed youth to take up self-employment ventures. RSETIs offer a need-based experiential
training programme followed by systematic handholding support and bank linkage. Banks are involved
in selection, training and post-training follow-up stages. Further, Start-up Village Entrepreneurship
Programme (SVEP) initiated in 2014, follows a strategic approach of knowledge, incubation and
entrepreneur ecosystem, capacity building, directed financial products (community enterprise fund)
through federated institutions (cluster level federations) and community monitoring (with performance
tracking system by community resource persons).
In the post-reform era, the rural sector too has been transforming, keeping in mind the open market and
competitive nature of businesses. The farmers are transforming into entrepreneurs and heading towards
value chain development. They are more than agriculturalists who work in the fields and gets money for
the produce. They are using substances, materials and/or commodities to sell in the market e.g., Non-
Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) and processing of agriculture and horticulture produce84.
With creation of infrastructure, the private and public core banking services have penetrated in the
dynamically changing rural market and customer needs. Payment banks are fanning out into the rural,
remote areas of the country, offering limited but critical services such as money transfers, loans and
deposit collection85. Other agencies have added their own programmes to further concretise financial
inclusion of the rural poor with initiatives like JAM trinity and MUDRA loans for livelihood ventures and
entrepreneurship.
The rural regions are already covered by the vast telecommunication services and with the augmentation
of smartphone telephony. People are digitally connected even in the remotest of the regions. Through its
the Digital Village project, GoI provided high-speed internet connectivity and installed Wi-Fi hotspots at
more than 1,000 Gram Panchayats across India and the Common Service Centres are becoming hubs for
providing basic digital services at the doorstep of the poor. According to TRAI estimates, currently there
are 32.24 Internet subscribers in rural areas per 100 population in 2020 as opposed to 25.46 in 2018.
Internet has become a cost-effective means for the poor as well, overcoming geographical barriers and
broadening their reach. Projects like Government e-marketplace (GeM) are trying to bring the rural poor
into the e-commerce fold wherein they are now able to sell their products online.
Enabling ecosystem
Government of India seeks to create an enabling environment for livelihood generation through an
emphasis on rights-based approach to development through MGNREGS, and on social capital for the poor
through DAY-NRLM and MGNREGS. This, apart from generating livelihood opportunities for the rural
population to live with dignity, also indirectly enables households to break the cycle of debt trap from
local money lenders and its associated miseries. Financial inclusion has been ensured as current
payments under the scheme are mostly done by way of direct transfer into beneficiary accounts. These
accounts have aided access to bank credit for the households.
Apart from employment, MGNREGS has taken measures for skill enhancement of workers through
initiatives like Bare Foot Technicians and Project LIFE (Livelihood in Full Employment)86. Project LIFE
targeted persons who have completed 100 working days under MGNREGS and do not have further
sources of employment. The strategy of the project was to catalyse a shift within poor households, from

84Ministry of Rural Development. (2019). Farm Livelihoods Interventions under DAY-NRLM: Strategy, Convergence Framework,

Models.
85Reserve Bank of India. (2018). Annual Report-Credit Delivery and Financial Inclusion.
86 Retrieved from [Link] Accessed on 10 December 2019.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

unskilled to skilled labour, from partial employment to full employment through capacity building and
skill training87. Currently, Project Unnati seeks to train one adult member (between 18 and 45 years) per
house household, who has completed 100 days of work under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in the previous
financial year.
DAY-NRLM contributes by creating an ecosystem and an institutional platform for inclusive pro-poor
growth and a favourable investment climate in otherwise underserved regions and for poorer
households. Responsible clients for financial sector are formed and informed and aware users of public
and private services are developed. These individuals are trained to assert and ensure accountability
from service providers. The scheme is designed to create opportunities for small producers to participate
in commodity markets and also provide youth from poor household access to labour markets and job
opportunities.
Both MGNREGS and DAY-NRLM have significantly contributed to the creation of gender centric
ecosystems by providing them with opportunities for non-domestic work and gain recognition as
productive members of the household by contributing towards income. This increases their autonomous
space within the family and adds to their self-esteem. Among the sub-components of DAY-NRLM, MKSP
aims to improve the status of women farmers through increasing their participation and productivity in
sustainable agricultural livelihood opportunities. However, informed literature has pointed out that
gender-responsive livelihoods focus under DAY-NRLM requires a design of livelihood strategies that
recognises women as economic actors, and ensures their enhanced income security and economic
empowerment, rather than targeting household level poverty88.
Convergence
At the sector level, DoRD adopts a multi-dimensional approach to enhance rural livelihood opportunities.
The intent is to create a self-sustaining eco-system of livelihoods, one supported by the convergence of
efforts by other schemes, Ministries, development partners and community based organisations. Within
the rural development sector, convergence is undertaken at three levels: between and among schemes of
DoRD; institutionally at inter-Ministerial programmatic level; and through partnerships between public,
private and community institutions.
The generation of employment envisioned through scheme level convergence across the two major
livelihood enhancement schemes of the DoRD, MGNREGS and DAY-NRLM has been made functional
through their scheme guidelines. For instance, the federations formed under DAY-NRLM participate in
preparing work plans and labour budget for MGNREGS through an Integrated Participatory Planning
Exercise (IPPE). SHG members participate in Gram Sabha to facilitate suitable works identification (for
livelihoods assets and wage employment) and for provision of job cards and work to the needy. Similarly,
individual and collective assets for SHG members can be developed through MGNREGS, which can further
be used for livelihood generation by the groups.89
Other DoRD schemes whose efforts converge in livelihood creation include DDU-GKY, which seeks to
diversify the incomes of rural poor families and advance the careers of rural youth through skill
development, training and the Rural Self Employment Training Institutes, which provide training and
skill up gradation to rural youth so as to further the entrepreneurship development agenda.
Inter-Ministerial convergence plays a role in securing rural livelihoods holistically. The goal of rural
livelihood creation is met by many schemes aligned with different Ministries. The DoRD’s livelihood

87Roy, T. S. (2017). Project Life- A New Way of Sustainable Livelihoods. Journal of Rural Development Review.
88Tanka, R. (2014). Engendering Rural Livelihoods: Supporting Gender Responsive Implementation of the National Rural
Livelihood Mission. UN Women.
89 National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj. (2016). The Handbook on Convergence. NRLM Resource Cell.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

interventions are complemented by the national skilling agenda of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Yojana
(implemented by the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship). While the former is geared
towards guaranteed rural employment and creation of people’ institutions, the latter promotes skill
development for the youth throughout the country, thereby creating a well-equipped workforce.
Similarly, the schemes and programmes of Department of Rural Development and Ministry of Agriculture
(MoA), both operate in rural India and primarily target the same population. In particular, the SPMRM
ensures inter-Ministerial convergence of schemes within a cluster, thereby ensuring multi-dimensional
benefits for the beneficiaries. According to the SPMRM Framework of Implementation, some of the
schemes that can converge within a sector include DDU-GKY (for skill development training linked to
economic activities); Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna and Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (for
agri-services and farm productivity). The convergence of such schemes, alongside the provision of
infrastructure support, helps create a vibrant eco-system of livelihood opportunities under SPMRM.
The new permissible works under MGNREGS issued in May 2012 (which include NADEP composting,
Vermi composting, Poultry shelter, Goat Shelter, Fisheries in seasonal water bodies on public land)
present ways to strengthen the synergy with agriculture to enhance rural livelihoods90. This inter-
sectoral approach opens up opportunities for convergence with various MoA schemes geared towards
agricultural livelihoods such as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and National Horticulture Mission
(NHM).
Convergence presents opportunities to unlock positive externalities. A study across 5 States - Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Sikkim - showed that, wherever MGNREGS is being
implemented, it is generating multiple environmental benefits, leading to improved water availability,
soil fertility and increased crop production, thereby creating synergies with agriculture based
livelihoods91.
DoRD has a sharp focus on developing Public-Public, Public-Private, and Public-Private-Community
Partnerships to build synergies in livelihood programming. For instance, DAY-NRLM works closely with
RBI, NABARD, Banks and other Financial Institutions, and Insurance Companies, to build platforms for
Public-Private-Community Partnerships in key livelihoods sectors, such as agriculture, livestock, and
non-farm sectors. The purpose of these partnerships is to develop selected value chains or product
clusters, and market linkages. They are also directed towards strengthening the access of the rural poor
to their rights and entitlements, public services, expertise and other services92.

1.2.3. Social Safety Net

Transformation
As articulated by Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen, social safety nets are paramount to ‘protect and promote’
the standards of living in a society. Driven by the rights-based initiative, which recognises basic
entitlements to work, food and education as a fundamental right of the citizen, safety net programmes
have been enshrined in India’s constitution.93 Vulnerabilities are present in all stages of human life, but
they are most pronounced for the disabled, the elderly and widows. Debilitated health and the
incapability of being economically productive augment the dependency of these groups94. The problem
is more persistent among the poor as constant deprivation prevents them from making any safety

90 Ministry of Rural Development. (2013). Convergence of MGNREGA and Programmes of Ministry of Agriculture
91 Indian Institute of Science. (2013). Environmental Benefits and Vulnerability Reduction through Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Bangalore.
92 Retrieved from [Link] Accessed on 10/12/2019.
93 Dreze, J., Hills, J., & Sen, A. (1991). Social security in developing countries. E. Ahmad (Ed.). Oxford: Clarendon.
94 Gupta, A. (2013). Old-age pension scheme in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Economic and Political Weekly, 54-59.

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arrangements. Further, even the healthy population of rural India faces challenges with an increase in
seasonal hunger during the lean agricultural season95.
Increasing dependency ratio and divyang population highlights the need for comprehensive social
protection in India, as shown in the figure below:
Figure 4: Population by Age Structure (percent of population)

Source: Economic Survey 2018-19

In its commitment to the achievement of SDGs, India aims at reducing inequality, eradicating extreme
poverty by 2030 for all people everywhere and reducing at least half the proportion of men, women and
children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions. Further, Article 41 of the Constitution of India
directs the States to provide public assistance to its citizens in case of unemployment, old age, sickness
and disablement and in other cases of undeserved want, within the limit of its economic capacity and
development. By providing public assistance to its citizens in case of old age, widowhood, disablement
and death of the bread winner, NSAP is securing adequate means of livelihood to citizens and raising the
standard of living by alleviating poverty. Likewise, MGNREGS guarantees 100 days of employment to all
households willing to undertake unskilled manual labour to safeguard against seasonal or periodic
deprivation. The guidelines of MGNREGS also instruct States to take special care of vulnerable groups
such as Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), women, Divyang, single women and other minority
groups96.
GoI has increasingly realised the important role that social policy can play in building a strong and
resilient economy97. It recognised that social protection schemes also play a valuable promotional role,
helping strengthen human capital in the country, improving productivity, and reducing damaging social
costs. The 2013 Task Force, which reviews and suggests more comprehensive social assistance, has
recommended further increase of monthly pensions and the expansion of coverage, the reduction of
minimum age requirement for IGNWPS from 40 years to 18 years, additional focus to divorced, separated
and abandoned women in IGNWPS, provision of assistance in the event of the death of any adult member
(and not just male members) to the bereaved family under NFBS, an index of pension amounts to
inflation, and a proactive identification of beneficiaries, without demanding elaborate documentary
proof. The DoRD has revised programme guidelines for NSAP in October 2014, reflecting above
suggestions made by the Task Force.

95Same as Footnote 36.

96UNDP. (2016). Sustainable Development Goals and Gram Panchayats: Handbook for Trainers and Gram Panchayats. UNDP.
97Dutta, P., Howes, S., Murgai, R. (2010). Small but effective: India’s targeted unconditional cash transfers

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MGNREGS has been shown to not only provide a safety net for workers who cannot find work elsewhere
but has also been shown to have significant impacts on rural wages beyond the programme, as well as on
the propensity of rural inhabitants to migrate looking for work98. NSAP is an equally important central
government scheme of India’s minimum social protection floor, which has been widely acknowledged
and accepted by agencies such as International Labour Organisation (ILO) and World Health Organisation
(WHO). Unlike MGNREGS, which is a statutory livelihood security scheme mandated by law, NSAP is not
governed by legislation. Instead, it is a government initiative aimed at fulfilling India’s obligations to its
citizens under the Indian Constitution’s Directive Principles.
NSAP extends its benefits only to the population which falls below poverty line to supplement or provide
additional assistance to the especially vulnerable population. In the Estimates Committee Report
Summary Report on NSAP, the current method of identification of BPL has been criticised for being
inaccurate and recommends that the selection of beneficiaries be done using the Socio-Economic Caste
Census (SECC)99. Although budget estimates for NSAP have been in a constant rise since FY 2015-16, the
actual expenditure has been declining since FY 2016-17. Actual expenditure under NSAP dropped from
Rs 8,854 crore in FY 2016-17 to Rs 8,418 crore in FY 2018-19100. Resource gap remains high for almost
all schemes under NSAP and budgetary allocation is insufficient even at the current mandated pension
amounts101.
Social safety nets within the rural development sector are aimed at preventing or alleviating poverty,
vulnerability and social exclusion. Majority of older persons, particularly in rural areas, suffer from lack
of access to money and poor financial status is a major factor, responsible for their miserable condition
in old age102. Financial assistance to the elderly empowers them and improves their social status,
independence, self-esteem and overall quality of life103. It is presumable that people with disabilities and
widows – groups which are as vulnerable as the elderly - will have similar impacts to
financial assistance. It is also observed that, in spite of availability of several social security schemes and
social protection floors at different levels, most elderly people, particularly older people above 80, are
not capable of availing the benefits due to many hindrances, including lack of transportation facilities,
lack of caregivers and also lack of awareness about the schemes being run for the wellbeing of older
persons104. Doorstep banking and social audit mechanisms through digital footprint tracking are some
mechanisms which are being piloted in certain areas.
Through MGNREGS, the rural population gets wages during distress situations such as droughts to help
the people tide over vulnerable times and thereby reduce migration to cities. The success of MGNREGS
comes from its demand-side design, which guarantees wage income105. An emerging challenge for India
in view of vast geographic spread and population is that there is no uniform social protection floor.
Instead, there are many kinds of social protection floors in place in different stages and for different sets

98Imbert, C., Papp, J. (2012). Equilibrium Distributional Impacts of Government. Employment Programmes: Evidence from India's

Employment Guarantee.
99 Ghosh J (2014) Estimates Committee Report Summary NSAP, PSR India
100Retrieved from [Link] Accessed on 7/12/2019
101Vij, S. (2017). Resource Gap Analysis of NSAP. Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability
102Agewell Foundation. (2019). Status of Social Security and Social Security Floors in India. Agewell Research & Advocacy Centre.
103Jothi, S., Lakshmi Narayanan, S., Ramakrishnan, J., & Selvaraj, R. (2016). Beneficiary satisfaction regarding old age pension

scheme and its utilization pattern in urban Puducherry: A mixed methods study. Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR,
10(9), LC01
104 Same as footnote 120.
105Pandey, R. (2017). MGNREGA and its role in rural development. International Journal of Scientific and Research

Publications, 7(11), 198-202.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

of people106. Further, many State governments have their own social pension schemes with vast variance
in guidelines creating differences in the level of social assistance among different States/UTs107.
Enabling Ecosystem
Safety nets are a part of the broader strategy of poverty reduction. They interact with and work alongside
programmes in areas such as health, education and financial services and provision of infrastructures
like roads and various other policies which aim at reducing poverty and managing risks. Safety nets aim
at redistributing income to the poorest with an immediate impact on poverty and inequality reduction108.
Programmes such as NSAP and MGNREGS provide beneficiaries with access to employment and durable
assets, thus creating demand for goods and services, which improves the quality of life for the rural
population. The latest edition of the World Bank’s annual report credits MGNREGS for unleashing a
“revolution in rural India” as well as establishing a model of inclusive development. “India’s MGNREGS
illustrates how good governance and social mobilization go hand-in-hand,” the Bank’s report states.
While these social protection programmes under DoRD provide direct benefit transfer to the
beneficiaries to enable them with the choice of their consumption basket, the success of cash transfers
critically relies upon the enabling environment and availability of local markets. The most vulnerable
populations of rural India live in remote parts and their market accessibility is limited. Cash transfers
require financial infrastructures, such as the presence of banks and post offices. India lacks such rural
infrastructure, without which a sudden move towards cash could increase distress, at least in the short
term. Also, open market prices exhibit cyclic fluctuations. If cash transfers are not indexed to inflation,
the benefits are likely to be eroded109
An example of a step towards creating an enabling environment is the use of Aadhaar universal
identification number scheme, which is a key recent government initiative aimed at improving the
targeted uptake of a wide variety of schemes by making eligibility requirements subject to a single
universal database for social protection schemes. Such advances hint at the increasingly comprehensive
nature of social protection systems in India, in line with international standards on what constitutes a
minimum social protection floor110.
Convergence
Rural development programmes aim at addressing the issue of multi-faceted deprivation. In order to
achieve the macro SDG goals of ending poverty, zero hunger, sustainable growth, consumption and
production, greater emphasis needs to be given to addressing the issue of convergence. One way that
convergence is being used to achieve holistic rural development is converging direct benefit programmes
with Aadhaar and Jan-Dhan Yojana, a financial inclusion programme, under which every citizen would
have a bank account, and with the expansion of the coverage of mobile phones – resulting in the JAM (Jan
Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) trinity111.
Convergence between schemes serving the same beneficiaries is another significant requirement. For
instance, for Divyang, monthly assistance was extended to the tune of Rs. 300 to 500 per month under
National Disability Pension Scheme. Also, priority is given for handicapped persons under MGNREGS
work and they can appoint a worker as mate. Disabled workers are paid wages equivalent to other
workers. Other priorities set for disabled persons are special discount in rates, selection of suitable work

106 Same as Footnote 122.

107Ministry of Rural Development. (2014). National Social Assistance Programme - Guidelines.
108Grosh, M. E., Del Ninno, C., Tesliuc, E., &Ouerghi, A. (2008). For protection and promotion: The design and implementation of

effective safety nets. The World Bank.

109 Same as Footnote 36.
110Srivastava, R. S. (2013). A social protection floor for India. International Labour Office, Sub regional Office for South Asia.
111 Same as Footnote 127.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

for them and organization of groups for disabled persons. Under MGNREGS in FY 2017-18, around 4.7
lakh disabled workers were provided employment; thereby generating 1.57 crore person days.112
However, further effort is needed to increase convergence between sub-schemes of NSAP to address
multiple divestitures such as in the case of a disabled elderly widow.

1.2.4. Global Benchmarking

Our planet faces enormous economic, social and environmental challenges and despite important
progress, few countries are on-track to achieve all SDGs by 2030. The need for transformational change
to achieve truly socially inclusive and sustainable economies and societies requires a system-based
approach. Achieving the system change is highly complex and it requires a large scale and fundamental
transformations of the societal systems driving the current structural changes. Such transformations will
require changes in current institutions, practices, technologies, policies and approach. Also, these deep
and long changes require a roadmap. Global benchmarking translates societal expectations into matrices,
thus providing a clear path forward. The benchmark provides where the individual economies stand in
their journey thereby equipping financial institutions, governments, civil society and individuals to exert
their full influence and help the country move from aspiration to action to achievement.
Poverty: Relative Position of India
The key linkages between rural growth and the real incomes of rural poor takes into account, direct
reductions in income from lower productivity growth; changes or fluctuations in wage rates / earnings
of unskilled workers; changes in key commodity prices for incomes, and changes in the cost of living. On
the basis of such estimates, global poverty line113 of $1.90 has been established by the World Bank based
on household surveys114 from 164 different countries.
Poverty reduction across regions has been very uneven. As evident in the Table 3 below, in 2015, more
than half of the global poor resided in Sub-Saharan Africa and more than 85 percent of the poor lived in
either Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia. The remaining 15 percent of the global poor, or about 106 million
poor people lived in the remaining four regions.
Table 3: Poverty at the International Poverty Line of $1.90/day

Headcount ratio (
Region No. poor (millions)
percent)
2013 2015 2013 2015
East Asia and Pacific 3.6 2.3 73.1 47.2
Europe and Central Asia 1.6 1.5 7.7 7.1
Latin America and the Caribbean 4.6 4.1 28.0 25.9
Middle East and North Africa 2.6 5.0 9.5 18.6
South Asia 16.2 12.4 274.5 216.4
Sub-Saharan Africa 42.5 41.1 405.1 413.3
World Total 11.2 10.0 804.2 735.9
Source: PPP, 2011

In all regions except Sub-Saharan Africa, the regional average rates range from 1.5 percent to 12.4
percent, while in Sub-Saharan Africa, around 41 percent live below the international poverty line. The

112Retrieved from [Link] Accessed on 10/12/2019

113World Bank (2017) Poverty lines from 15 poorest countries converted to common currency by using purchasing power parity

(PPP) exchange rates, reflects the amount of money needed to meet a person’s minimum nutritional, clothing, and shelter needs.
114Household surveys are carried out independently, typically by national statistical offices or national planning ministries. Most

countries implement household surveys, which are complex and lengthy, about every three to five years. In addition, it takes
time to gather, process, and analyze the data. Due to the infrequency and time lags, 2015 is the most recent year for which there
is sufficient data to estimate poverty at a global level. Given these gaps and the fact that extreme poverty does not generally
change much from year to year, the World Bank Group produces global poverty estimates every two years.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region saw an increase in extreme poverty rates, even though
poverty is comparatively much lower in the region. The share of the population in extreme poverty in
MENA increased to 5 percent in 2015, up from 2.7 percent in 2013, while the number of poor rose from
9.5 million in 2013 to 18.7 million in 2015. Fragility and conflict in the region – particularly in Syria and
Yemen – are hurting livelihoods and causing the recent spike in poverty115. The extreme poverty rate is
significantly lower in India relative to the average rate in Sub-Saharan Africa, but because of its large
population, India’s total number of poor is still large. The extreme poverty rate and the number of poor
in South Asia have been steadily declining and are expected to continue that trend. The result of this trend
is a shift in poverty from South Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa116.
The figure below represents all countries by the share of the global poor in 2015. Half of the people living
in extreme poverty in 2015 can be found in just five countries. Poverty reduction across regions has been
very uneven. The most populous countries in South Asia (Bangladesh and India) and Sub-Saharan Africa
(Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Nigeria) are the five topping the list of countries with the
greatest number of extreme poor. India, with over 170 million poor people in 2015, has the highest
number of poor people and accounts for nearly a quarter of global poverty. In the South Asia region, four
out of five extreme poor reside in India. Despite a poverty rate of 13.4 percent, India’s large population
of 1.3 billion results in a high number of extreme poor.
Figure 5: Global Distribution of the Extreme Poor by Region and Country, 2015

Source: PovcalNet (online analysis tool), [Link] World Bank, Washington, DC.

115 World Bank (2018) Piecing together the poverty puzzle- Poverty and shared prosperity report, 2018

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Analysing the number of people living in extreme poverty (and as a percentage of the total population),
we find that India’s absolute figures of extreme poverty remain alarmingly high in comparison to China
and Bangladesh. While percentage of people living in extreme poverty in India has declined between
2016 and 2020, the decline is far less than what has been experienced in Bangladesh during the same
reference period.
Figure 6: People living in Extreme Poverty

Source: World Poverty Clock, 2020

80 percent of the world’s extremely poor people live in rural areas, and, in many regions, rural areas have
experienced few positive changes in their overall wellbeing117. Rural societies are as important as ever,
including in the developed world118.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are calling for the elimination of extreme poverty for all
people everywhere by 2030. Development efforts that target some of the most vulnerable populations,
such as women, indigenous peoples and those without land, while balancing these efforts with overall
local development also needs to be based on reducing inequalities between rural and urban areas to
stimulate inclusive growth.
In South Asia, both the poverty rate and the number of poor people has been steadily declining, but given
the sheer size of the populations, the region’s contribution to global poverty continues to be high. This is
in contrast to Sub-Saharan Africa, where the total number of poor people has been increasing, essentially
shifting the concentration of poverty from South Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2030, forecasts119 suggest
that nearly 9 in 10 of the extreme poor will live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, the slowdown in
poverty reduction between 2013 and 2015 reflects, in part, the sluggish economic growth and low
commodity prices that hindered many developing economies over that period. Also, of the 164 countries
for which the World Bank monitors poverty, more than half – 84 countries – have already reached levels
below 3 percent as of 2015120. There are now fewer countries than before with large populations of poor
people. As extreme poverty becomes increasingly concentrated, significant progress in reducing the
global poverty count will only occur if progress is made in those countries where poverty is greatest.
Rural Transformation
Since the 1950s, the notion of development has framed our thinking about issues of human well-being
and happiness. Several developing countries particularly in the Asia/Pacific region have witnessed
unprecedented development. Some countries in this region have modernized at a steady pace. The per
capita incomes of a significant population, for example, in Republic of Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and

117 FAO (2018) Ending Extreme Poverty in Rural Areas

118 Scoones, I., M. Edelman, S. M. Borras Jr., R. Hall, W. Wolford, and B. White. (2017). “Emancipatory Rural Politics: Confronting
Authoritarian Populism.” Journal of Peasant Studies 45(1): 1–20.
119 World Bank. (2018). Year in review 2018 in 14 charts.
120 At the extreme, sample surveys essentially cannot credibly measure a poverty rate of zero.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Thailand, now compare with incomes in the developed world. In addition to the persistence of poverty
and unfulfilled basic and elementary needs, inequality across, between, and within countries appears to
be growing. The percent of population at risk of multidimensional poverty ranges from as low as 0.8
percent in the Russian Federation to as high as 23.2 percent in Kenya, and its intensity ranges between
35.3 percent in the United Arab Emirates to 57.3 percent in Senegal.121 The share of the poorest 20
percent in national consumption decreased dramatically in all the major regions of the world with the
exception of the Arab Region where it remained constant.122
The population of the developing world is still more rural than urban: some 3.1 billion people, or 55
percent of the total population, live in rural areas. In Latin America and the Caribbean, and in East and
Southeast, the number of rural people is already in decline. Elsewhere, the growth of rural populations is
slowing. Numbers will start to decline around 2025 in the Middle East and North Africa and in South and
Central Asia and around 2045 in sub-Saharan Africa123.
For the sake of comparison, the Rural Transformation index124 that comprises of all variables that present
relevant statistical information which support, illustrate, elaborate, and explain as much as possible the
key issues and challenges faced by the rural sector in both developed and developing countries has been
considered. It should be emphasised that the rural transformation indicators have to be about rural
people and rural areas but seen within a national perspective. For a balanced growth and development
three kinds of gaps have to be narrowed and eliminated:
• The gap between per capita rural GDP and per capita national GDP
• The gap between rural HDI and national HDI
• The gap between the ratio of agricultural GDP to total GDP and the ratio of agricultural
employment to total employment
A proposed macro index called rural transformation index (RTI) may examine:
(1) whether the rural economy of a given country has been transformed or tending to be transformed
overtime;
(2) the pattern and nature of such transformation—whether the importance of the service-sector-
oriented activities are on the rise in rural areas or whether the importance of non-service and/or
non- agribusiness has been rising; and
(3) whether the role of farm and nonfarm sectors are complementary or substitutable in the context of
overall economic development— the interdependence of the farm and nonfarm sector
The variables viz.; Rural Economic Development, Rural Social Development & Rural Infrastructure
Development that incorporates agriculture output, productivity of rural labour, rural consumption level;
Gender Ratio, rural infrastructure development, livelihood indicators, are general and intuitive indicators
that can be considered comprehensively.

121 Wang L, Khan QU, Zhang D (2012) Rural Transformation Index: Measuring Rural–Urban Disparities, Springer Publications
122 Headcount or incidence of multidimensional poverty: the proportion of people who are poor according to the MPI (those who

are deprived in at least one third of the weighted indicators). Intensity of multidimensional poverty: the weighted average
number of deprivations poor people experience at the same time.
123 IFAD. (2016). Rural poverty report 2016– Fostering inclusive rural transformation. Rome: International Fund for Agricultural

Development (IFAD).
124 Same as Footnote 138.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

For the sake of comparison, the countries within the Asia Pacific region (APR) have been considered
during the present study. The largest group of countries in this category is in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA),
although several are in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Asia and the Pacific (APR).
APR is an extremely diverse region in its demography, economic and social development, natural
resources, physical landscapes, and cultural and historical legacies. Around 3.8 billion people inhabit the
29 countries, with populations ranging from 0.1 million to 1360 million, and national population densities
from as low as two people per sq. km of land to as high as 1,200. China and India together account for
more than 60 percent of the region’s population.
More than half the region’s population live in rural areas, most of whom are still engaged in agriculture.
Urbanization rates vary widely within the sub-region. More than 70 percent of the Pacific’s population
resides in urban areas while in South and South-West Asia only 34 percent of the population has been
urbanised so far.
The APR region has witnessed remarkable growth in GDP in recent decades, averaging an annual 4.5
percent in 1980-2000 and 4.4 percent in 2000-2013, compared with 2.6 percent and 2.0 percent in the
rest of world over these periods. Such performance was driven by China and India, the region’s two
largest developing economies, which achieved together annual growth of 7.4 percent in 2011-2015.
Although growth rates have variations across countries, its overall pace underpinned a gradual
convergence of lower middle-income countries towards higher middle-income countries in per capita
terms.
Growth in APR has generally been associated with a steep decline in poverty and malnourishment. The
poverty rate in the region’s developing countries fell from about 71 percent in 1981 to 15 percent in 2011,
based on the purchasing power parity (PPP) US$1.25-a-day poverty yardstick, and from 91 percent in
1981 to 40 percent in 2011, based on the PPP US$ 1.90-a-day yardstick.125 As with growth rates, poverty
reduction has progressed unevenly across the region, with China and India accounting for most of the
region’s overall reduction, in view of their large populations.
Labour Productivity: During the last few decades, the processes of rural transformation in the region
have coincided with the deepest and fastest structural transformation in developing countries126. APR
displays the usual pattern of structural transformation in which labour productivity in agriculture is
lower than it is in other sectors of the economy, rendering the declining share of agriculture in GDP lower
than the labour share. Agriculture’s share in GDP has fallen far faster (about 2.5 percent a year since the
1970s, faster than the world average), than its share in total employment (1.7 percent a year, slower than
the world average). In APR, there has been a growing divergence in labour productivity between the
agriculture sector and the remaining sectors of the economy. This divergence in such labour productivity
is noted to be wider in APR than in other parts of the world. This divergence is an important component
of the increasing inequality in the region’s income distribution, which is particularly acute for middle-
income countries facing difficult trade-off between increasing farmers’ incomes and keeping food price
slow and stable.
Table 4: Agricultural labour productivity (Asia Pacific Region)

Countries
Added Value
Annual Change ( percent)
Country (Constant 2005 US$) Base year End year
Base year End year National Regional average
Bangladesh 267.0 602.0 3.44 2.21 1990 2014

125 IFAD (2014) Structural and rural transformation in Asia and the Pacific.
126 Same as Footnote 142.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

China 317.0 754.0 3.83 2.21 1990 2013

India 459.0 689.0 1.71 2.21 1990 2014
Indonesia 613.0 1,079.0 2.38 2.21 1990 2014
Cambodia 349.0 514.0 1.86 2.21 1993 2014
Philippines 826.0 1,152.0 1.39 2.21 1990 2014
Vietnam 266.0 489.0 2.57 2.21 1990 2014
Lao PDR 345.0 522.0 1.74 2.21 1990 2014
Pakistan 857.0 1,083.0 0.98 2.21 1990 2014
Source: World development indicators (World Bank 2015)

Per capita Income ratio: The per capita income ratio127 between urban and rural areas has been about
2 in India, the Philippines and Vietnam over the past two decades, with a rising trend in India, and a falling
one in Vietnam (from 2.3 in 1999 to 1.89 in 2012). The same ratio has stayed largely unchanged in the
Philippines. China has the widest gap, despite the rapid growth of farmers’ income. The ratio increased
from about 2.0 in the early reform period to a peak of 3.33 in 2009, and then declined to 2.92 in 2014.
Transformation vs. Poverty: Based on the various parameters the speed of rural transformation in
infrastructure, livelihood and social security variables, a qualitative status of countries in APR emerges is
as follows where India at present is positioned as slow in poverty reduction and slow in structural
transformation and hence rural transformation.
Table 5: Rural transformation and Inclusion in Asia and Pacific Region

Rural Poverty Reduction

Speed of Structural and Rural Transformation
Fast Slow
Fast Rural Transformation China, Vietnam
Fast Structural Transformation
Slow Rural Transformation Lao PDR, Cambodia
Fast Rural transformation Indonesia Bangladesh
Slow Structural Transformation Philippines,
Slow Rural Transformation
Pakistan, India
Source: IFAD, 2016. (Note: Structural transformation (ST) is a process of economic development during which an economy reallocates
economic activities across its agriculture, industry and service sectors (Herrendorf, Rogerson, & Valentinyi, 2013). ST is characterized
by the declining share of the agricultural sector and a declining share of agricultural employment (P. Pingali, 2007a); Rural
transformation (RT) growth in life expectancy, improvements in education, health, water and sanitation, increased rural and urban
employment opportunities, and empowerment of women and minority and disadvantaged groups)

The declines in poverty and under nutrition were sharpest in Asia, with China alone reducing its rural
poverty rate from 66.6 percent in 1990 to 6.5 percent in 2012. Case studies of China, India, the Philippines
and Vietnam confirm that policies, institutions and investments are fundamental to the speed and
inclusiveness of rural transformation. The design and implementation of institutions, policies and
investments in each of these countries have influenced the path and speed of rural transformation and their
outcomes for inclusion and poverty reduction. In all four countries, land reform, rural investments and
sectoral policies have been decisive.
There is a strong positive relationship between agriculture and structural transformation. Countries with
higher agricultural productivity or production growth (China, Vietnam and Cambodia) also have higher
overall economic growth and structural transformation than those with lower agricultural growth (the
Philippines, Bangladesh and India), reflecting the linkages and multiplier effects between agricultural
productivity, agricultural growth and structural transformation. These include releasing surplus labour
for industry, construction, services, producing low-cost food that allows wages for workers in industry
to be kept down, producing fibre and other crops that can be inputs to production in other parts of the

127 Same as Footnote 2.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

economy, supplying exportable commodities that can help finance imports of key technology packages
and capital equipment, and raising rural incomes that can increase demand for industrial products.
Combining the countries into categories based on their speed of structural transformation, rural
transformation, and rural poverty reduction, yields the results in the table above.
In summary:
• No country has reduced rural poverty slowly in the presence of both fast-structural
transformation and fast rural transformation (the top-right corner is empty).
• Countries that have gone through both fast-structural transformation and fast rural
transformation have also reduced rural poverty quickly (China and Vietnam).
• Countries that have not gone through both fast-structural transformation and rural
transformation have not reduced rural poverty quickly (Philippines, Pakistan and India).
• Countries that have gone through either significant structural transformation or rural
transformation have mixed outcomes, reducing rural poverty either quickly (Indonesia, Lao
People’s Democratic Republic and Cambodia) or slowly (Bangladesh).

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1.2.5. Cross Sectional Analysis

(i) Accountability and Transparency

Introduction
Transparency and accountability are critical for the efficient functioning of DoRD and for fostering social
well-being. In India, State accountability is of crucial importance to millions of citizens- particularly those
who are members of socially vulnerable groups with limited means to influence public decisions.128
Simply put, accountability refers to enforceable responsibility. It occurs where ‘‘some actors have the
right to hold other actors to a set of standards, and to impose sanctions if they determine that these
responsibilities have not been met’’129.
There are various elements that come together in the notion of accountability including answerability –
the need for satisfactory justification of actions, enforcement- the sanctions that could be imposed if the
actions or justification for the actions are found to be unsatisfactory, and responsiveness - the ability of
those held accountable to respond to the demands made. Crucially, accountability requires transparency
so actions can be scrutinized, and performance can be assessed. Transparency ensures that information
is available that can be used to measure the authorities' performance and to guard against any possible
misuse of powers. Transparency in targeting mechanisms, beneficiary selection, fund utilization etc. is
important in providing assurance to communities that the power held by authorities is not only effective,
but also not abused.
Background
In the last few decades, DoRD’s schemes have evolved in terms of financial outlays, geographical coverage
and beneficiary outreach. In addition, the schemes have evolved in terms of complexity in design and
components, with convergence linkages with other schemes, Departments and Ministries. With
implementation, fund flow and lines of reporting across multiple levels, DoRD’s schemes require intense
coordination and each implementing official to discharge his/her responsibilities effectively. As the
schemes have evolved and expanded, the need to monitor scheme implementation and target completion
has also grown. Along with this, there has been an evolution in the actors and mechanisms involved in
ensuring accountability and transparency in DoRD schemes.
Accountability for DoRD schemes assumes two forms: horizontal and vertical. While vertical
accountability is maintained through electoral reforms and awareness initiatives, accountability on the
horizontal front is envisioned through efforts such as reorganization of audit and account mechanisms. In
2018, an Expert Advisory Group (EAG) consisting of retired experts from administration, accounts and
audit was constituted by the DoRD for recommending measures aimed at expanding and deepening the
application of the internal audit function across programmes at all levels of implementation. The Expert
Group developed a road map or establishing the internal audit function as an instrument for enhancing
efficiency and effectiveness of DoRD schemes. It suggested measures for strengthening internal audit as
an instrument of management control across programmes up to grassroots level. 130
Moreover, in case of the horizontal accountability, the role of PRIs is key. Over the years- keeping in view
local aspirations- PRIs have been involved in the programme implementation of CSSs and these
institutions constitute the core of decentralized development of planning and its implementation.
Panchayats have emerged as the third stratum of governance, vested with powers and authority. At one

128 Brulé, R. (2015). Accountability in rural India: Local government and social equality. Asian Survey, 55(5), 909-941.
129 Golden, M., & Min, B. (2013). Distributive politics around the world. Annual Review of Political Science, 16.
130 Press Information Bureau, Government of India. (2018). Expert Advisory Group submits report for Improvement and

Strengthening of Internal Audit Systems and Processes in Rural Development Schemes.

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level, PRIs need to be transparent in their functioning and be held responsible for their actions. At another
level, PRIs themselves assume crucial roles in ground-level monitoring, thereby feeding back into the
same self-sustaining monitoring mechanisms that measure their performance. Both, vertical and horizontal
accountability are of equal importance for DoRD schemes.
Further, in recent years, it has been acknowledged in research, policy and practice that traditional
accountability channels have their own limitations. This has ushered in the era of societal actors
participating in State activities to strengthen accountability and responsiveness in service delivery. With
societal actors engaging actively to improve State accountability, the practice of ‘social accountability’ has
received a strong impetus. 131 India’s civil society has also emerged as a crucial space for citizens to
mobilise and make demands for accountability within the State. The mapping of accountability efforts of
civil society groups in India is given below.
Table 6: Mapping of accountability efforts of civil society groups in India132

Strategies and Instruments

Stage of Service Research for
Creating an Enabling Direct Citizen
Delivery Lobbying and
Environment Engagement
Advocacy
• Public Interest • Capacity building for
Legislation and Policy • Participation to
legislators
Litigations (PILs) influence political
Formulation • Election Watch SMS
• Budget Analysis party manifestos
Campaign
• Citizen Charters
Standard Setting • Pro-active disclosures
through RTIs
Planning and • Community radio
• Participatory
Implementation • Local Governance
budgeting
Design capacity building
Program
• Gram Sabha • Watershed
Implementation and
mobilisation management
Operation
• Social audits and
• Public expenditure public hearings
tracking • Capacity building for • Citizen based
Process Monitoring • Corruption Watch/ using instruments vigilance committees
Corruption such as RTIs • E-tools such as SMS
Perception Index based complaint
mechanisms
• Citizen report cards
• Participatory
• Community score
research for
cards
Outcome Evaluation evaluating outcomes
• Political party
• Performance
manifesto watch
evaluation of elected
representatives
Accountability and oversight of interventions within rural development space takes place through
multiple mechanisms: one, regular monitoring of performance based on an accountability framework
through web based MIS system that also includes geo tagging of assets for physical verification, and

131 Posani B. and Aiyar Y. (2009), State of Accountability: Evolution, Practice and Emerging Questions in Public Accountability in

India
132 Same as Footnote 148.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

monitoring by DISHA Committees at district level; two, periodic oversight, which is formed by field
monitoring missions and field level monitoring, and includes assessment by NLMs (National Level
Monitors), reports by CRMs (Common Review Missions), and reports from National Level Evaluation
Studies of schemes; and three, audit mechanism that includes compliance audits and social audit
mechanisms. Social audits and community monitoring offer opportunities to make citizens aware of the
entitlements that they have access to under specific government schemes/interventions, to allow citizens
to participate in its regular and institutionalised monitoring, and to enable citizens to play the primary
role in the identification of anomalies within its implementation. With its evolution, DoRD’s accountability
and transparency measures have seen significant progress across its three broad mechanisms:
(a) Regular monitoring of performance based on an accountability framework
• Accountability Framework: The Department of Rural Development has developed a very strong
and robust accountability framework for all its programmes. The framework builds on the principle
of eligibility through Socio Economic Census 2011, and accountability through the multi-pronged
framework of Social Audit, Financial Audit, Geo-tagging and use of IT-DBT.133
• Management Information Systems (MIS): A key intervention towards greater transparency has
been that the MIS of each of the schemes implemented by DoRD has been developed as a dashboard
and has been placed in the public domain. These MIS provide real-time information and geo-tagged
photos in a transparent manner, for example - NREGASoft for MGNREGS, Awaasoft for PMAY-G and
OMMAS for PMGSY, eGovNRLM for DAY-NRLM. These MIS function as web-based MIS as well as e-
governance platforms. Over 2.43 crore MGNREGS assets and/all PMAY-G homes at different stages of
construction are all geo-tagged and available on the public website. Under DAY-NRLM a data base of
nearly 4.7 crores members of Self Help Groups are placed in the public domain. Further,
disaggregated block level reports on key performance indicators of the Mission are also available. 134
The NSAP portal makes data available for all the NSAP schemes, thereby providing pathways for
public scrutiny and enhanced accountability. Similarly, RurbanSoft has been developed to track
different components of SPMRM and has been populated with data in public domain.
• Output-Outcome Monitoring Framework (OOMF): To achieve greater accountability in budgetary
expenditure of public investment, the rural development sector too has moved towards developing
Output-Outcome Monitoring Frameworks (OOMF) for its schemes. The framework defines outputs,
directly measurable product(s) of programmatic activities and outcomes as result/qualitative
improvements after the service/benefit has been delivered. This is to ensure that scheme performance
is measured tangibly, thereby making the sectoral intervention purposeful in totality, and hence more
accountable.
• Vigilance & Monitoring Committees (VMCs): The Vigilance & Monitoring Committees (VMCs)
constituted by the DoRD at State and District levels are expected to function as an important
instrument for effective monitoring of implementation of rural development programmes. The VMC
meetings are to be held once in every quarter. The Minister of Rural Development of the concerned
State is the Chairman of State level VMC and Secretary-in-charge of Rural Development schemes in
the State is the Member Secretary. These committees provide channels for challenges to be addressed
in a more localised manner and allow for area specific accountability and ground-level monitoring.

133 Press Information Bureau, Government of India. (2018). Ministry of Rural Development rolls out a robust Accountability

Framework.
134 Same as Footnote 150.

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(b) Occasional oversight mechanisms

• National Level Monitoring: Recognizing the importance of regular independent monitoring of its
programmes, DoRD launched a comprehensive system of National Level Monitoring in the year 2003-
04 in order to achieve unbiased and objective monitoring. Under NLM, three types of monitoring is
observed - Regular Monitoring of major Schemes of DoRD and Ministry of Panchayati Raj; Special
Monitoring of Individual Schemes; and complaints/enquiries. The Department of Rural Development
already had a system of National Level Monitoring Institutions that visit 600 districts of the country
in two rounds each year and do a randomly selected sample verification of the work in the field.
Scheme-wise observations are provided in the NLM Reports. The latest NLM report available on the
website is the Regular Monitoring Report by National Level Monitors 2018-19 Phase-I.
• Common Review Mission: To assess the progress of programmes in States, the Department has
introduced a system of Common Review Mission (CRM). Eight States are visited by a total of 32
independent professionals as part of the CRM each year. The team visits two districts in each State
and gives the Ministry its feedback on how the programmes are doing at the field level. Three CRMs
have been undertaken so far over the last three years and their findings have provided a road map for
further improving the Accountability Framework of Rural Development programmes.
(c) Audit mechanisms
• Internal Audit: The Department of Rural Development has also set up a small Internal Audit Wing
which undertakes timely field verification of the financial system from time to time and provides
insights into the quality of financial management so that corrective action can be taken on time. One
portal namely GRIP has been developed for online processing and analysis of internal audit. This
portal is being used in internal audit of MGNREGS and PMAY-G.
• Social Audits: At present, DoRD has institutionalised social audits in all its major schemes. Initially,
social audit guidelines were released for MGNREGS, followed by NSAP and PMAY-G. With the
guidance of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the auditing standard of social audit was
notified, and appropriate certificate programmes were developed by NIRD&PR in partnership with
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, for District, Block and Village Level Resource Persons.
Earlier, documents and records such as bills, vouchers of expenditure, utilisation and completion
certificates, musters of labour attendance, estimates and design of works were out of reach of the
beneficiaries. However, through the social audit mechanism, public access to such documents is
strengthened. The process allows the public at large to discuss, observe, and question public servants
in a public forum. In essence, the tool of social audit empowers the public to hold information and use
it to demand greater downward accountability.
NIRD&PR, in 2019, also published the ‘Status Of Social Audits In India Report’, which included details
of MGNREGS social audits and audits of other schemes; an analysis of the structure and functioning
of the social audit units (SAUs) that have been created in the States; and some key recommendations
for different stakeholders, including the Central Government, DoRD, State Government and the
SAUs135. The success of social audit in ensuring accountability is presented in the case study below:

135 Press Information Bureau, Government of India. (2019). Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti

inaugurates ‘National Seminar on Social Audit of RD Programmes.

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Box 4:Case Study on Success of Social Audit in Ranchi

Success of Social Audit in Namkum block in Ranchi district136

Background
Social Audit is a self-operated audit process by the common people to assess the developmental works entitled
for the public. Through Social Audits, the development works issued in public interest and carried out by various
government departments at different levels (state, district, block, Panchayat etc.) are observed, analysed and
concluded if the proposed work in the selected area is going in the appropriate way.
In Sodag Panchayat, Namkum block in Ranchi district, Social Audit was done by the Gram Sabha and Panchayat
representatives along with a Social Audit Unit (SAU) appointed by the State Government for assessing various
developmental works done under Mukhiya Fund in the year 2016-17. Villagers, Panchayat representatives,
members of Gram Sabha, Block level personnel participated in the process.
Intervention
The utilization of allotted Mukhiya fund had been seen to be used in a biased nature. The actual requirement was
mostly got unnoticed, instead an unknown mechanism which was preferential in nature, was deployed to
embezzle the fund without any prior planning. The result was particular area-based accumulation of assets
with/without proper need -assessment of the area and/or beneficiaries. As a part of community engagement for
social audits, the following was done:

• Physical verification of each construction (construction of shallow water bodies, well, road and drainage
system, repairing of Panchayat building and community centre etc.) by the SAU was demanded by ERs to
assess the status of the same both qualitatively and quantitatively. They also interacted with the beneficiaries
for further confirmation
• Social Audit was done in collaboration with the Gram Sabha and Panchayat representatives for assessing
various developmental works in the year 2016-17.
• Auditing was done serially on each scheme implemented in the Panchayat, feedback from the beneficiaries
was noted and their views, advices was also documented.
• All records were found and were verbally approved by the villagers. After approval from the Gram Sabha
this was forwarded for public hearing.
Result
Implementation of this initiative worked as an important tool for information dissemination among the villagers.
They started taking the responsibility of invigilator to observe the work carrying on in their villages/hamlets.
They promptly come in touch with the Elected Representative (ER) if any malpractices are found and the
concerned ER takes no time to take measures winning the trust of the villagers.

The close interaction of Mukhiya with other villagers not only resulted in better implementation of various
government schemes for public welfare, but also brought a sense of responsibility among them to look after the
infrastructural development carried out under government schemes. The newly elected members decided to
prioritize proper utilisation of Mukhiya Fund after planning, discussion and need-assessment of the area. The
problem of misplacement of Panchayat office assets was also addressed. Also, the detailed information related
to a particular scheme, like describing total road length, area covered, amount of raw materials required, daily
labour wages, starting and finishing date for PMGSY would be made public by writing and displaying signboard
at the working place. Future plans for Social Audits include the following:

• Panchayat Samiti and Gram Sabha should carry out Social Audits regularly.
• Irregularities found during Social Audits should be addressed in the next meeting or public hearing.
• During each public hearing, decisions taken in earlier meetings should be presented as ‘Action taken report’.

136 NIRDPR, Impact of Social Audit on Village Development – a case study in Ranchi district, Jharkhand

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• If the faults remain unresolved, then action must be taken against the accused personnel/ agency.
• Before implementing any new project(s), a thorough discussion should be taken place and network/ linkages
with related departments should be established.
• All activities should properly be documented.
• Broadcasting media should be made available during documentation of all types of activities, wherever
applicable.

Qualitative interviews with government officials suggested that Social Audits have been implemented
within DoRD schemes. The impact on accountability and transparency of the RD sector is manifold.
Officials from Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have agreed on this regard.
Apart from this, DoRD’s scheme specific design features such as the use of Aadhaar based DBT for fund
transfer, citizen centric apps and mechanisms for community monitoring also contribute to
accountability and transparency.
• Direct Benefit Transfer: Aadhaar based DBT has been adopted as a sectoral policy for programmes
that aim at delivery of benefits to targeted beneficiaries. DoRD has implemented the distribution of
cash transfers under NSAP, PMAY-G, MGNREGS and DAY-NRLM. The data and transfer of the sector
has been linked to DBT Bharat Portal, which has been effective in weeding out fake and ghost
beneficiaries, while also avoiding the duplication of benefits to a single beneficiary. Moreover,
through DBT, financial inclusion has been greatly enhanced while reliance on middlemen has been
reduced- thereby allowing the assertion of citizen rights and grassroots accountability. Increased
transparency as a consequence of digitisation have been highlighted in qualitative interviews by
government officials from District and Block levels of administration.

“All payments are made by the identification process of Aadhaar based. All the money is being deposited on
Aadhaar based way” – Block, Uttarakand
“The most important role of digitization is that we got the transparency that we wanted in our connected
governance; it is a very big priority. Since digitization has occurred, since we have linked Aadhar, (there is)
Aadhar linking in banks or there is DBT. The people have benefited from Aadhar linking and DBT and our good
image that has been formed. So transparency has been produced”- BDO, Block, Jharkhand
“Many of the schemes, like MGNREGS in the Rural Development Department, are fully digitalized now, which
made the monitoring and reporting of the schemes accurately and timely. With the help of seeding of Aadhaar
in MIS, it has stopped the fake entries and made the data very much reliable. It is also very helpful in fulfilling
of entitlement for the beneficiaries to get their benefit amount in a time bound manner”- DRDA, District,
Haryana

• Citizen–Centric Apps: Citizen-centric apps such as JANMANREGA, MeriSadak, Gram Samvaad, Awaas
App have been developed to facilitate the two-way flow of information. On one hand, these apps have
been made available to the rural population whereby they can directly access information related to
interventions made and planned in the sector. On the other hand, the apps also allow the rural
populations to register their complaints, record the assets produced and put forth their queries, thereby
allowing implementing officials to access real-time information beneficiaries as well as assets that
have been created/developed in the sector.
For instance, the Gram Samvaad App facilitates a single window access by citizens to information at
Gram Panchayat level on various Rural Development programs, covering inter-alia programme
objectives, scope and performance. The application presently covers 7 DoRD schemes and also
provides information on the Grants to Local Bodies recommended by the 14th Finance Commission. It is
envisaged that this application will help in information dissemination, introduce greater

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transparency and promote accountability at various levels. Further, DoRD is taking transparency to
higher levels through the AwaasPlus App which caters to the beneficiaries left out of Permanent
Waiting List under PMAY-G but are eligible to receive benefits otherwise.
• Mechanisms for transparency at the community level: India’s Right to Information (RTI) Act,
which became law in 2005, entitles citizens to request State information on any topic not related to
national security, ongoing court cases or cabinet deliberations (Government of India [GOI], 2005).
The Act applies to all levels of government, requiring every public authority to appoint Public
Information Officers (PIOs) who must respond to RTI queries within 30 days, and providing a
multilevel appeals process whenever requests are refused. All the DoRD schemes are RTI compliant
thereby allowing citizens to raise queries regarding the schemes, their benefits and implementation
at any level which public authorities are mandated to respond to. This legislative provision is another
pathway for greater public accountability and transparency based on citizen demands. Further, other
improvements like mandatory Citizen Information Boards, adoption of simpler seven register system
and improved record keeping with photographs, etc., physical display of progress at Gram Panchayat
level are forms of public accountability and community participation that are being emphasized137 .
J-PAL evidence on rural development from the finance and governance sectors shows relevant findings
and results of community participation in improvements of public services provided.

Box 5: Case Study on Community Driven Development in Public Service Provision

Community Driven Development

Community participation and oversight can be a way to improve public service provision, the assumption being
that communities have better knowledge of their needs and choose projects that reflect those needs. A concern,
however, is that the processes could hand over control to the elites within a community. Though evidence from
randomized evaluations of community driven development (CDD) and participation programmes provides
mixed results, some policy implications begin to emerge.
1. Studies involving four community participation programmes showed that programmes where the
community had more direct control over service providers and specific instructions have tended to be
more effective. Similarly, communities who have action plans and oversight of implementation tend to
be more effective at improving service delivery. However, community participation is not a one-size-
fits-all approach, and there is still a role for top-down auditing: the one programme that compared
community monitoring to centralized monitoring through audits found that audits were more effective
in reducing corruption.
2. A CDD programme in Sierra Leone, which provided villages with small development grants allocated by
village committees, successfully established village-level organizations and tools to manage
development projects, but did not lead to fundamental changes in local institutions or decision-making.
A lower-cost alternative that supports specific high-competency community members in taking better
advantage of development programmes is currently being evaluated.
3. Allowing citizens to directly vote to select local infrastructure projects in Indonesia had a large impact
on citizen satisfaction with the projects and the process. It, however, did not significantly impact the
types of project chosen suggesting that participation of women and the poor at proposal generating and
funding stages is required if they are to be fully enfranchised.
4. Community block grants in Indonesia, improved health and education in programme villages. Those
villages which received incentivized grants based on performance along long-term health and education
outcomes saw faster improvements in health. Based on the results of this evaluation, the Government of

137 Press Information Bureau, Government of India. (2018). MGNREGS – Livelihood security with full transparency.

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Indonesia moved exclusively to incentivized grants and increased annual funding for the community
block grant programme.
Sources:
Olken, B. (2007). Monitoring Corruption: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia. Journal of Political
Economy 115(2): 200-48.
Casey, K. Glennerster, R., Miguel, E. (2012). Reshaping Institutions: Evidence on Aid Impacts Using a Pre-Analysis
Plan. Quarterly Journal of Economics 127(4): 1,755-1,812.
Olken, B. (2010). Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia.
American Political Science Review 104(2): 243-67.
Olken, B., Onishi, J., Wong, S. (2014). Should Aid Reward Performance? Evidence from a Field Experiment on
Health and Education in Indonesia. American Economic Review: Applied Economics 6(4): 1-34.

Despite relevant achievements made in accountability and transparency of Rural Development schemes,
challenges related to its implementation remain. This is because to implement monitoring, audit and
oversight mechanisms, the government depends on officials from all levels of administration. As a result,
gaps in their institutional infrastructure and capacity affects directly the effectiveness of accountability
and transparency efforts. In this regard, a District Magistrate from Jharkhand suggested in a qualitative
interview that there is a shortage of staff in RD schemes. They need to outsource to cover such placements
and fixing their accountability and responsibilities is challenging.
Takeaways
• Using technology based monitoring has ensured greater efficiency in scheme processes:
Technological interventions to disburse cash transfers, track the flow of funds, gain beneficiary
feedback and measure performance have helped to enhance transparency within a scheme. Further,
through the provision of scheme information on the public domain, scheme data has been made privy
to external stakeholders as well, thereby creating pathways for non-implementers to gauge scheme
performance, fund utilisation and asset creation.

By the technology of MIS, transparency is increased. Earlier most of the problems were related to the timely
payments of labour or someone else has worked in his place, or in the manual rolls, names are changed. All those
problems are solved because payment is directly credited to labourer’s account, names can’t be changed now when
is registered in the roll. He only has to work for 15 days, only his account will be credited. So, this is eased as the
problems are solved at the root level itself (BDO, Rajasthan)

• Monitoring mechanisms are in place but weak capacity undercuts monitoring efforts: Project
Management Units within DoRD are functional at State, District & Block levels. Mechanisms such as
Public Information Boards (PIBs), geo-tagging etc. are being complied with. However, monitoring at
the Gram Panchayat level is noted to be weak with various monitoring registers not being updated
regularly. Furthermore, for FFC grants- the monitoring and geo-tagging of assets is seen to have gaps.
Lack of adequate monitoring at decentralised levels of governance has been associated with lack of
capacity of staff at the Block and Gram Panchayat levels. Implementers reinforced the need to
strengthen trainings in the maintenance of monitoring records, and in the use of technology driven
monitoring software for the staff particularly at decentralised levels of implementation.

Our staff is very old. People here like Village Development Officers are not technology friendly. The face a lot of
problem in geo-tagging and a lot of them don’t know about mobile operators (BDO, Rajasthan)

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• Monitoring of PRIs and monitoring at the PRI level are both crucial: The strength of
decentralization through PRIs lies in the fact that they are the legally grounded representative
institution at the grassroots. The user group approach is advantageous because it encourages an
inclusive decision-making process at the local level by directly targeting the poor. However, in the
absence of effective checks and balances, these institutions are susceptible to elite capture, political
exclusion, and corruption, thus highlighting the need to ensure monitoring of PRIs
Given that PRIs are grounded in the rural eco-system, monitoring by PRI representatives is key and
enhances project effectiveness. However, the problem of weak capacity amongst local PRI
representatives is well recognized. Most PRI representatives (particularly women and SC/STs that are
elected through the reservation policy) have little prior experience or understanding of the governance
system including the accountability and transparency protocols.
• Social audit mechanisms need greater impetus for full-scale implementation: While DoRD has
been keen to roll out social audit across all the rural development schemes for some time now, this
has not happened in practice for different reasons. For MGNREGS, even though the Act enacted in
2005 and Rules enacted in 2011 clearly say that social audit has to be undertaken, it is only in the last
few years that social audit units have been established in most States.138 Moreover, variations in the
functioning and effectiveness of Social Audit Units have been observed. The resource persons for Social
Audit need more training and their members will have to be augmented, if Social Audit is extended to
other Schemes, as well.
• Standard grievance redress mechanisms vary in effectiveness across States: While the
prescribed grievance redress mechanisms have been observed across various States, there have been
variations in terms of their effectiveness, response time and resolution rates. The grievance redress
mechanisms have been observed to be particularly poor at the Gram Panchayat levels. With respect
to best practices, a call based grievance redress system was found to be working well in Telangana.
• Community level information dissemination needs greater impetus: Budgetary constraints are
noted to place limits on the installation of proper flex boards for information display in all Gram
Panchayats. Further, other key pathways of decentralised information flow such as Citizen
Information Boards have not been implemented uniformly.
Way Forward
• Develop trainings in monitoring protocols for functionaries at decentralised governance
levels: Alongside the development of accountability mechanisms, it is crucial to ensure the capacity
building of functionaries, particularly at sub-National levels, so that these mechanisms are effectively
implemented. In particular, DoRD should look to provide hand-holding support to functionaries at the
grassroots level to undertake technology driven monitoring through capacity building and refresher
trainings. In order for capacity building initiatives to be successful they need to be part of a carefully
sequenced devolution process that strengthens power and resources available to local bodies along
with strengthening their capability to manage these resources.
• Consider operationalizing a unified Social audit for all RD&PR schemes: DoRD should look to
ensure technical, legislative and financial support for the conduct of social audit. DoRD should create
a social audit division/cell and staff it with sufficient personnel who will work across different

138 NIRDPR. (2018). Social Audit Units in India

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programme divisions and support the SAUs in the States. The SAUs should function as an independent
bodies with no participation from scheme implementation officials. Further, DoRD should consider
transferring funds required for facilitating social audit directly to the SAUs instead of asking the States
to transfer a fraction of the administrative funds to the SAU. This practice was started in MGNREGS
two years ago and has been critical to establish the SAUs and make them functional. In addition, a
mechanism to review the social audit findings and ensure appropriate follow-up should be seriously
considered.
To operationalise social audit across various schemes, DoRD can also look to introduce participatory
budgeting: the process of democratic deliberation and decision-making, in which ordinary residents
decide directly or indirectly through specially selected representatives discuss on how to allocate
part of a municipal or public budget.
• Develop a common grievance redressal mechanism for the sector: Going forward, DoRD should
look to develop a single platform for the purpose, with use of IVRS/helpline technologies to
strengthen grievance redress. This is also in line with the findings of research studies that show that
24/7 phone-in systems would be beneficial to hold political leaders and public service accountable.139
Further, for more real-time feedback, crowdsourcing methodologies can be adopted.
• Strengthen the flow of information at the community level: To ensure greater citizen
participation and ownership, Initiatives such as Gram Panchayat level programmes, updation of
Community Information Boards in Gram Panchayat offices, reforms to simplify Record Registers, and
use of ICT infrastructure to enable citizen-led monitoring should be taken into consideration. DoRD
can look to borrow lessons from Ukraine’s experience of enhancing accountability through a listening
approach in this regard (details in the box below).
Box 6: Case Study on Increased accountability through a listening approach in Ukraine

Increased accountability through a listening approach in Ukraine140

Background
GOAL, an international humanitarian response agency established in Ireland over 40 years ago, provided
multi-purpose cash assistance to over 7,500 people in Ukraine from May 2015 to January 2017. The cash
transfer was given in the in the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine where conflict had left 3.8 million people
in need of humanitarian assistance. The toll of the conflict was exacerbated by severe humanitarian access
restrictions in NGCA or Non-Government Controlled Areas. GOAL also supported over 3,000 isolated and/or
homebound elderly people with psychosocial support, hot meals, dry food rations and hygiene kits.
Intervention
Accountable and adaptive programming were two core programming principles in the project. This was to
ensure real time recognition of needed adaptions in order to target and respond to the fluid needs of the
most vulnerable people in Ukraine’s complex operating environments. A set of integrated accountability
outcomes they sought to achieve, track and report were developed. These included:
• Appropriate and Rapid Interventions: Appropriately targeting of beneficiaries for vulnerability and
rapid response to requests for assistance through field and hotline assistants, trained (and re-trained)
often using applied psychosocial methodology and listening techniques.

139 Blair, H. (2018). Citizen Participation and Political Accountability for Public Service Delivery in India: Remapping the World

Bank’s Routes. Journal of South Asian Development, 13(1), 54-81.

140 Source: GOAL, Accountability in conflict, CRM and listening approach, 2017.

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• Accountability in the adaptation of planning, activities and tools: Developing a decision log such
that all changes/ adaptations made to programme tools, activities and planning were documented to
note change, rationale for adaptation, decision makers and impact of decision.
• Avoid duplication and/or complement programming: Holistically address vulnerability by referring
individuals to suitable intervention program or support mechanisms through regular inter-agency
information sharing and coordination. A functional and operating referral system was established and
maintained.
• Ability to identify, discuss and respond to unintended (negative) consequences of the
intervention: Through a Do No Harm & Feedback Loop Training including modules such as Core
Humanitarian Standards, Listening skills/ Fundamental Behavioural Observation, Complaints Hotline
protocol, Referral Systems, Psycho-Social Methodologies, Protection, Gender based violence, Do No
Harm Training, etc.
Learning
• Capacity building of staff on accountability related topics meant it was embedded in how the team
worked.
• The regular debriefings of field and hotline assistants together and regular risk assessments supported
staff wellbeing and effective performance of their roles.
• Participatory methodology was used effectively to develop and/or adapt systemized tools including the
hotline guidelines and beneficiary selection forms
• Coordination and case referral systems work well between and handling cases which were referred
from others were efficiently handled.
• Accountability outcomes were tracked systematically through structured tools and reporting.

• Maintain risk matrix and risk registers for all RD schemes: Governance and administrative
mechanisms in rural development space have multiple layers that extend from centre to State flowing
down to district and eventually to the village and beneficiary. Operations of such complex mechanisms
demand efficacy of financial management system backed up with robust internal audit mechanism that
has in-built risk identification and mitigation in programmes. DoRD should look to prepare and
maintain the risk matrix and risk register for each scheme. Risk assessment and risk mitigation
should be institutionalised as key processes in scheme monitoring and internal audit.
(ii) Gender Mainstreaming

Introduction
In India, rural women are key agents for development. They hold the potential to facilitate
transformational economic, environmental and social changes required for sustainable development.
However, gendered barriers to socio-economic development pose significant disadvantages to rural
women. Limited access to credit, health care and education are among the many challenges they face.
Women’s economic dependence on their families, and non-recognition of their unpaid work, are
instrumental in reinforcing structures of discrimination.
Furthermore, the gender bias in institutions is a key source of vulnerability for rural women. Women
experience particular discrimination in ownership of and access to productive resources. Further, rural
women are faced with a ‘double burden’ as they are not only responsible for care work and household
work, but also experience increased drudgery due to high male migration and feminisation of agriculture.
Moreover, mechanisation of farming has led to a reduction in rural women’s wages and continuing gender
inequality in the labour market ensures that women are paid less than men for the same tasks. Further,
a major challenge which small and marginal farmers face is the lack of access to major agricultural services
(such as credit, inputs, extension, insurance, and markets) and this is even more problematic for women

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farmers because of a pervasive male bias in provision of such services. In addition, women remain
severely disadvantaged during global food and economic crises and climate change wherein they receive
disproportionately low amounts of food and resources.
In view of this, it is essential to empower women – in order to create ever widening circles of
empowerment, within the family and the community. Empowering women has been known to have
positive effects on not only the well-being of individuals, families and rural communities, but also on the
overall economic productivity, given women’s large presence in the agricultural workforce worldwide.
Furthermore, empowerment can enable women to participate, as equal citizens, in the economic, political
and social sustainable development of the rural communities, thereby enabling a significant proportion
of the population to contribute to rural development.
Background
Since the 1990s, women have been identified as key agents of sustainable community development.
Women's equality and empowerment are seen as central to a more holistic approach towards establishing
new patterns and processes of development that are sustainable. 141 This has been recognised by DoRD as
well, manifest in the introduction of a women's component in the programmes for poverty alleviation to
ensure flow of adequate funds to this section.
At the outset, the federal structure of the Indian Constitution provides pathways for women to engage
with governance and decision making. The 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Constitution have revived a
clearly mandated and focussed third tier of governance and following this more than a million women
were elected to office at grassroots levels of governance. This period has also seen the evolution and
recognition of women’s groups as important entities for women’s participation and empowerment. 142
Further, the rural development sector has recognised that the integration of a gender component in all
government programmes on livelihoods is key to creating a rural workforce of self-aware and confident
women who by virtue of their enhanced knowledge about their rights and identity would be better
positioned to take leadership roles as farmers and workers. This is evident from the design of rural
development programmes which centre-stage women’s rights, enhance their access to and control over
resources and build their leadership skills, thereby mainstreaming women’s empowerment principles in
governance,
The rural development sector plays a critical role in mainstreaming gender and gender concerns for rural
women. At a sectoral level, the interventions to ensure gender mainstreaming aim to strengthen (i)
women’s resource rights by enhancing control and ownership of resources and assets by women, as well as
creation of women-friendly assets; (ii) capabilities and skills of women farmers by ensuring provisions for
women’s access to safe water, healthcare, education, etc.; (iii) freedom from all forms of discrimination
and violence against women through development of social, environmental and physical infrastructure
which guarantees safety; (iv) women’s voice, choice, agency and leadership through creation and
strengthening of women’s institutions. The programmatic interventions of the sector that are aligned
with national priorities are articulated in the ensuing paragraphs:
Work Participation: National priority defines achievement of female labour force participation rate of
30 percent by 2022-23 from the current level of 23.7 percent. The indicator assumes significance since

141 Handy, F., & Kassam, M. (2004). Women’s Empowerment in Rural India. Paper presented at the ISTR Conference, Toronto

Canada
142 Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India. (2012). Report of the Working Group on Women’s Agency

and Empowerment.

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this work participation rate has been found to be declining, with the rate of decline being higher in rural
areas (from 49.7 percent in 2004-05 to 26.7 percent in 2015-16)143. In response to falling female labour
participation rates, the rural development sector targets women through the very design of its various
schemes which focus on female beneficiaries. In particular, MGNREGS mandates that at least 33 percent
of the beneficiaries that have registered and demanded work should be women. During the FY 2019-20,
out of the total 187.44 crore person days generated, 104.11 crore were women person-days which
account for 55.54 percent of the total person-days generated under the scheme.144
Further, DAY-NRLM targets women for the formation of SHGs which among other activities has the
mandate to generate self-employment ventures for the members of the group. Universal social
mobilisation is a key feature of DAY-NRLM wherein at least one female adult member from each identified
rural poor household (using SECC and PIP process) is brought under the SHGs and its federated
institutions in a time bound manner.145 The SHGs enables women to gain access to common property
resources like land, water and forest, thereby creating opportunities for their economic security. This has
been corroborated by implementing officials at various levels of scheme implementation.

In terms of inclusion if a woman has one deprivation out of the eight SECC based deprivations, then she has a right
to be incorporated in an SHG. If you want women to get into livelihood activity, the thrift and credit was a first step
in enabling them to get empowered to take decision within the family also, to be recognized and equal in the family
(Senior DoRD official)

Further, rural development as a sector recognizes women in special and vulnerable situations: widow,
deserted, poor, pregnant and lactating mothers and have created provisions where they are given
preference in not only selection but also in ensuring that they complete 100 days under MGNREGS. The
work allotted to pregnant and lactating mothers is such that it is amenable to their special situation. In
addition, gender sensitive interventions such as the provision of crèche facilities at MGNREGS worksites
recognise and address the gendered barriers women face in leaving their homes and seeking wage
employment, with competing child rearing commitments.
Enhancing skills and leveraging capacity: While the rural development sector creates opportunities
for women to enter workspaces and benefit from wage employment, it also creates pathways for women
workers to upgrade their skills and build their capacities. The DDU-GKY programme mandates coverage of
at least 33 percent candidates for women under the skill and placement programme in rural areas. In
addition, the sector creates mechanisms for leveraging existing capacities and social infrastructure. In
the FY 2019-20, 1,47,246 candidates have been trained out of which 74,385 (50.5 percent) were
women.146 Under RSETIs, during FY 2019-20, 2,36,470 candidates were trained out of which 1,66,456
(70.3 percent) were women.147
Under DAY-NRLM, the SHGs have emerged as the vehicle for accessing credit by and for women. This has
been a major strategic and tactical intervention that has had impacts at multiple levels: increased access
to financial institutions, ownership over capital, credit and savings, initiator of employment and
enterprise, creator of wealth etc.

143 Same as Footnote 22.

144 Ministry of Rural Development. (2020). Annual Report 2019-20.
145 Same as Footnote 161.
146 Same as Footnote 161.
147 Same as Footnote 161.

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In addition to providing economic security, the SHGs have been empowering for women and have
increased their capacity to negotiate in socio-economic as well as in political decision-making spaces. The
institution of SHG and its primary and secondary federated structures has been designed, trained and
oriented to create a platform that can be used by women for raising their voices and communicating their
concerns to government, Panchayats, financial institutions and institutions operating in the market. 148
Mobility, safety and security for women: In rural areas, most women travel on foot. Inaccessible roads
make travel on foot difficult, time-consuming, unsafe, and uncomfortable. Deficiencies in rural connectivity
adversely impact access to development schemes such as the Public Distribution System and Anganwadi
Centres. Girl students cannot optimally benefit from incentive-driven initiatives such as free bicycles for
girl students enrolling in higher education considering that they cannot ride these to school if road
infrastructure is inadequate.149
The rural development sector has instituted several mechanisms to ensure the security of women.
Creating a network of rural roads through PMGSY has helped ensure that women are able to travel safely,
in addition to increasing their access to employment opportunities and market spaces. Further,
improvement in rural connectivity through roads specifically increases safe institutional deliveries, reduces
maternal and prenatal deaths and the mortality of children, and increases enrolment of girls in schools and
universities.150 A progressive step taken under PMGSY has been engaging women from the PRIs and
representatives from SHGs along with the Junior Engineer, Panchayat Pradhan, local patwari in the
transect walk that determines the construction and alignment of the PMGSY roads to be built, taking into
consideration issues of land availability, and adverse social and environmental impact. Thus, women not
only benefit from the rural connectivity facilitated by PMGSY roads but also play key roles in planning the
rural roads network.151
Further, the sector has instituted interventions to create a safe and decent work environment for women
in rural areas. Interventions to this effect include provision of crèche facilities (if more than 5 children
below the age of 6 are present at worksite), provision for travelling allowance if the worksite is more than
5 kilometres from the village and equal wages for equal work under MGNREGS. In line with this, a District
level functionary in Rajasthan confirmed the way in which gender-based assessments are undertaken to
ensure that work sites are gender-sensitive:

We have to do a gender-based assessment to understand to what extent women can benefit from a particular
scheme. We understand the working conditions to make sure they don’t face any difficulties in working there. So, for
any work, we check if the working conditions are proper for women. Also, a gender-based assessment of benefits is
done to make sure it is actually helping women (District Level KII, Rajasthan)

Sectoral interventions aimed at economic security of women include the allocation of houses under PMAY-
G in the joint name of husband and wife (States can also opt to allocate the house solely to wife). As of
October 2020, a total of 45, 01,060 sanctions (27 percent) have been made in the name of female
beneficiaries, out of which a total of 24,43,108 houses (67.5 percent) have been recorded to have been
completed. 40 percent sanctions were made jointly in the name of husband and wife152. Furthermore,
during the preparation of the Permanent Waiting List (PWL), households are prioritised based on socio-

148 Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India. (2012). Report of the Working Group on Women’s Agency

and Empowerment.
149 Asian Development Bank (2019) India Gender Equality Results Case Study, Rural Connectivity Investment Program
150 Impact Assessment Studies of PMGSY. (2018). World Bank.
151Same as Footnote 161.
152 Same as Footnote 161.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

economic deprivation parameters. The criterion includes female headed households with no adult male
member between the age group of 16-59 years.
Furthermore, social safety nets under NSAP covers elderly women, women with disabilities, and widow
women to provide them with direct cash benefits (with other values added by respective States) as a
direct measure to provide them with security and accord them opportunity for a dignified life.
Enabling conditions for women in agriculture: While women form a significant proportion of the
agricultural workforce, conditions within the agricultural sector are seldom conducive for women
farmers to access agricultural inputs, credit and labour. In response to this, the rural development sector
has introduced a paradigm shift by recognising and directly targeting women engaged in agriculture.
MKSP, a sub scheme of DAY-NRLM, recognizes the centrality of women in agriculture and provides them
support to further deepen their role in promoting sustainable agriculture productive practices.
Convergence with MWCD: Convergence linkages with the MWCD have been established across various
schemes, to ensure the developmental outcomes of women and girls in rural areas in a holistic manner.
MGNREGS converges with the Anganwadi Services scheme of MWCD, by way of Anganwadi Centres being
constructed by MGNREGS workers. As per the revised guidelines dated 17 February 2016, 2 lakh new
Anganwadi buildings are to be constructed under convergence with MGNREGS at the rate of one lakh
Anganwadi buildings per year.153 Further, DAY-NRLM has partnered with women’s collectives to promote
nutrition, thereby contributing to the objectives of the POSHAN Abhiyaan which seeks to achieve
improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women &
Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) in a time bound manner during the three years.
Gender Budgeting: Gender Budget Cells (GBC) have been constituted in each Ministry to ensure that
public resources are allocated in an equitable way to tackle gender imbalances and promote gender
equality by identifying the pressing gender needs and concerns. DoRD constituted its GBC in March
2013.154
Takeaways
• The RD sector is enhancing women’s access to and control over resources: The RD schemes have
provided pathways for women to access resources such as land, natural resources, credit, technology
etc. thereby deepening their role in agriculture and production processes. Through the guarantee of
wage employment at equal wages, the sector ensures access to income generation activities and
economic independence. Further, through the provision of skill building and training, the sector
endows women with new capacities and empowers them to venture into entrepreneurial activities. In
addition, the sector’s social safety nets facilitate access to basic entitlements, thereby making some
level of income or resources the preserve of female beneficiaries only.
However, more effort is needed in making available sex-disaggregated data to recognize women’s
rights to resources and their rights as workers. Such data is also needed to promote women’s
employment in skilled, non-traditional and non-gender stereotypical trades. Further, specific efforts
for ensuring the socio-economic inclusion and development outcomes of single women should be
undertaken.

153 Ministry of Women and Child Development. (2020). Annual Report 2019-20
154 Same as Footnote 161.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

• Female labour force participation is encouraged through the sector’s gender sensitive
interventions: Under MGNREGS, the practice of setting quotas for minimum female worker
participation has proven to have positive impact although the actual women’s participation rate varies
by State. In South Indian States women participation rates reach as high as 89 percent in Kerala, while
in North Indian States the number is lower than the national average: notably, 35 percent in Uttar
Pradesh, and 30 percent in Jammu and Kashmir. Another important gender-sensitive component is
the provision for wages’ equality, which is of particular importance in the agricultural sector. This
makes the MGNREGS more appealing to women because their average market wage is lower than the
daily minimum wage for agricultural labourers in most states. Further, components like accessible
worksite (within 5 kilometres of workers’ residence) and crèches for women with children below six
years address the socio-cultural challenges to women’s engagement in the labour market.155
• The majority of rural women’s work remains invisible in national sample surveys: National
level surveys often do not adequately reflect women’s farm and non-farm work. This results in under-
reporting of their labour force participation as well as a denial of their rights and entitlements.156 For
example, women working in agriculture and allied activities are rarely recognised as farmers and
positioned as household workers instead. This results in women not availing any benefits and
entitlements designed for farmers. This calls for regular sex-disaggregated data collection to prevent
the masking of gendered disadvantages faced by women, and their contribution to the rural
development sector.
• The sector’s women collectives have helped women scale new socio-political frontiers:
Women’s collectives hold a special place in women's empowerment processes. Over the years, the
number of SHGs under DAY-NRLM have grown and over 60 percent of these are women’s SHGs. These
units are key components of inclusive, grassroots democracy. Further, they present opportunities for
financial inclusion and undertaking prudent financial practices such as thrift and credit. Economic
decision making is seen to be closely connected to improving the status of women within the
household, as was put forward by a senior DoRD official during one interview:
“DAY-NRLM is relevant to the poor and women particularly, it helps women get a voice, it helps to get treated
as an equal. If not equal, at least as having a voice within the family and in decision making on livelihood
activities. So her decision making comes only when she gets money in her hands and that happens because of
thrift and credit only.” – DoRD Official

At the same time, some aspects at the sectoral level need to be improved to ensure further gender
mainstreaming. These include enhancing women’s access to technology and infrastructure, establishing
processing units to ensure value-addition and storage spaces for produce (e.g. chilli grinding unit, oil-
extraction unit), and ensuring women’s participation at all stages of the livelihoods value chain
(particularly, post-production and marketing activities and transactions). Introducing gender-
responsive livelihood indicators in the DAY - NRLM MIS is also required.
• There are barriers to the political participation of rural women in PRIs: The 73rd and 74th
Amendments of the Constitution mandate a minimum 33 percent representation of women leaders
in PRIs. Further, some States have proactively increased the one-third reservation in Panchayats to

155 Dasgupta, S. and Sudarshan, R.M. (2011). Issues in labour market inequality and women's participation in India's National

Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.

156 FAO. (2018). Alternative data sources for women's work in agriculture.

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50 percent further bolstering the presence of women in decision making roles. In spite of these
interventions, the participation of women in these institutions remains low.157 Women’s political
power has not been fully harnessed as their presence has not always translated into meaningful
political participation and involvement.
Rural women continue to face social, economic and other forms of institutional barriers to entering
PRIs and similar limitations while performing as elected representatives. Institutional barriers to
political participation of women include the inadequate devolution of functions, lack of financial and
planning autonomy, bureaucratic influence, the policy of rotation of seats etc. Amongst the social
barriers to their full and effective participation are lack of education, oppressive patriarchal and caste
structures; lack of respect of women in PRIs; physical violence in public and domestic spheres; local
politics spawned by caste/class/religious dynamics etc.158
Further, at the community level, there is provision for women’s participation in monitoring
committees and the social audit process. However, insufficient attention has been given to the need
to overcome prevailing norms which prevent women’s participation and voice in community forums,
in their ability to access and utilise grievance procedures, and in mechanisms which aim to promote
community discussion on the selection and prioritisation of assets created.
Apart from the barriers to meaningful political participation, women leaders at the local level are also
not adequately trained for the roles they are meant to perform. Women Members and Chairpersons
of Panchayats, who are often new entrants in Panchayats, need to acquire the required skills and be
given appropriate orientation to assume their rightful roles as leaders and decision makers.
Imparting training to elected representatives of PRIs for programmes under the DoRD (including
extending financial assistance to the States/UTs with a view to improve the quality of training
programmes and to catalyse capacity building initiatives for the elected members and functionaries
of PRIs) should be further improved.
• Capacity building for programme specific and local level gender mainstreaming needs more
attention: It has been found that gender-responsiveness of a programme’s delivery mechanism is
crucial to ensuring gender outcomes. In this regard, gender trainings at the Block, District and State
level for core programme functionaries and Project Implementation Agency (PIA) staff should be
organized. Dedicated budgets for gender trainings could be earmarked from Capacity Building
budgets, and a module on gender should be accommodated.
In order to enable women to leave their homes and venture into wage employment, entrepreneurship
and skills training, behaviour change at the local level is crucial. However, gender-sensitisation
components at the village level to encourage such behaviour change are currently missing. Special
attention need to be paid to the need to overcome prevailing norms which prevent women’s
participation and voice in community forums.
• ICT should be leveraged further to ensure information flow to women: The advancement of
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has brought new opportunities for both
knowledge sharing and knowledge gathering for both women and men. ICT can provide unlimited
opportunities for economic development and social engagement through new innovative thinking

157Prillaman S. (2019). The persistent gender gap in political participation in India, Ideas for India.
158Ministry of Women and Child Development. (2011). XII Five Year Plan. Report of the Working Group on Women’s Agency
and Empowerment. Government of India.

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and tools. With the growth of media and ICT, it is important that women are brought into the
mainstream agenda for ensuring that the benefits of technology also flow to them. The Government
is already taking various steps to promote ICT through the IT for Masses scheme which has women as
a specific target group; Sanchar Shakti Scheme of Universal Service Obligation Fund etc. However,
further initiatives need to be undertaken in this direction.
Under MGNREGS in particular, while there has been a focus on raising awareness about the right to
100 days of employment, this has been uneven across the country.159 Importantly, there has been
limited attention to the implications of women’s lower literacy rates, especially with regards to the
demand driven nature of MGNREGS which relies on a multi-layered written application process.
Against this backdrop, ICTs should be leveraged to enhance women’s access to scheme information,
and to encourage the assertion of their rights to work.
Way Forward
• The sector should enhance its focus on gender mainstreaming from a policy perspective: It is
imperative to mainstream gender through a top-down approach wherein gender equality and
women’s rights are included as explicit goals in the vision statement and objectives of all rural
development programmes.
• It is important to review the gender-sensitiveness of employment opportunities for women
workers: An analysis of the work provided should be undertaken to assess whether it suits the
capacities of women who participate in MGNREGS. The list of permissible work should then be
expanded to allow for greater diversity of gender-sensitive activities. Such activities can include the
use of MGNREGS wages component to provide human resources to run crèches under MGNREGS,
providing opportunities to set up vermi-culture composting units that regenerate the land etc. Other
works such as common facility centres, SHG meeting and childcare centres which women can then
maintain should also be considered.
At present, the wages under MGNREGS is calculated on a piece-rate basis. However, such a system
fetches women very little money given that women workers are engaged in tasks such as lifting and
carrying loads on their heads, whereas men perform tasks like digging which is better remunerated.
The schedule of rates should, therefore, be improved as has been done in some states like Andhra
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, etc.
• Mechanisms to measure and recognize women’s work need to be instituted: It is important to
review the language and terminologies used for women and women’s work. For instance, when some
women are called ‘home-based workers’ they are categorized as wage earners in the informal sector.
However, if they are thought of and addressed as ‘producers’ or ‘entrepreneurs’, the whole
perspective would change. Instead of demanding better wages for such women the focus would shift
to their rights and entitlements as producers which includes low interest credit, better skill training
and market access. RD schemes should create opportunities for female employment in non-gender
stereotypical and skilled roles and implement targets for equal employment of women at all levels
within a programme.
Further, DoRD should make time bound plans for ensuring collection of sex-disaggregated data across
all socio-economic categories, including religious minorities, marital status etc. Sex-disaggregated

159 Carswell, G. and De Neve, G. (2014). MGNREGA in Tamil Nadu: a story of success and transformation.

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data should be collected to recognize women’s work, enhance their access to rights and entitlements
as well as help assess the effectiveness of a programme. Collection of data disaggregated by socio-
economic categories would also be helpful for developing specific programmatic responses for
vulnerable groups such as single women, SC and ST women.
• The sector should target specific vulnerable groups through focused interventions: While rural
women face gendered disadvantages that lower their access to resources and assets, certain
vulnerable women face additional challenges due to their marital or socio-economic status.
Vulnerable women like single women, heads of female headed households, women belonging to SC
and ST populations have been observed to experience socio-economic vulnerabilities of higher
degrees. This necessitates targeted interventions for their benefit. At the outset, data collection
disaggregated by socio-economic categories and marital status would be the first step towards
envisioning focused interventions for these groups (as mentioned in the previous point). Suggested
policy actions are detailed below:
o Single women: To encourage more single women to engage in wage employment, it is imperative
to define a nuclear family as a household under MGNREGS. In order to ensure their access to equal
wages, special job cards for single women may be considered. Further, to encourage economic
independence among single women, separate federations of single women at the Block and
District level should be promoted. Single women should also be given preference in grant of credit
with flexible payment modalities and lower interest, so as to fuel their participation in leadership
roles and entrepreneurship. Alongside, constant awareness creation activities should be
undertaken within both the maternal and matrimonial homes, to make single women aware of
their rights and entitlements.
o SC Women: For SC women, a rights-based approach should be adopted rather than a welfare-
oriented one in education; health services; ownership of land and its development through
irrigation and other means; employment; and in provisions for housing and living conditions. SC
women should be provided good and adequate house-sites in the joint names of themselves and
their spouses and their living conditions improved through provision of satisfactory drainage,
sanitation roads, electricity and water sources
o ST Women: Focus should be laid on awareness building among ST women about policies,
programmes, schemes and legislations meant for them. To expand the access to credit and banking
facilities to ST women, it should be ensured that the banking correspondent model under DAY-
NRLM targets ST women as correspondents and as beneficiaries. Convergence among various
subsidy and loan schemes of Central and State governments should also be ensured, so that both
subsidy and low interest loans are available to ST women. Furthermore, effective implementation
of MGNREGS in Tribal Blocks should be ensured to prevent distress migration and trafficking.
• Mechanisms to enhance meaningful political participation of women leaders should be
implemented: It is imperative that DoRD accelerate the devolution of responsibilities, powers and
resources to ensure women’s leadership for delivery of services and social change. Along with this, it
is recommended that DoRD increase the resource allocation for capacity building and intensive training
of all elected Panchayat women representatives.
In addition, pre-election preparation of women candidates and voters will also help women leaders to
navigate social and cultural barriers to female political participation. Cost-effective elections should
be facilitated so that women from poor and marginalised sections can aspire to enter Panchayats and
take leadership role in the community. Further, DoRD should look to promote alliances, federations,

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across Panchayats and across women in PRIs and SHGs, thereby creating an empowering eco-system for
female leadership and gender mainstreaming interventions.
• Women workers should be given more decisive roles in the execution of works: In order to
ensure greater female leadership and ownership of the RD schemes, it is important for women and
women’s groups to play key roles in the scheme implementation. The Gram Sabha is a key platform for
discussion, planning and decision making on the developmental works to be undertaken in a village.
Mandating a minimum 33 percent participation of women at Gram Sabhas would be one way to ensure
that the voice of women is heard and acted upon in the context of the village’s development. By
making women instrumental in the selection of works, there would also be checks and balances on the
selection of works that are unsuitable for the health of women workers. Further, including Women’s
Groups as implementing agencies of MGNREGS works would also endow women with important roles
in the execution of RD schemes.
• Focus on credit access and financial inclusion of women should be maintained: While the
microfinance movement has made great inroads into the financial sector, there is a need to move
beyond as women now need larger amounts of credit for entrepreneurship activities, exposure to
training on running a business including pricing and budgeting, and also access to pension and
insurance products. SHGs should also be classified under priority sectors and should be given loan at
concessional rates. The DoRD should look to extend financial support and seed capital to federations
of women SHGs up to the Block or District levels, and Producer Companies of women farmers and
agriculture workers. These groups should be developed as models of economic empowerment and also
become prime movers in local governance.
• Building gender-related capacities of all RD functionaries should be emphasized: Capacities of
all government officers, frontline functionaries and implementing agencies should be enhanced to
enable them to design and implement policies which centre-stage women’s rights and entitlements.
Officials should be equipped through regular trainings and workshops, with capacities and tools to
adopt a gender lens in their work. Intensive training and capacity building mechanisms should also
be instituted to help officials undertake gender budget and gender audit in rural local bodies.
• Pathways for rural women to become aware and access information should be strengthened:
It is important to institute human resources and infrastructure to let women disseminate and access
information on their rights and entitlements. DoRD should explore setting up Gender Resource
Centres in all Districts to help women gain critical information and knowledge. Further, the creation
of a cadre of women workers in each village (such as Gender Community Resource Persons (CRPs)/
women leaders organized under rural development programmes or by NGOs) should be considered.
These women workers would be responsible for enhancing capacities of rural women to access
information, entitlements and institutions, technical knowledge; and supporting victims of violence.
The Gender CRPs thus would not only address livelihood issues, but also focus on the social and
political empowerment of rural women.
In addition, the existing community radio policy may be reviewed, if necessary, to enable women’s
federations to undertake community radio initiatives. DoRD should look to provide support to
women’s federations for undertaking community radio programmes to spread information on RD
schemes for women, the benefits and entitlements, thereby enhancing awareness levels and mitigating
knowledge gaps stemming from female illiteracy to some extent.

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(iii) Direct and Indirect Employment Generation

Introduction
“Unemployment has many far-reaching effects other than loss of income, including psychological harm, loss
of work motivation, skills and self-confidence, increase in ailments, disruption of family relations and social
life, hardening of social exclusion and accentuation of gender inequalities”160. In India, the problem of
unemployment takes many forms, particularly in rural India. These include concealed unemployment, pre-
dominance of informal sector, urban areas being fulcrum of job creation, low participation of women in the
workforce. These are some aspects which DoRD is looking to tackle through its schemes.
Background
Employment generation in any economy depends on how fully and productively society utilizes the
material, technological, organizational and human resources at its disposal. Higher productivity results
in greater efficiency and with which it produces goods as well as better quality, which in turn leads to
greater the demand for those goods and services in the marketplace. This augments employment
opportunities and purchasing power created. Despite increasing urbanization, a large fraction of India’s
poor remain in rural areas. Majority of the population works in casual labour markets in both the
agricultural and non-agricultural sectors in which there are few returns to skill and labour market
experience, and where earning potential is limited. The return to this labour often does not generate
household earnings that are sufficient for a household that includes nonworking dependents to rise above
the poverty line. Thus, the government has a key role to play in employment generation in the country.
Moreover, as people move out of agriculture, household income and access to non-farm economic
opportunities—rather than just farm-level production diversity or farm incomes—become equally
important predictors of household food and nutrition security. This is driven by the fact that, as agricultural
systems modernize and markets develop, there is an increasing separation between the production and
consumption decisions of households. 161
As per Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) estimates, the share of regular wage/salaried employees has
increased by 5 percentage points from 18 percent in 2011-12 to 23 percent in 2017- 18 as per usual
status162. In absolute terms, there was a significant jump of around 2.62 crore new jobs in this category
with 1.21 crore in rural areas. The proportion of women workers in regular wage/salaried employees
category has increased by 8 percentage points (from 13 percent in 2011-12 to 21 percent in 2017- 18).
Among the self-employed category (consists of employers, own account workers and unpaid family
labour), while the proportion of own account workers and employers has increased, the proportion of
unpaid family labour (helper) has declined, especially for females between 2011-12 and 2017-18. The
proportion of total self-employed workers however remained unchanged at 52 percent during this
period.163
For direct employment in rural India, the biggest programme is the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which was passed in 2005. MGNREGS seeks to provide 100 days
of guaranteed wage employment to rural households willing to perform unskilled manual work. It makes
special provisions for women and for the distance within which the job must be available to job-seekers
for convenience. Other efforts to provide direct employment opportunities have been through SHGs in

160 Sen, A., Development as Freedom, Page 94. Oxford University Press.
161 Pingali P., and Sunder N. (2017) Transitioning Toward Nutrition-Sensitive Food Systems in Developing Countries
162 Usual status gives an idea about average working condition of an individual for entire reference year
163 Same as Footnote 31.

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DAY-NRLM and providing employment in government departments and offices at various positions and
levels. DoRD has also attempted to provide indirect employment opportunities through the infrastructure
programmes constructing housing and roads. These assets also aid the ability of the private sector to invite
more job applicants and create livelihood opportunities.
It however needs to be realised that people in rural India often depend on more than one resource and
more than one activity for earning their livelihoods. Raising food security enhancing crops on a small piece
of land, rearing livestock, and migrating to cities as unskilled labour are all the activities a family may
undertake to earn enough money for sustenance. ‘Security of Livelihoods’ is something everyone aspires
for and is a key aspect of DoRD programmes.
MGNREGS is a milestone in the history of rural development in India and is the largest government
intervention of this kind globally. Providing employment to unskilled workers directly and ensuring
livelihood security for the poor is one of the most important goals of MGNREGS. However,
implementation has thrown new challenges, especially the challenge of making the best use of large sums
of money from public exchequer while also plugging the leakages in the supply pipeline before it reaches
the wage labourer in the village. Government of India and State Governments have made huge efforts
toward meeting this challenge.
Apart from the aspect of direct employment to households for 100 days, creation of durable and
productive assets including improved water security, soil conservation and higher land productivity to
improve livelihood opportunities are being undertaken. The revised Operational Guidelines of MGNREGS
included 30 new permissible works under Schedule 11 including Watershed Related Works, Watershed
Related Works in Mountain Regions, Agriculture Related Works, Livestock Related Works, Fisheries
Related Works and Irrigation Command Related Works. This has helped strengthen the positive synergy
between MGNREGS and agriculture and allied rural livelihoods, to respond to the demands of the States
for greater location specific flexibility in permissible works and to help improve the ecological balance in
rural India and to provide a cleaner, healthier environment for the rural population.164
DAY-NRLM seeks to reach out to 8-9 crore rural poor households and organize one-woman member from
each household into specific women SHGs based on interests and federations at village and at higher levels.
Support is provided to the women for employment and self-employment ventures under the scheme to
enhance their farm livelihoods and non-farm livelihood through various components of schemes such as
organic farming, Krishi Sakhi, Pashu Sakhi, dairy value chain interventions, Aajeevika Grameen Express
Yojana, Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme etc. DAY-NRLM provides Revolving Funds (RF) at
the rate of Rs. 10,000-15,000 per SHG and Community Investment Support Fund (CISF) to the extent of Rs.
2.5 lakh per SHG to support their income generating and livelihood activities.
Further, the government’s effort to formalise the economy with measures like introduction of GST,
digitisation of payment, DBT and opening of Jan Dhan accounts have led to an increase in formal
employment in rural India.165
The non-farm sector plays a very important role for job creation in rural areas, especially along the rural-
urban continuum for structural transformation to take place. There is a blurring of rural-urban
distinction, which provides an opportunity to diversify the portfolio of economic opportunities available to
rural households, thereby enabling greater rural income and improved access to food and nutrition

164 Circular, Guidelines for the New / Additional Works Permitted Under MGNREGA.
165 Same as Footnote 31.

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provided that this is adequately leveraged.166 SPMRM is certainly playing an important role in this regard.
As villages face a shortage of employment opportunities due to diminishing returns to agriculture and
more attractive avenues becoming in urban areas, the quantum of relocation to urban areas can be
tremendous. SPMRM prevents this is by inducing an ‘inverse movement’ as basic infrastructure and utilities
are provided, and industrialization is promoted. This leads to a steady increase in the employment
opportunities in Rurban areas.
Further efforts to provide access to employment through Rural Development schemes was highlighted
by government officials during the course of this study. The positive impacts of these programmes on the
most vulnerable socials groups in India were also raised in qualitative interviews:

Renovation of lakes, damn, canals has brought an improvement in irrigation facilities, thus promoting employment
in agriculture. (…) Along with this, we are working on skill development of women under skill development mission.
We have provided opportunities to 3,000 women in our District directly through stitching work. Creation of
employment opportunities in small scale industries has also been done” - Aspirational District Fellowship,
Jharkhand
“Not just the backward class people, all those who need work are coming to us. Even the forward class people, OBC,
SC, ST, women all are coming. One benefit of this is that they are coming to work early in the morning and are
completing the work they have been assigned and earning”- BDO, Andhra Pradesh

Takeaways
• Improving non-farm employment needs a focus on agriculture: A vibrant agricultural sector is
essential for the growth of non-farm sector because of the large dependence on it for food security
and employment. Most of the rural households do earn a certain part of their income from agriculture
while diversifying their income portfolio in India.167 Through production linkages, agriculture
connects to non-farm suppliers of raw materials and farm inputs. There are consumption
linkages when the gains from agricultural income are spent on locally produced non-farm goods.
Through the supply of labour to non-agricultural activities during the lean season, and investment in
non-agricultural activities, agriculture is connected to the economy through factor markets. There
are productivity linkages through reduced food prices. The reverse takes place too when newer
industries could ignite the demand for agricultural products. The challenge for a more vibrant food
system is to ensure that movement towards non-farm employment is not a step-down.
• Increasing rural productivity has a multiplier effect: It needs to be realized that rising rural
incomes consequent to higher productivity will unleash a multiplier effect, increasing demand for
farm and non-farm products and services, thereby stimulating rapid growth of employment
opportunities in other sectors. The essential requirement of livelihood security is everyone having
adequate access to resources and income earning activities on a sustained basis, i.e., this access should
be long term, and it should give benefit in the long run.
• Quality of employment affects productivity: The quality of jobs being created in the non-farm
sector can be dubbed as ordinary—informal and casual—regarding their potential for rural
transformation and lowering structural poverty. The poor quality of rural non-farm sector jobs
especially for women leads to greater withdrawal from the labour market168. Poverty, vulnerability to

166 Same as Footnote 36.

167 Same as Footnote 42.
168 Chatterjee U., Murgai R., Rama M. (2015) Job Opportunities along the Rural-Urban Gradation and Female Labor Force

Participation in India, World Bank

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poverty, and informal employment status are highly associated. Around 79 percent of workers who
work in the informal sector can be classified as poor without any job or social security169. These
workers not only work at low wages, but their working conditions are also miserable.
• MGNREGS has helped promote livelihoods yet is a last resort: Introduction of the public
employment programs, such as MGNREGS, have also facilitated a faster move towards the rural non-
farm sector. There are three distinct features of MGNREGS, which have been utilized very well,
namely: (a) guaranteed employment for every adult person who is willing to do manual work, (b)
empowerment of the Gram Panchayat and Gram Sabha (GS) to decide on works that can be taken up
for providing employment on demand, and (c) prioritization of works that result in creation of assets
for strengthening of livelihoods of poor. Yet these livelihood avenues are a last resort means for those
in the lower income quintiles, casting doubts on the long-run welfare of this transition170. Further,
implementation of the scheme is being adversely affected due to lack of awareness about the scheme
at different levels. Along with awareness about MGNREGS, a thorough knowledge and understanding
of livelihoods promotion is also needed.171
• Gram Panchayats play a significant role: When GPs and villagers together decide that they
themselves want to bring about in terms of a positive change in their situation – the best solutions
are found. It helps in undertaking responsibility for their own development and realising that they are
in the best position to understand what they need and what they have. They also realize that they
have the right to utilize the common property resources as well as the responsibility to nurture them
and utilize them in a sustainable manner. Inclusive process and assurance of benefits to every family
is also important.172
• Security of Livelihoods requires focus: In the absence of vision and participation in the community,
works are planned in an adhoc manner. Invariably, plans lack reflection of the people’s aspirations and
needs in it. It is significant that people do not just demand employment, but proactively suggest means
of creating employment.173 Analysis of livelihood situations enables identification of specific gaps and
consequent solutions to ensure sustained secure livelihoods.
• Diversification of livelihoods through SHGs can significantly contribute to employment
opportunities: DAY-NRLM supports the rural poor in building their skills and capabilities for self-
employment, enabling them to graduate from dependence on safety nets to building productive assets
of their own. Producer groups in agriculture, dairying, and the non-farm sector are better able to
upgrade technologies to improve the productivity and quality of their products, access market
information, develop value chains, attract the private and cooperative sector to do business with them,
and negotiate fairer terms of trade for their products and services. Additionally, DAY-NRLM covers
rural youth who will be empowered with the skills needed in India’s rapidly changing labour market.
This will enable them to access new job opportunities in the services sector, connecting the hitherto
lagging rural regions to the mainstream economy, and helping India to capitalize on its demographic
dividend.

169 National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector. (2008). Report on Definitional and Statistical Issues

Relating to informal Economy.

170 National Sample Survey.
171 Pingali P., Aiyar A., Abraham M., Rahman A (2019), Rural Livelihood Challenges: Moving out of Agriculture. .
172 Abdul Azeez, N. (2020). Model for Performance of MGNREGS in Rural Asset Creation.
173 Ministry of Rural Development, Building Sustainable Livelihood of the Poor through MGNREGA.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

• Greater interaction along rural-urban spaces can be expected: India is expected to be 60 percent
urban by 2050.174 Further, with better infrastructure and communication networks, reduced physical
distance and cultural barriers between rural and urban residents are likely. Agriculture, therefore,
may no longer continue to be the defining feature of the economic and cultural life in rural areas. This
rural transformation—an essential part of structural transformation—entails greater interaction
along the rural-urban spaces, thereby promoting agricultural productivity and greater marketable
surpluses. This could then facilitate overall production diversification, new forms of livelihood and
better infrastructure provision in rural areas. Spatial boundaries across the rural-urban dichotomies
are increasingly getting blurred as with larger rural areas becoming indistinguishable from the small
urban areas, especially regarding the occupational patterns and built-up area characterizations175.
The right set of public policies, however, are essential to ensure that smooth, inclusive and sustainable
urbanization for structural transformation takes place.
•
Infrastructure creation has both direct and indirect impact on livelihoods: Road infrastructure
contributes significantly—through greater dietary diversity and higher agricultural input usage—to
the food system. Further, access by paved or unpaved roads and frequent bus services increase the
odds of non-agricultural employment among men and women. The effect of road access on non-farm
employment is stronger among women than among men. Improved transportation infrastructure has
a stronger positive effect on women's non-farm employment in communities with more egalitarian
gender norms.176
Way Forward
• Investment in rural Infrastructure should be increased: It is often the poorest who are locked out
of this market because of marginalized social groups or small land holding. Investment in rural
infrastructure goes a long way in reducing the economic distance between rural and urban areas.
Reduction in this distance abets rural transformation, integrates markets and thereby facilitates
greater access to non-farm employment opportunities, especially for women. New paved roads under
the PMGSY improve available transportation services facilitating the reallocation of labour out of
agriculture.
• Renewed focus on food systems is required: Food systems extend far beyond agricultural land and
production and provide food, energy and nutrition to the population. At the same time, they also serve
an economic and social role through enhancing household access to food. Access comes through
income and better jobs. As the food systems cut across agriculture, health and nutrition, poverty and
the environment, it can also be leveraged to create jobs. Most new jobs in the rural areas would be
created in the non-farm sector. As the agricultural value chains develop, there would be greater
demand for those who can work in related logistics, from aggregation to storage and processing. With
the right set of skills to youth, these sectors could become a major source of job creation.
• SHGs should be further leveraged to provide skills and increase the workforce participation
of rural women and youth: Most rural women in India work on their household farm as unpaid
labour. According to the latest Census figures, workforce participation rate of rural women is only 30
percent compared to 53 percent for rural males. Another fundamental feature of women in rural India
is their low human capital. On 58 percent of the rural women are literate compared to 77 percent of

174 Minister of state for urban development Rao Inderjit Singh in Lok Sabha, July 2016
175 Same as Footnote 185.
176 Lei L, Desai S., & Vanneman R (2019) The Impact of Transportation Infrastructure on Women's Employment in India

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

rural men. This implies that almost one-fourth of rural non-farm workers in India are illiterate. Lack
of education and the required skills inhibit a smooth and timely transition into the non-farm
sector. Since construction sector does not require much skills, this sector provides the greatest share
of non-farm work. The formal service sector which provides a better quality of employment and
written contracts, however, requires more skilled and educated workers.
• Community awareness regarding entitlements needs to be improved: There is an
unprecedented emphasis on a rights-based approach to development through a series of landmark
legislations like Right to Information Act, MGNREGA, Forest Rights Act, and Right to Education Act etc.
While these Acts, backed by huge financial outlays, are transferring much greater resources to the
rural areas, full benefits of these legislations and schemes can only be harnessed when the
communities are organized, when they can demand their rights and entitlements, and when there is
a backup support to the communities to meaningfully utilize the entitlements for long-term gains.
• Rural Development must also focus on an increase in the service sector: Services sector has
played a major role in structural transformation of Indian economy but its achievements during the
recent years were mainly concentrated towards urban areas. This sector in rural areas witnessed
deceleration in output as well as employment after 2004-05. An important reason for this is increased
reliance of rural consumers on service providers located in urban areas. Rural areas have comparative
advantage in services like post-harvest value addition, on farm storage, primary processing, grading
etc.177
(iv) Climate change & sustainability including adoption of climate-change resilient practices &
diversifications

Introduction
India is a large emerging economy with a variety of geographical regions, biodiversity and natural
resources. It is also a country severely affected by climate change, especially in areas where people's
livelihoods depend on natural resources. More than half of India’s population of over 1 billion people lives
in rural areas and depends on climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture, fisheries and forestry for their
livelihoods. Undertaking climate adaptation measures have a renewed significance for
safeguarding rural livelihoods and ensuring sustainable development. Climate change in rural areas is
making an impact on both rural livelihoods and rural infrastructure. These impacts vary in degree and
content across different agricultural climatic regions in the country. The sectoral approach to rural
development so far has adopted conservation and development of natural resource base as part of
improving the fast depleting natural resources in the countryside.
Natural resources and the environment are already under pressure as a result of rapid urbanisation,
industrialization and economic development. Climate change is projected to exacerbate these pressures.
A considerable threat is posed to poor farmers and rural communities as even a small increase in local
temperatures could lead to reduced crop yields for those living at lower latitudes, especially in seasonally
dry and tropical regions. More frequent and extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, are
expected to make local crop production even more difficult
Background

177 Same as Footnote 41.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Rural Development through its schemes can contribute to improved natural resource conservation,
increased efficiency of resource use, reduced negative environmental impacts, strengthened climate
resilience of communities and contribution to climate change mitigation through178:
• Investing in regenerating natural resources;
• Mobilizing and developing the capacities of community institutions to utilize natural resources in
a sustainable manner; and
• Aggregating ‘small initiatives’ in several locations to improve natural capital on a macro scale.
A major role that public investment plays in the rural economy is to stimulate growth by encouraging and
“crowding in” more private investment. Rural development schemes have the potential to play this role
in India. Greening rural development can stimulate local growth by providing opportunities for private
investment in green businesses such as renewable energy generation, organic input chains and advisory
services, green product supply chains and production of environment-friendly construction materials
(fly-ash and rice husk ash cement, fly-ash and limestone bricks, filler slabs for roofs etc.). Rural
development schemes can help widely disseminate information on green technologies and give an
impetus to environment friendly innovations in agriculture, processing, housing and construction of rural
roads. Rural development schemes such as the NRLM could include ‘new style’ interventions to improve
the productivity and competitiveness of selected ‘green’ enterprises.179
There is currently a lack of climate vulnerability assessment of the rural sector in terms of how the
increased frequency of extreme weather events (floods, cyclones, hailstorms, extended periods of
droughts) are likely to affect rural infrastructure and livelihoods. These factors are not built into the
design and assessment of DoRD’s programmatic interventions even though programmes like MGNREGS
have in-built design that can be used to develop climate resilient plans for specific geographies (water
and soil conservation works, reforestation, water harvesting etc.). These works have not been woven
together as climate adaptive plans or strategies based on local climate vulnerabilities. The need for
including climate change adaptations in programme design stem from the need for sustainable usage of
natural resources such as water, soil and land; climate resilience of production systems, livelihoods and
habitats; and strengthening livelihoods security and making public expenditure more effective.
The Government of India issued the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) on June 30, 2008.
The NAPCC is the framework for Union and State governments to address the challenges of climate
change. One important underlying principle of NAPCC is to harness development against climate change
thus protecting the poor and vulnerable sections of society through an inclusive and sustainable
development strategy. The NAPCC defines eight critical areas called “National Missions”: Solar, Enhanced
Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Habitat, Water, Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, 'Green India'
(reforestation), Sustainable Agriculture, and Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change. In 2009, the Prime
Minister's Council on Climate Change called upon the Indian states to prepare State Action Plans on
Climate Change (SAPCCs) consistent with the strategy outlined in the National Action Plan on Climate
Change.
Some key focus areas in climate change adaptation, which DoRD can focus on includes:
• Vulnerability and risk assessments: A structured approach to climate change vulnerability and
risk assessments provides a scientific basis for decision-making to reduce the adverse impacts of
climate change. These assessments use expert contributions from all relevant stakeholders and
thus provide a solid basis for decision-making at policy level. Furthermore, they help to bridge

178 UNDP (2012), Greening Rural Development in India.

179 Rodrick D. (2004), Industrial Policy for the Twenty First Century.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

the existing gap between global climate change scenarios and local risk analyses. This structured,
yet simple approach to vulnerability and risk assessment can also be used by other federal states.
• Adaptation measures: Carrying out adaptation measures helps increase the resilience of
communities to deal with climate change. Evaluating and communicating the results of these
measures enriches overall adaptation knowledge, which leads to replication at a larger scale.
• Climate proofing public programmes: Climate proofing public programmes ensures that their
objectives are achieved despite changing climate conditions. It also helps to identify new
opportunities and further increase resilience at local level. Policy planners need to gauge the
sustainability of public sector programmes in the face of climate change.
• Financial instruments for adaptation: Financial instruments provide security and help to
safeguard livelihoods in times of adverse conditions exacerbated through climate change. Rural
communities often have limited awareness of and access to financial products that could help to
reduce the impacts climate change has on their livelihoods.
• Information and knowledge management: Exchange of information and knowledge related to
adaptation increases awareness and enhances adaptive capacities at different levels. The
dissemination of existing information on and experiences in climate change adaptation is key for
preparing for the future impacts of climate change and converge with other Ministries such as
MoEFCC.
• Human capacity development: Building the capacity of local multipliers spreads awareness and
knowledge on adaptation. The training of government officials at multiple levels enhances their
capacities to integrate climate change adaptation into planning processes. Decision-makers,
development planners and practitioners in India are confronted with the question of how to deal
proactively with the effects of climate change. Integrating climate change adaptation into
planning and identifying appropriate measures is not an easy task.
Takeaways
• The impacts of climate change are likely to be distributed unevenly across the rural-urban
gradient: Major impacts of climate change in rural areas will be felt through changes in the water
supply, food security and agriculture. The human costs in rural areas will be high because of rural
residents’ heavy dependence for their livelihoods on natural resources, high rural poverty rates
and the low connectivity of rural areas.180
• Availability of complete information and data is a key for climate adaptation: Adaptation
should build on the best available information about impacts, vulnerabilities and adaptation
options. Improving data availability, translating it into user-friendly information and choosing
interventions on the basis of what can be known are key activities. Targeted interventions are
possible when fairly clear-cut information about impacts is available. Otherwise, the
precautionary principle (e.g. avoiding building in flood-prone areas, diversifying income sources)
should apply and no-regret options (e.g. combating soil erosion) should be the focus.181 Specific
techniques like efficient irrigation or watershed management already contribute greatly to the
adaptive capacity of regions. Building on an understanding of key climate change risks, such
techniques can be improved, targeted or transferred to regions where they have not been

Report on The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014

180
181Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, and GiZ (2011), Adaptation to Climate Change with a Focus on
Rural Areas and India

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

previously employed. Improved knowledge and technologies, such as new crop varieties, may be
further spread to promote adaptation to climate change.
• Continuous stakeholder engagement and communication is needed: Adaptation may require
complex governance processes. New stakeholders have to be involved, as climate change will
require action by people who have not explicitly considered climate change in their past
decisions. Communication among the different thematic communities will have to improve and
strategies in the various areas need to be efficiently coordinated and managed. Capacity
development is key in such a complex and dynamic environment.
• Adaptive investments in all sectors can also reduce the climate-related push factors of
migration: Climate change and environmental factors are known to affect overall migration
patterns in myriad ways. The World Bank has projected that the slow-onset impacts of climate
change (through warming and drought, rising sea levels, the increasing intensity and frequency
of natural disasters and competition over natural resources) could act as push factors of internal
migration for over 143 million people in SSA, South Asia, and Latin America by 2050.182
• MGNREGS has a lot of potential for climate adaptation: A vast majority of the works under
MGNREGS are linked to water, soil and land. The list of ‘permissible’ works provide
environmental services such as conservation of water, groundwater recharge, reduced soil
erosion, increased soil fertility, conservation of biodiversity, reclamation of degraded crop and
grazing lands, enhanced leaf manure, fuel wood and non-wood forest products supply among
others. A green focus will enable MGNREGS to effectively deliver on its objective of creating
durable assets and strengthening the livelihood resource base of the rural poor. By thus ensuring
livelihoods security, MGNREGS will increase labour absorption in natural resource-based
livelihoods and decrease demand for the employment in public works. Livelihoods security for
the rural poor will be ensured even while the demand for work under MGNREGS declines. This
will limit outlay under MGNREGS in the future.
• NRLM and PMAY-G have climate adaptive components which can be leveraged: Under DAY-
NRLM the guidelines for non-timber forest produce-based livelihoods under MKSP, identify
regeneration and sustainable harvesting of NTFP species as key objectives; similarly, promotion
of organic and low-chemical agriculture and increased soil health and fertility to sustain
agriculture-based livelihoods is an objective under the sustainable agriculture component of
MKSP. Under PMAY-G, green results include efficient use of resources, including water, energy
and construction material. Further, IAY can encourage greater use of renewable and locally
available construction material, and reduced use of water and energy.
Way forward
• Identify a key set of green outcomes that are feasible and have high impact; prepare Green
Guidelines which will detail how to achieve these desired results. The hallmark of the Green
Guidelines will be (i) a set of non-negotiable principles and goals and (ii) flexibility beyond the
non-negotiable so that people and institutions are encouraged to adopt creative and innovative
activities.
• Form a network of support organizations by designating select civil society organizations,
technical institutions and academic centres to facilitate the implementation of the Green
Guidelines.

182 “Rigaud, K et all (2018), Groundswell : Preparing for Internal Climate Migration, World Bank.

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• Establish an Innovations Portal for greening rural development. This portal will encourage
innovative ideas, activities, technologies and processes adopted to promote and expand the
greening activities.
• Set up a Green Innovations Fund to promote and incentivize the development and extension of
technologies and social processes to achieve green outcomes
• Set up a dedicated Green Cell within the Ministry for guiding the greening agenda and for the
implementation of Green Guidelines in the country. The Green Cell will develop procedures to
converge actions and funding for greening activities that cut across rural development schemes.
• Prepare an annual Green Report for the DoRD summarizing the major green achievements and
their outcomes during the year. This report should draw upon independent evaluation of schemes
for green outcomes.
• For MGNREGS, prepare Perspective Plan for every Gram Panchayat on the basis of landscape,
watershed or aquifer based planning and strengthen capacities of Gram Panchayats to develop
green proposals and monitor green results: develop and utilize appropriate toolkits for this
purpose. Also, strengthen block level capacities to support implementing agencies to deliver
green results. Incentivize Gram Panchayats to achieve and surpass the threshold level on the
MGNREGS green index; this incentive may be drawn from the budgetary provision for
administrative expenses.
• Under NRLM, include as ‘essential’ outcome in MKSP guidelines, a result each on sustainably
harvested produce and sustainable agricultural practices (in addition to current one on soil
health) for all initiatives. Develop protocols for sustainable harvest of non-timber forest produce
and sustainable agriculture and livestock management and facilitate their adoption by SHGs.
Provide back-loaded ‘labour subsidy’ to SHGs for adoption of sustainable practices to compensate
for lower labour productivity.
• PMAY-G requires preparing region-specific Handbooks of Green Building Designs including green
construction materials that cover the life cycle of an IAY house. District level Building Resource
Centres should be supported to promote green technologies and designs; link financial support
to quantity and effectiveness of green services provided. Additional subsidy to families building
housing units that use green initiatives.
(v) Role of Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) & Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan component of the scheme in
mainstreaming of Tribal and Scheduled Caste population

Introduction
Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) account for significant proportions of our population.
As per the Census 2011, SCs account for 18.5 percent of our population (having increased from 17.9
percent in 2001). Likewise, Census STs accounted for 11.3 percent of our population as per the Census
2011 (having increased from 10.4 percent in 2001). However, SCs and STs have been among the most
disadvantaged sections of our society due to their socio-economic exploitation and isolation over a long
period of time. These population groups have been observed to lag behind the rest of the population in
terms of both human development as well as economic indicators.
Analysis of the prevalence of poverty in rural areas shows that poverty rates among SC and ST
populations have fallen between 1983-94 and 2011-12. However, rates of poverty among these vulnerable
populations have remained consistently higher than the poverty estimates among the general population,
as shown in the figure below.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Figure 7: Poverty among SCs, STs and general population in rural areas (in percent)183

70 63.8 61.9
58.1
60 52.2
52.7 47.1
50 45.6 48.1 45.9 45.3
41.8 43.5
37.1 36.2
40 33.8
31.5
27.1
30 25.4

20

10

0
1983-84 1993-94 1999-2000 2004-05 2009-10 2011-12
(Revised
Estimates)

SC ST Total

Source: Government of India

State-wide variations in SC and ST population below the poverty line are presented in the figures below.
Figure 8: State-wise Percentage of SC Population below Poverty Line, 2004-2005

Bihar 64
Jharkhand 57.9
Uttarakhand 54.2
Orissa 50.2
Uttar Pradesh 44.8
Maharashtra 44.8
Madhya Pradesh 42.8
All India 36.8
Chhattisgarh 32.7
Karnataka 31.8
Tamil Nadu 31.2
West Bengal 29.5
Rajasthan 28.7
Assam 27.7
Haryana 26.8
Gujarat 21.8
Kerala 21.6
Himachal Pradesh 19.6
Andhra Pradesh 15.4
Punjab 14.6
Jammu & Kasmir 5.2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

183 Panagariya, A., & More, V. (2014). Poverty by social, religious and economic groups in India and its largest states. Indian Growth and

Development Review.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

Figure 9: Percentage of ST Population below Poverty Line during 2011-12 (Tendulkar Methodology)

Orissa 63.5
Maharashtra 61.6
Bihar 59.3
Madhya Pradesh 55.3
Chhattisgarh 52.6
Jharkhand 51.6
West Bengal 50.1
* All India 45.3
Rajasthan 41.4
Kerala 41
Tamil Nadu 36.8
Gujarat 36.5
Assam 33.4
Karnataka 30.8
Uttar Pradesh 27
Andhra Pradesh 24.1
Jammu & Kasmir 16.3
Uttarakhand 11.9
Himachal Pradesh 9.5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Source: Ministry of Tribal Affairs

Around the 1970s, it was observed that despite dedicated efforts for the uplift of SCs and STs over the
years, they continued to face multiple developmental deficits, which could clearly not be addressed through
the general welfare schemes and programmes that had been in place. The benefits from these general
schemes were reported to not percolate to the SCs and STs, and hardly improved the socio-economic status
of these vulnerable groups. In order to ensure direct policy-driven benefits for SCs and STs through specific
interventions, the Planning Commission during the 1970s introduced plan strategies.
The strategy of Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) was put in force since 1974, to ensure adequate flow of plan resources
for the development of Scheduled Tribes, while the strategy of Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) (earlier
known as the Special Component Plan for Scheduled Castes) has been in force since 1979-80, to ensure
proportionate flow of plan resources for the development of Scheduled Castes.
The allocation under these components is provided for the purpose of creating productive assets, human
resource development of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes through adequate education and
health services, and to provide physical and financial security against all types of exploitation and
oppression.184 In essence, the SCSP and TSP are intended to bridge the gap between the SCs and STs and
the general population with respect to all socio-economic development indicators in a time-bound manner.
As a part of the Budget Circular 2020-21 - SCSP was to be depicted as Scheduled Castes Component (SCC);
TSP was to be depicted as Scheduled Tribe Component (STC.); The lump sum grant under the name
'Scheduled Castes Sub Plan' under Social Justice and Empowerment Demand was renamed as "Scheduled

184 Government of India. (2016). Expenditure Budget Vol. I, 2015-2016.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Castes Sub-Scheme"; and the lump sum grant under the name 'Special Central assistance to Tribal Sub
Plan' under Tribal Affairs was renamed as "Special Central assistance to Tribal Sub-Scheme".
Background
In the context of TSP and SCSP, there are three types of programmes that are operational within the rural
development space:
• First, are the schemes which are self-targeting as they are based on demand, like the MGNREGS, or on
specific eligibility criteria that does not include social group as one of the parameter, like the NSAP,
and hence do not have allocated funds under TSP of SCSP.
• Second, are the schemes that are not beneficiary oriented (such as PMGSY) and therefore do not have
separate allocation from either of the two sources of funds.
• Third, are the schemes that are beneficiary oriented and have specific provisions for coverage of
beneficiaries belonging to the SCs and STs. It is this category of schemes that ensure mainstreaming of
ST and SC population within the rural development sector. Broadly, under these schemes funds can
be utilized by the State Government/UTs Administration for the following activities: income
generation, skill development, infrastructure development and monitoring and evaluation.
• These schemes include PMAY-G (60 percent beneficiaries are mandated to be SC/ST) and DAY-NRLM
(50 percent of women beneficiary are mandated to be SC/ST). These programmes have funds
allocated under the TSP and SCSP. States/UTs are required to formulate and implement these plans
as part of their Annual Plans by earmarking resources.
The progress made with respect to SCSP and TSP under DoRD is detailed in the ensuing paragraphs:
• Trends in SCSP allocations: SCSP allocations rose between FY 2015-16 to FY 2017-18 but have fallen
thereafter. Analysis of DoRD’s allocations for the SCSP reveals the highest allocation of Rs. 8518.7
crore (RE) was made in FY 2017-18. Since then, while the allocations have declined, they still remain
higher than the amounts earmarked in FY 2015-16 and FY 2016-17 as shown in the table below.185
• Trends in TSP allocations: TSP allocations have risen steadily from FY 2015-16 and FY 2019-20. It
is observed that TSP allocations have risen sharply between FY 2015-16 and FY 2016-17. Further, the
TSP allocations in FY 2017-18, 2018-19 and FY 2019-20 are more than double the allocations in FY 2015-
16.186
Table 7: DoRD's allocations under SCSP and TSP187

Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan (SCSP) in [Link]

Year BE RE
2015-16 3865.36 6719.06
2016-17 5431.68 5431.68
2017-18 8501.01 8518.7
2018-19 7637.8 7241.8
2019-20 6525.01 5921.49
Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) in Rs. crores

185 Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Expenditure Budgets. Retrieved from [Link]. Accessed on 23 May

2020.
186 Same as Footnote 202.
187 Same as Footnote 202.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan (SCSP) in [Link]

Year BE RE
2015-16 2714.37 2786.18
2016-17 4269.49 4269.49
2017-18 5931.69 5937.83
2018-19 5741.93 5443.79
2019-20 5984.12 5882.27

• Provisions under DAY-NRLM: DoRD has been ear-marking funds under SCSP and TSP under DAY-
NRLM from FY 2011-12 onwards. Under the scheme, the State Missions have been advised to prioritize
Integrated Action Plans (IAP) Districts (which also have a high ST population) for DAY-NRLM intensive
activities. The Social Management Framework (SMF) for DAY-NRLM has been prepared and disclosed.
Every State has been directed to prepare a social inclusion plan to guide their efforts to mobilise
vulnerable groups including the SCs and STs into SHGs and promote their financial and economic
inclusion to ensure better livelihoods.188
Under DDU-GKY, the guidelines mandate ear-marking of 50 percent fund allocation for SC and ST
populations at the national levels. In the FY 2019-20, a total of 42, 590 SC candidates and 28, 354 ST
candidates have been trained under DDU-GKY projects.
• Provisions under PMAY-G: Under PMAY-G, 60 percent of the target allocated to each State/UT is
earmarked for SC/STs subject to availability of eligible PMAY-G beneficiaries in the PWL. Within the
earmarked funds, the proportion of SC/ST is to be decided from time to time by the respective
States/UTs. As of November 2020, out of the total 1,73, 96,310 houses sanctioned, 37,79,090 houses
(22 percent) were sanctioned for SCs and 40,24, 294 houses (23 percent) were sanctioned for STs189.
There are particular aspects of implementation of schemes under DoRD regarding SC and ST groups.
Officials across the country have largely mentioned some of the ways in which they prioritise these
groups in awareness generation efforts and identification of beneficiaries:
“We target them because they are the weaker section and the vulnerable groups, and they are not that aware. So
our main objective is that the administration goes to these people directly and make them aware and give them the
benefits, so we are doing a good job in this field also” – District Magistrate, Jharkhand
“The schemes in which we include do not have individual benefits. Ours are all community assets. So in harijan
groups, SC and ST colonies, in OBC colonies all of us are working”- District Magistrate, Andhra Pradesh

“There was a push towards building infrastructure for the marginalised sections of the society. We have something
called SC/ST Habitation Development Scheme. And even within MGNREGS, we give a push towards predominantly
SC habitations where infrastructure is improved. SCC roads used to be laid or a paver block road used to be laid. We
give preference to the backward areas" - DRDA, Tamil Nadu

Takeaways
• Trends in budget allocation reveal a growing prioritization of SC and ST populations: Budgetary
allocations for TSP have shown a steady upward trend from FY 2015-16 to FY 2019-20. Likewise, SCSP
allocations have also shown an increasing trend till FY 2017-18 which recorded the highest allocation.
In the years after that, while the allocations have fallen, the amounts are still at a higher level than

188 Same as Footnote 161.

189 PMAY-G Dashboard, [Link]

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

between FY 2015-16 and FY 2016-17190. Further, there have not been very substantial reductions from
the RE to BE stage. This implies a growing and focused prioritization of the interests of SC and ST
populations. The growing proportion of ear-marked funds at the sectoral level reveals a continued
recognition of the specific vulnerabilities of SC and ST populations, and a concerted policy focus to
address the same.
• Funds under DoRD’s SCSP and TSP have recorded fairly high rates of utilization: While the
utilization of SCSP funds under DoRD stood at 54 percent in FY 2015-16, utilization in subsequent
financial years was near complete. In fact, utilization in FY 2016-17 stood at 104 percent, as shown in
the figure below. Likewise, utilization of DoRD’s TSP funds stood at 100, 100, 101, 99 percent in FY
2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively.191
Figure 10: Utilisation of DoRD's SCSP funds192

120%
104%
99% 98%
100%

80%

60% 54%

40%

20%

0%
2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19

• The sectoral interventions targeting SC and ST communities ensure specific design features to
ensure their inclusion: Under DAY-NRLM, the SMF focusses on social inclusion, social accountability
and social safeguards particularly focusing on marginal and vulnerable groups including the SCs, STs
and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal groups (PVTGs).193 Further, as per the social inclusion protocol, the
State Missions need to initiate social mobilization work within a hamlet dominated by SC/ST and other
vulnerable households on priority. Further, the State Missions need to prioritize positioning SC and
ST in the SHG, VO and CLF leadership roles. This strategy has successfully provided an edge to these
communities in acquiring leadership roles in the functioning of community institutions.194
• However, implementation of sectoral interventions that target SC/ST populations show mixed
results: The DDU-GKY guidelines prescribe that 50 percent of the fund allocation for SC and ST
populations at the national levels. In line with this, as of December 2019, 48 percent of candidates
trained under DDU-GKY belonged to SC and ST communities (29 percent were SCs and 19 percent were
STs).

190 Same as Footnote 202.

191 Same as Footnote 202.
192 Same as Footnote 202.
193 Same as Footnote 161.
194 Same as Footnote 161.

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Analysis of the PMAY-G houses revealed that as of December 2019, 24 percent houses were assigned
to SC households while 25 percent were assigned to ST households. Thus, approximately 49 percent
houses were assigned to SC and ST households, which falls below the mandate of 60 percent allocation
to SC and ST households. This reveals significant gaps in the effectiveness of the scheme’s policy to
ensure inclusion for these vulnerable groups.
• Pathways for community level decision-making and monitoring of SCSP and TSP outcomes
should be explored: The DoRD Annual Reports provide information on the ways in SCSP and TSP
funds are being allocated and used. However, apart from this- the fund utilization and socio-economic
category specific outcomes are not reported at more frequent intervals. Further, the role of
communities- in particular SC and ST households – in making decisions in fund usage and monitoring
its ground level utilization remains unexplored.
Way Forward
• The sector should continue its trend of budget allocations under the SCSP and TSP: The year-on-
year increase in SCSP and TSP allocations are promising. It is suggested that allocations under SCSP and
TSP at a sectoral level continue to be in line with past trends, with expansions in budget allocation and
high utilization rates. Further, the sector should look to constantly review the status of SCs and STs in
rural areas, and revise allocations, accordingly, thereby ensuring that the financial support are indexed
to present levels of vulnerabilities. Further, the sector can also look to promote innovative projects that
draw upon institutional finance to supplement plan allocations may be drawn up.
• Concerted efforts are required to ensure greater coverage of SC and ST populations: The
coverage of SC and ST households remains lower than the mandated proportions under skill training in
DAY-NRLM and house allotment in DDU-GKY. Concerted efforts at various levels of scheme
implementation are required to ensure that there is adequate representation of SC and ST households
in the RD schemes.
At one level, pathways for the flow of scheme information – benefits and entitlements – to vulnerable
households should be strengthened. Ground-level awareness campaigns targeting SC and ST groups
should be prioritized to encourage greater participation in RD schemes. At another level, it is
necessary to facilitate an enabling eco-system for SC and ST households, to empower them to benefit
from RD schemes. To this end, the sensitization of ground-level implementers to the specific
vulnerabilities of SC and ST households is needed.
• Community-led monitoring of fund utilization and implementation should be explored: It is
important to ensure that community voice is reflected in the use of SCSP and TSP funds in the rural
development sector. Expanding the mandate of social audits to include the tracking the utilization of
TSP and SCSP funds can be considered. Further, the planning process for these funds would benefit
from the involvement of the community in tribal dominant blocks. It is recommended that inputs/
suggestions of the local ST/SC community should be sought before finalising the plan for
implementation of any programme under these funds.
(vi) Use of IT/Technology in driving efficiency

Introduction
Technology has played a key role in the development of rural areas. Technology's major function in rural
development has been three-fold, firstly, to provide individuals with information of any kind; secondly, to
provide online services such as DBT; and thirdly to support more sustainable infrastructure development.

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Combining Information Technology in Rural Development can not only speed up the development
process, but it can also fill the gaps between the educationally and technologically backward and forward
sections of the society. In the context of India’s experience of ‘rurbanisation’, technology holds the potential
to bridge the developmental differences between rural and urban spaces. Further, rural economies are ripe
for innovations that can deliver better results for both people and the environment. Science and technology
are the tools to fuel such innovations and accelerate transformational change in rural areas.
The use of IT is closely linked to enhancing efficiency in sectoral interventions in the RD sector. Such
efficiency is derived by economizing on resource use in programme operations as well as in market
transactions. Further, IT provides pathways for the speedy delivery of information across the country.
Information that would otherwise be conveyed through face-to-face contact, post, courier, print delivery,
telegraph or telephone may instead be communicated in digital electronic form via the Internet, thus
aiding smooth decision making and streamlined scheme implementation.
Background
Since Independence, India has been witnessing a revolution in technology and over the years, technology
has played an integral role in the developmental process. Governments have incorporated technology
beginning with the use of the radio through Radio for Rural Development, popularly known as “Radio Farm
Forum”. The experiment was carried out from February to April 1956 in five districts of Maharashtra by
All India Radio (AIR). Rural listener groups were organized, who would listen to radio broadcasts twice a
week for half an hour. The group then stayed together for discussion of what they had heard. Impressive
knowledge gains as a result of radio listening were reported across illiterates and literates, agriculturists
and non-agriculturists, village leaders and others195.
Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was another techno-social communication experiment
in education and rural development. The one-year experiment (August 1975 - July 1976) aimed to provide
direct broadcasting of instructional and educational television in 2400 villages in the states of Andhra
Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan. Rural adults viewed television
programmes on improved agricultural practices, health and family planning.
The afore-mentioned interventions focussed on generating awareness and augmenting knowledge gains
through the use of technology. However, in recent decades, technology has been used intensively for
governance, citizen-government interface, data management and monitoring. Computerization of land
records have been a great success in the application of ICT in rural development. Land records are
of great importance to contemporary socio-economic imperatives and their revision and updation are
necessary for capturing the changes in rural social dynamics. Keeping this in mind, the Government of India
initiated the Centrally Sponsored Scheme: Computerization of Land Records (CoLR) in 1988-89 with
main objective of creating a land management information system. Further, in January 2004, the
Department of Information Technology (DoIT) was established to give an impetus to the expansion of
technology for the purpose of the nation’s growth.
DoRD is making continued efforts to provide equitable growth opportunities to rural communities by the
ways of empowerment and upgrading the information infrastructure in rural and remote areas. Over the
last decade, DoRD has made significant strides in honing its ICT infrastructure, encompassing robust
technology-driven interventions and modern methods in information transfer and decision making.

195UKEssays. (November 2018). Examining The Changing Media Scene In India Media Essay. Retrieved from
[Link]

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The ensuing paragraphs detail the various stages of ICT development undertaken by DoRD:
• Introduction of ICT: With the advent of government websites in the late 1990s the term e-
governance came into existence. These websites provided both organizations and citizens with more
convenient access to the government’s various services and information. Today various initiatives have
been taken by DoRD in India to strengthen the ICT infrastructure and readily provide information as
well as easy access of various rural development schemes to all the citizens in rural India.
- Mobile phone service: The advent of mobile phones has brought about a tremendous change
in agriculture sector resulting into dramatic improvement in the efficiency and profitability of
the agriculture industry. The spread of mobile phone service allow farmer to land their
product timely and directly to the market where wholesalers are ready to purchase them
without the presence of middlemen.
- Radio and television: While India has a long history of using radio communication to spread
awareness on key developmental issues, the television has been another input in
communication technology. Radio and television have been used to disseminate information
on various innovations in agricultural technology, across farmers, entrepreneurs, extension
workers and other stake holders.
- Internet: The Internet is also an emerging tool with the potential to contribute in agriculture
sector and in rural development. The Internet enables rural communities stay up to date and
to receive information about the market and other necessary information in the industry. The
Internet also facilitates dialogue among communities and help to share information between
government planners, development agencies, researchers, and technical experts.
• Development of web applications: Web applications and portals have come to be developed for
various schemes and Departments of the Ministry. The primary motive guiding this stage has been
the need to capture information and monitor progress. Presently, MIS portals have been developed
for each of the schemes in the RD sector. The dashboards of these portals provide real-time
information, geo-tagged photographs and details on assets, created in the public domain.
Box 7: Scheme specific web applications developed under DoRD

Scheme specific web applications developed under DoRD196

• NREGAsoft is a local language enabled work flow based e-Governance system to capture all the activities
under MGNREGS at Center/State/District/Block and Panchayat level. It is a transaction based system
integrated with the PFMS, with unique identification of family, workers and work. Further, NREGASoft
provides geo-tagged shelf of the works/projects with cost estimation through SECURE software.
• Awaassoft is a web based application for Central and State housing schemes such as PMAYG and IAY.
Awaassoft ensures SECC based creation and verification of PWL. The thrust of Awaassoft is on evidence
based monitoring and construction linked DBT payments. The web application has provisions for recording
geo-tagged houses with photos and details on the unique identification of beneficiary and house.
• The NSAP application is meant for pension disbursement and beneficiary management for Widow, Old Age
and Disability pension. The NSAP application has enabled Aadhar based payments and facilitates claim
settlement under NFBS. The web application essentially provides a platform for disbursement for
Centre/State pension schemes.

196 Information provided by IT Division, DoRD.

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• The DAY-NRLM application is a web based application for managing activities related to Self Help Groups
in rural areas. The NRLM e-Gov application is an end to end workflow from SHG registration to tracking
fund disbursements to Community based organisations.
• Under PMGSY, an Online Management, Monitoring and Accounting System (OMMAS) has been
developed to identify targets and monitor progress of PMGSY Rural Roads. It has one of the biggest
databases in India. The system manages and monitors all the phases of road development right from its
proposal mode to road completion.

• The service delivery platform for RURBAN (RurbanSoft) is created to monitor the progress for various
action plans. The application allows one to capture and track approval of Integrated Cluster Action Plan
(ICAP), digitize and upload Detailed Project Report (DPR), digitize payments and fund management under
the scheme, ensure progress reporting for works and geo tagging of works /sub works.

These MIS portals create databases of basic records, facilitate the issue of copies, reduce workload by
eliminating the drudgery of paperwork and minimize possibilities of data manipulation. Further, the local
language enabled workflow based e-governance systems capture all activities at Centre/ State / District /
Block and Panchayat level.
• Development of mobile applications: Various citizen centric mobile apps such as Gram Samvaad,
Meri Sadak, Awaas App, GeoMGNREGA and JANMANREGA (an asset tracking and feedback
application for MGNREGS assets) have been developed, with the aim to provide citizens with direct
access to information, thereby enhancing accountability. Rural ICT applications attempt to offer
the services of government agencies (like District administration, cooperative union, and
State and Central Departments) to the citizens at their village door steps. These applications
utilize the ICT in offering improved and affordable connectivity and processing solutions.
DoRD’s experience of implementing the Gram Samvaad application proves to be a best practice and
provides vital lessons in leveraging technology in citizen engagement.
Box 8: Case Study on Gram Samvaad App

“The real essence of democracy is Jan Bhagidari197”

Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi
Development journey of a village must proceed with public participation, and hence it is important to have
dialogue between the government and people. Like the guidelines on policy formulation move from top to
bottom, correct information on policy implementation and leakages therein should move from bottom to top. If
the channel of communication is right in place then plans, policies and budget allocation can be targeted at right
place. In line with these thoughts, the Government of India is undertaking the enormous task of making public
aware and interacting with them to understand their needs. One popular route of for achieving this task is
through use of mobile application technology.
“Gram Samvaad” is a citizen-centric mobile application developed by DoRD to provide a single-window access to
Gram Panchayat-wise information on objectives of the scheme, key features, resources available, physical
progress, beneficiary lists and other citizen-relevant information under all rural development schemes and the
grants under 14th Finance Commission. The claims of local governments can be verified during ‘Gram Sabhas’
through this publicly available information. This way, the dissemination of information through this application
serves as a tool for empowerment of rural masses by introducing greater transparency and accountability at all
levels of Government.

197 Translated in English language as People’s participation.

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User Interface of GramSamvad App

The programmes for which data is currently available include MGNREGS, PMAY-G, DAY-NRLM, PMGSY, NSAP,
DDUGKY, SPMRM and 14th Finance Commission. This data provides crucial inputs for the ‘Situation Analysis’
phase of preparation of GPDP, and thus helps in a more informed decision making at Gram Panchayat level. The
tentative ‘resource envelope’ for a GP can also be determined basis the information available in ‘Gram Samvaad’.
Besides being citizen-centric, the application is also helpful to see progress under the schemes, as it gives them
a quick view as and when needed, thus enabling quick and effective monitoring.
The application is currently available in English, Hindi and Telugu. Other regional languages are also being
included in a phased manner. The application makes use of a mobile phone’s GPS to fetch the current coordinates
and automatically provide information of that location. To overcome the challenge of poor internet connectivity
in villages, it also works in offline mode. With over 5,00,000 plus installations on Google play store the application
is gaining popularity amongst people living in rural India198.

Likewise, scheme specific applications have also been developed. For instance, the Kaushal Panjee (under
DDU-GKY) is a bilingual application to facilitate self-registration for DDUGKY/RSETI training. Similarly,
Janmanrega (under MGNREGS) and Meri Sadak (under PMGSY) are multi-lingual applications which
ensure citizen feedback and viewing of infrastructure developed.
Figure 11: Scheme specific citizen centric apps

Source: IT Division, DoRD

In particular, the Meri Sadak application provides key insights on technology driven interventions to
garner citizen feedback and monitoring of rural infrastructure.

198 Retrieved from [Link] Accessed on 26/5/2020.

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Box 9: Case Study on Meri Sadak App

Infrastructure facilities in rural areas has been one of the push factors for migrating from rural areas. DoRD has
undertaken consolidated steps through its schemes to ensure availability of infrastructure facilities within
villages. Providing roads to habitation living in rural areas is one such initiative and is fulfilled through PMGSY.
Understanding that initiating a scheme without feedback system creates loopholes in implementation, Meri
Sadak App was launched by DoRD. Introduction of this citizen feedback mobile based application has paved the
way for promoting self-sustainable rural roads asset management and better contract management and the five
year defect liability period.
Ensuring effective contract management of rural assets by involving and empowering community is the most
significant lesson from PMGSY experience. Citizen engagement in monitoring of these roads has led to a more
systematic maintenance of roads as well as quality assurance during construction and maintenance of these
roads. The five-year Defect Liability Period (DLP) under the contract makes the contractor responsible for
maintaining the constructed road in a serviceable condition for 5 years post construction.
The application has following innovative features :

REPORTING CHANNEL: Take pictures, tag its GPS location and post details of PMGSY projects about
which citizen is aggrieved.

TRACK STATUS: Post submission, one can track the progress of complaint through the redressal
mechanism.

INTERIM RESPONSE: State Quality Coordinators (SQCs) provide interim feedback pending
resolution.

Within a year of its launch the application received more than 1 lakh downloads from Google play store and has
had more than 5, 00,000 downloads in 3 years199.

Other service enhancement apps are presented in the figure below:

Figure 12: Service enhancement apps under DoRD

Source: IT Division, DoRD

199 World Bank. (2019). Citizen Monitoring of Rural Roads under PMGSY.

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Going forward, learnings should also be incorporated from other programmes such as Deen Dayal
Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana.
Box 10: Case Study on Garv App

The Garv App is a complete project monitoring mechanism for Government of India’s flagship
program “Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana”. It is unique example of e-Governance as it enables
participation of general public in monitoring a government program and makes the administration
transparent and accountable to accomplish the target in given timeframe. With such a focused approach,
the UE mission has achieved electrification of 7,108 villages during year 2015-16 against the set
target electrification of 5,686 villages. The transparency provided by the application has increased
public participation through social media which in turn has increased accountability. One example is of
village Khajuan of Bihar. A resident of village, Sh. Sachidanand took up a task to expedite electrification
in his village and facilitated resolution of issue of Right of Way being faced by the executing agency.
Source: National Conference on e-governance, e-Governance Division, Department of Administrative Reforms and
Public Grievances (DARPG). (n.d.). GARV application- initiative under UE Mission- A Project Monitoring mechanism
to monitor milestone based progress. [Link]

• Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT): To transfer benefits to targeted beneficiaries, Aadhaar based DBT
has been adopted as a sectoral policy. The JAM trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) has been used to
transfer cash directly to the Aadhaar linked bank accounts of beneficiaries under NSAP, PMAY-G,
MGNREGS and DAY-NRLM. Further, the process has been streamlined by linking the data and transfer
of the sector to the DBT Bharat Portal. Notably, the figure below shows the DBT progress under NSAP
(through Central and State disbursement). As is evident, the majority of States and UTs in India are
employing DBT for NSAP disbursement.
Figure 13: DBT disbursement status under NSAP- State wise

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Source: IT Division, DoRD

By utilizing technology, transfers are efficiently made thereby reducing the time and costs incurred in
physical distribution. This was also corroborated by scheme implementers.

With the help of technology, the beneficiary’s money is going directly to their account; also there is less number of
cases of middleman. The beneficiary gets their money directly and they invest in housing accordingly. So AwaasSoft
is best in technology (District Level KII, Jharkhand)

Further the real-time updation of data helps to improve the pace of interventions, while ensuring
transparency in sectoral interventions. J-PAL evidence on rural development from the finance and
governance sectors showed relevant impacts of the use of technology in government payments.
Box 11: Case Study on Using Technology to Improve Government Payments

Using Technology to Improve Government Payments

Biometrically authenticated payment systems can reduce corruption and substantially improve the delivery
government payments. However, it is important to have visibility over beneficiary experience and design reforms
keeping in mind last mile delivery challenges.
● In a randomized evaluation of a biometric payments system in Andhra Pradesh, the technology reform
of linking payments to biometric smartcards increased the payments that beneficiaries received without
decreasing programme expenditure, showing a reduction in leakage.
● An organizational reform where payment logistics were contracted to private banks and customer
service providers (CSP) in each village reduced delays and unpredictability in payments. The presence
of CSPs ensured ease of access to payments.
● Further, the Government of Andhra Pradesh did not make the biometric technology mandatory, so that
beneficiaries who could not enroll could still receive payments. Gradual implementation and incentives
for implementers can align key stakeholder interests and mitigate the challenges of payment system
reforms.
Providing monitoring information in an accessible and actionable format to government officials can reduce
payment delays and improve implementation of social programmes.
● In a study in the context of MGNREGS, government officials were trained to use PayDash, a mobile-based
monitoring platform, which generated real time information on payment delays linked to employees
responsible for each administrative step. The study found that providing easily accessible monitoring
data to officials who are in a position to act on it significantly reduced wage payment delays in areas
with worse baseline performance.
● In a study in the context of the Rythu Bandhu Scheme in Telangana, officials responsible for distribution
of checks were informed of a phone-based monitoring system which surveyed beneficiaries via phone
and generated report cards on the officials’ performance. The knowledge of a monitoring system
improved check encashment rates and on-time delivery of checks.
Sources:
Muralidharan, K, Niehaus, P., Sukhtankar, S. (2019). General Equilibrium Effects of (Improving) Public
Employment Programs: Experimental Evidence from India. Working Paper.
Muralidharan, K, Niehaus, P., Sukhtankar, S. (2019). Building State Capacity: Evidence from Biometric Smartcards
in India. American Economic Review 106(10): 2895–2929.
Dodge, E., Neggers, Y., Pande, R., Moore, C. (2018). Having it at Hand: How Small Search Frictions Impact
Bureaucratic Efficiency. Working Paper.

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Muralidharan, K, Niehaus, P., Sukhtankar, S., Weaver, J. (2019). Improving Last-Mile Service Delivery using
Phone-Based Monitoring” Working Paper.

• Use of technology in asset creation: DoRD also encourages the use of innovative technology for the
construction of rural infrastructure such as roads and houses. The use of locally available materials
and green technology is reinforced to ensure the sustainability of roads, and avoid time and resource
costs incurred in future re-construction. Under PMGSY, the guidelines issued by the DoRD mandate
the State Governments to propose minimum 15 percent of total length of annual proposals under new
technologies such as Cement stabilization, Lime stabilization, Cold mix, Waste plastics, Cell filled
concrete, Panelled cement concrete pavement, Fly ash etc. Further, under PMAY-G, DoRD
specifications have also been relaxed in respect of grading of materials for granular sub-base layer
in order to encourage the usage of locally available/naturally occurring material/marginal materials.
• Use of technology in asset monitoring and maintenance: Once created, the monitoring and
maintenance of assets is equally important. Tracking their progress is a massive task, given the high
number of development projects underway in the country and the number of people involved in
building them. To make this process simpler and to remotely track the progress, DoRD has
undertaken initiatives leveraging technology and cutting-edge innovation.
Under MGNREGS, DoRD has geo-tagged 15 million assets on NREGASoft MIS so far. NREGAsoft is a
custom-made application that, besides allowing the government to tag and track progress, provides
information to citizens in compliance with the Right to Information (RTI) Act and makes available
various documents—like muster rolls, registration applications and job cards, among others—which
are unavailable to the public otherwise.

All the funding patterns are based on digital method only like Aadhaar and Pan Card under “Geo-tagging.” Now
everything is done online only. All the schemes and programs of the villages like the MIS which are put on the portal
and it is monitored from there only. Now we are into the generation of digitalization and this system of internet and
projector has influenced it a lot (Cluster Level KII, Uttarakhand)

Further, GeoMGNREGA uses space technology to develop a data base of assets created using technological
interventions like mobile based photo geo-tagging and a GIS based information system for online recording
and monitoring. As on 10th June 2019, it has been implemented in 31 States and UTs. A total of 3.58 crore
projects out of 4.44 crore completed projects are already geo-tagged.200
Geo-tagging has also been performed of the houses constructed under PMAY-G, thereby avoiding
duplication in addresses and fuelling output-based streamlined fund transfers, as has been confirmed by
scheme implementers.

With the help of geo-tagging we can make sure that the house is made at the perfect location or not (District Level
KII, Uttarakhand)

The tagging does not only document the delivery of entitlements but also captures the progress of
construction work of the house with photos at regular stages of construction. However, all PMAY-G works
are exempt from geo-tagging under GeoMGNREGA Phase-I and Phase-II, since the geotag along with
pictures in 5 Stages of the asset created is already being captured under PMAY-G scheme.

200 Same as Footnote 23.

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• Management of PRIs: In the rural development sector, PRIs play a significant role in ground-level
implementation. In order to ensure that the functioning of PRIs functions smoothly, the management
of PRIs is devised through various e-governance applications which covers aspects like accounts,
finances, procurement of raw materials, maintaining of land records, agriculture marketing, etc.
• Integration: A key aspect of DoRD’s IT/technology driven interventions has been integration of
different web/mobile applications to facilitate data exchange and benefit from other systems
developed such as PFMS, LGD directory. For example, under PMAY-G, the databases of different
Departments/Ministries/schemes converging to provide amenities to the beneficiaries are
integrated with the Awaassoft portal, as shown in the figure below.
Figure 14: Integration of portals under DoRD

Source: IT Division, DoRD

• Going forward: Interactions with the IT Division revealed that going forward the focus is going to
be on leveraging data analytics, artificial intelligence, citizen centric graphical user interface (GUI)
and state of art technologies.
The role of governmental organisations has been crucial for leveraging technology in the RD sector. Many
organizations of the government like Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Council for
Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), National Institute of Rural Development
(NIRD), Department of Science and Technology (DST), National Research Development Corporation (NRDC),
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
support the generation and promotion of appropriate technologies under various schemes. In addition,
engineering based educational institutions, state government organizations, non-government
organizations, voluntary agencies and private establishments augment these efforts.
In the context of rural development, CAPART is particularly important. CAPART is an autonomous body
set up by DoRD to interface between the government and NGOs that seek to improve the quality of life in
India’s rural areas. CAPART’s mission is to extend the reach of the government programs to remote areas
and their marginalized people through these NGOs, by leveraging technology and digitisation wherever
possible.
Takeaways

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• DoRD has made excellent strides in utilising IT/technology in implementing programmes:

DoRD has developed a robust and well-integrated ICT and technology based eco-system, catering to
beneficiary needs and grievances, as well as administrative considerations. The sector has made
positive strides in the direction of utilising technology to improve operational efficiency. The DoRD
ICT eco-system is summarised below:
Figure 15: DoRD’s ICT eco-system

Source: IT Division, DoRD

• The internet user base in rural areas can be leveraged further: There has been a continuous
increase in the internet user base in rural areas, which can be utilised further201. As citizens of rural
areas become educated and get to know the convenience which they can derive from access to
internet, they will definitely be able to explore more and also stay well connected in line with
growing trends. In line with this, DoRD should look to digitise processes even further to usher in
greater efficiency in scheme operations. The sector should look to ensure deeper penetration of
technological innovations so that the benefits of digital initiatives percolate to grassroots levels.
• Barriers to the adoption of ICT platforms continue to remain: While implementing ICT
programmes, the first barrier is language. The information available on internet is in English as it is
a world-wide accepted International language which may not be understood by all users in the rural
context. This highlights the need to localise and customise content on ICT platforms. Further, lack of
infrastructure and low levels of skills among the population remain the key bottlenecks to widespread
ICT adoption, especially in Fifth and Sixth Schedule areas. This underscores the need for proper
training and implementation of ICT programmes in a simple way and in a language which is easily
understandable by the rural people.
Further, internet connectivity and bandwidth issues remain challenges in many parts of rural India-
particularly in parts wherein electricity availability is erratic. Major power cuts and 'brown outs'
affecting the countryside ranging from 5 to 12 hours every day. In addition, there are problems
in establishing networks as well. Most importantly, the large-scale investment required in setting up
internet networks in remote rural areas has a discouraging effect on investors.

201 Nielsen. (2019) Digital in India – Round 2 Report. Internet and Mobile Association of India.

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• There is a need to expand financial support to the rural ICT interventions: It is important to
note that the proportion of the economy involved in some or other form of adaptation or usage of
ICT is still very small. The proportion of people involved in the ICT industry, especially in the rural
areas is negligible.202 In order for the benefits of ICT to trickle down as well as contribute to the rural
prosperity, the setting up of several rural and village level micro enterprises is key. Unfortunately, most
professionals want to work in the urban areas where there are ample opportunities available
to them for growth as well as prosperity. Drastic steps need to be taken to inject funds for the
development of the ICTs in the rural areas; increasingly by the participation of the private sector.
Further, serious bandwidth connectivity issues need to be addressed through financial support. Even
though technology is available to upgrade the bandwidth, not enough resources have been budgeted
by the Government to change this scenario. Financing difficulties are encountered by the local
grassroots level institutions as well as by the State Governments.
• ICT projects in the agrarian context are yet to show substantial results203: In India, over the last
few decades, hundreds of grassroots ICT projects have been implemented. Invariably, agriculture
becomes one of the indispensable parts of the project service menu. However, substantial results such
as significant increase of agricultural production because of deployment of ICTs are yet to be
observed. ICT projects are yet to make any breakthrough in agricultural information dissemination.
Even though, ICT projects are promising to make difference and also accelerating information access
by some farmers, institutionalizing of ICTs need to be given more emphasis.
Way forward
• A unified portal for all RD schemes should be developed: While schematic convergence is a key
focus area for the rural development sector, such convergence should also be applied to digital spaces
which in turn will feed into synergistic scheme operations. There is a need for all the scheme
implementation teams to be seamlessly integrated to improve inter-operability of these departments
and result in real time service delivery from online or mobile platforms.
• Focus on human resource development for ICT should be strengthened: Given that lack of skills
and awareness impedes adoption of ICT platforms, DoRD should provide a strong impetus to capacity
building and training, for both beneficiaries and implementing officials- and with a specific focus at
the grassroots level. Creating awareness on ICT potentials, as well as skill and capacity development
among rural stakeholders will facilitate better usage of ICTs.
• Making ICT content local and customised should be a priority: Research, educational institutions
and extension systems should continuously strive for appropriate content localisation and
customisation as per the demand of all rural stakeholders, so as to democratise content and encourage
greater user engagement.
• Innovative approaches to e-governance should be adopted: A SMART approach to e-governance
should be undertaken such that it is Specific (stating the exact specifications of the achievements
targeted), Measurable (ensuring and demonstrating to what extent the goal has been met), Achievable
(ensuring outcomes, which are within the range of current technology, resources and people’s
capacity), Relevant (starting with most pressing needs and moving to secondary goals) and Time-
bound (including deadlines, frequencies etc.)

202 UNCTAD. (2019). Digital Economy Report.

203 Mohan Kumar C.K. (2014). ICT for Rural Development.

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• Agrarian ICTs should be institutionalised: ICTs for agricultural extension projects need to be
compared and evaluated objectively. Low cost ICT tools such as mobile phones have a lot of promise
for agricultural extension. At the same time, experiences indicate that ICT interventions are going
to play greater role in private sector agribusiness, market information and market intelligence.
Further, interventions centred on the dissemination of farm information (e.g. informing government
schemes) and online monitoring of the progress of the governmental schemes have proven to be
successful. Farmers now need information about trends and technology needed in farming so
as to produce more and participate effectively in setting price of their product. To make all this
possible, institutionalisation of agrarian ICT initiatives should be prioritised, by formulating National
and State level e-Agriculture policies, as well as through human resource development.
(vii) Development, dissemination & adoption of innovative practices, technology & know-how

Introduction
With the global emergence of disruptive technologies typified as a ‘fourth industrial revolution’, more than
ever before, successful rural transformation requires the use of innovative solutions directed to broadening
the rural production base. Such innovative solutions would ensure the shift from traditional activities into
more productive sectors and enable members of rural communities to enhance their livelihoods and
wellbeing. The recognition that innovation is not just about high-technology products and the knowledge
frontier is important. It is therefore necessary to shift emphasis to building innovation capabilities and
fostering local innovations to address challenges specific to local contexts.
Growing inequality and the exclusion of people from innovation processes have led to a broad scientific
discussion of the problems of inclusion, inclusive innovation, and inclusive growth204. India’s rural sector
calls for following elements in innovations, which would not be enough if implemented individually:
1. Economic growth and inclusive structural transformation, through which investments generate
employment in sectors and territories where the poor may also benefit.
2. Increase of productivity in poor rural households - increasing access to natural resources (land,
water, forests) as well as inputs and other assets - to improve their capacity to manage risks and
increase their productivity, linking small-scale agricultural markets to agri-food systems.
3. Expansion of social protection systems in rural areas and stronger coordination with other rural
development and natural resources sustainable management programmes.
4. Creation and improvement of rural infrastructure, especially in energy, transportation, water and
sanitation.
5. Facilitation of decent employment creation in the agriculture and non-agricultural rural economy,
both in terms of self-employment and wage employment.
6. Generation of human capital through access to social services (health and education).
7. Strengthening of rural institutions and local governments to encourage their participation in policy
dialogue and decision making, which requires promoting professional qualifications.
8. Empowerment of the rural poor by boosting their organizational capacity to promote political
participation so they can benefit from the processes of development and economic growth.

204 Ustyuzhantseva. O (2017). Studies of inclusive innovation in sociotechnical systems: Case studies in Russia and India,

Innovation and Development, 7:1, 83-100, DOI: 0.1080/2157930X.2017.1281359

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Development, dissemination and adoption of innovative practices, technology and know-how need to
take cognizance of the above aspects. The starting point for reflecting on how to induce innovations for
sustainable rural development is to understand the varying conceptions of the term innovation, as well as
how they might be produced. Innovations are changes made to current patterns which generate
improvements – such as increases in productivity and competitiveness; socially-minded notions such as
the increase of income, sustainability and equity (FAO, 2016; European Union, 2014) are sometimes added
to this definition. In this definition, the substance of an innovation is identified by its results rather than
by the process that has produced it.

Background
Role of PRIs in driving local innovation
India, with about 2,50,000 Rural Local Bodies (Panchayats) which hold enormous opportunities in
localizing the SDGs and meeting the goals. Panchayats are expected to play an effective role in the
planning and implementation of functions related to 29 subjects enlisted in the Eleventh Schedule of the
Constitution. Many SDG targets are within the purview of these subjects. The report of the Committee on
Performance Based Payments for Better Outcomes in Rural Development Programs (2017) by DoRD has
identified the central role of the Panchayat, human resources and its capacity building to develop the
norms and contours of development, dissemination and adoption of innovative practices. The drivers of
innovations have been expansion and performance, driven by effective field implementation for adequate
staffing levels, programme training, and skills availability at local level. Given the policy importance, the
government has invested in innovation, adaptation and reflexivity in programme development since it was
initiated and supported measures to promote impact, planning and administration.
Ushering in a digital age
In 2015, the government launched the Digital India programme, which aims to close this gap by fostering
investment in digital infrastructure, improving digital literacy, and increasingly providing online services
to citizens. India’s performance in terms of providing online services and allowing e-participation has so
far been in line with that of the peer countries, but far from the global best (57th and 40th, respectively).
However, almost all States have now been covered under Bharat Net, which provides broad band
connectivity to the GPs205.
Flexibility in sectoral interventions
Flexibility in various schemes such as MGNREGS and PMAY-G on individual beneficiary investments has
resulted in enhanced incomes of the beneficiaries and also improvement in the quality of assets. The share
of such Individual Beneficiary Schemes has increased from 21.4 percent in 2014-15 to 66.1 percent in
2018-19. Under MGNREGS, several innovative practices such as tweaking the wage and material ratio
(that leads to non-productive assets being created simply because 60 percent has to be spent on unskilled
wage in a GP) has been carried out. The wage and material ratio of 60:40 has been allowed at the District
level rather at GP level.
Similarly, development of Annual Master Circular viz.; a master circular issued in 2016, with consolidated
1039 advisories issued since the inception of the programme; is amended and issued every year
subsequently. This has helped to streamline the implementation of the programme and bring in clarity.
Research and Development

205 BharatNet Status as on 25th September 2020, [Link]

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There are a number of organizations in India, both private and public, that perform R&D for the rural
sector. This includes IITs. A range of applications are being developed in various sectors that include
energy (for lighting, cooking, transportation, and agriculture), water (for domestic consumption and
cultivation), agriculture (better seeds, practices, and equipment), manufacturing (small scale, agro-based,
etc.), sanitation, health, transportation, communication, environmental conservation, and rural
employment.
Potential for innovation within the non-farm economy
Considering the size and potential of the non-farm economy in the rural sector there exists a huge
capability to generate knowledge on innovative practices. Pressures from scarcity of resources and limited
or no access to financial institutions, technologies, and formal knowledge creates a space for new ideas,
experimentation, and practices that are an alternative to formal-sector products and practices. Thus, Grass
Root Innovations (GRIs) can be considered as niche innovation within the existing sociotechnical system
of rural India. These innovations draw attention of mainstream actors, and interactions between niche
innovators and mainstream actors thereby resulting in launching transformation of the regime. For
instance, the rural sector has come up with an innovative idea of setting up of Livelihood Business
Incubator Centers (LBIs) to drive innovations, pilot and disseminate it further. The primary role of the
DoRD here lies in converging with the process to mobilize and reallocate resources on a large scale, and
to provide incentives for harnessing science, technology and innovation - for the purpose of spurring
transformative development.
Innovation for rural employment
Through its Digital India programme, Government of India is working to transform the country's rural
economy and create skilled jobs in rural areas. For the estimated 156 million Indian rural households,
most living in poverty according to India’s National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), the internet is
an innovative instrument for digital access so as to create more employment and provide information for
women and youth in rural areas.
Complementing efforts to increase agricultural productivity and employment is India’s triple innovation
system (JAM), consisting of Jan Dhan (the Prime Minister’s initiative to open universal bank accounts,
Aadhaar (a unique 12-digit ID number for citizens) and mobile phones. Further, MGNREGS uses DBTs to
pay beneficiaries, and this has reduced transfer costs, waste and corruption - and sidestepped any possible
misallocation of funds transferred from Centre to State to District to Panchayats for distribution.
Thematically, one can identify three categories of issues:
1. How does the state at various levels promote transformative innovation policies by applying
methods that combine insights from all heterodox ideas and explore potential for policies
that can facilitate productivity convergence and inclusive transformation of rural areas?
2. How does the state build capacity for an inclusive process of co-operative learning for
innovative co-creation in ‘living labs’, and thereby explore the role of governance and in
standardization?
3. How does the state catalyse and support provision of pro-poor innovation for social inclusion
in rural transformation?
While public-private collaboration is underscored, it’s imperative to guide and facilitate such interactions
through endeavours, includes the fostering of innovation to enhance social cohesion; reduce poverty and
inequality; redistribute wealth; create jobs; protect the environment; ensure safety and security; and
improve education and health care.
Takeaways

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• Innovation demands stakeholder interaction, which often requires skilled facilitation.

Innovation can be stimulated by partnerships between community organizations and businesses but
due to different interests, facilitation is often needed in order for different players to recognize the
benefits/value of working together, which are not always apparent. Facilitators can help actors to see
the benefits of collaboration. Innovation is needed not only at production level, but throughout the
whole value chain.
• Innovation often requires a process of empowerment, trust-building and power re-balancing, in
which skilled facilitators can play a critical and enabling role. Innovation as a multi-stakeholder
process needs to balance competitive and collaborative impulses. Innovation along the whole chain
requires that different stakeholders (public and private,) come together, take risks and jointly implement
new ideas. Trust and social networks need to be built up alongside technical knowledge and skills.
Inclusion must be consciously sought and managed – whether women or vulnerable groups are those at
risk of being excluded. To ensure that innovations reach less powerful groups (e.g. women, the ‘poor’)
innovative processes must be explicitly guided to involve such vulnerable groups and to ensure that the
less advantaged are not restricted to support roles, but can instead participate in decision-making
processes. Interaction is key and we need skilled people to coax, stir and nudge that interaction to support
innovation.
• Rural innovation processes require dynamic and learning-oriented monitoring and evaluation
(M&E) to respond to a rapidly changing context. The success of development initiatives can be
enhanced by good M&E, but rural innovation processes have particular requirements in relation to M&E
due to the nature of these processes. They require dynamic and learning oriented M&E, as the context
and therefore effects of the innovation processes rapidly change. Often many stakeholders at different
levels need to quickly learn from each other’s successes and failures for responsive management. For
stakeholders to innovate and learn together they need good information. This requires ‘entrepreneurial
monitoring and evaluation’ that supports innovation.
• Communication plays a key role in innovations: Equally important to the innovation process is
adequate communication to convey the benefits, and to build the social capabilities to ensure that end
users acquire the knowledge and tools necessary for appropriate use, and the maintenance capacity to
sustain, the newly adopted innovations. The involvement of marginalized communities in the
innovation process, to solve problems they identify and provide solutions based on their realities,
results in better development outcomes206. The lack of an agency to ensure continuous and a sustained
adoption process also provides space to step up, if it wants the innovation to be truly transformative.
Way forward
• An empowered body is needed to steer holistically the management of technological and
practices related innovations in the country: Its scope will include science education and scientific
research as well as coordinating and guiding various initiatives. The need is to pursue inter-ministerial,
inter-disciplinary research besides breaking silos among various scientific departments/agencies. The
inherent weaknesses of information dissemination to enhance technology commercialization may be
addressed by setting up of value addition centres in up-scaling technologies, improving technologies
from technology readiness level to technology dissemination level, demonstrating up scaling of pilot,
coordinating with investors to incubate, bridging the gap between institutions and technology
providers teams, enabling commercialization and marketing and providing technology support during

206Arza, Valeria, and Patrick Van Zwanenberg. "The politics of technological upgrading: International transfer to and
adaptation of GM cotton in Argentina." World Development 59 (2014): 521-534.

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production. The Department of Science and Technology should look to create a National Technology
Data Bank in coordination with all publicly funded R&D institutions so as to provide a central database
for technologies is desired.
• Financial and technical support for frugal innovations in the rural development sector should
be explored: To bring vibrancy to frugal innovations, a non-lapsable ‘District Innovation Fund’ with a
corpus in each District may be created and used to promote GRIs. Atal Innovation Mission has already
launched Atal New India Challenges in partnership with five Ministries to create products from
technologies and prototypes in areas of national importance. These, Atal Incubation Centers (AICs) may
also provide the platform for promoting frugal innovation. Further expansion of Atal Tinkering labs
specifically dedicated to rural sector should be considered based on the outcome of the first phase
presently underway.
• The M&E structure should be based on a result-based management framework: The criteria for
evaluation as mentioned in the NRLM implementation document need revision. The elements like
‘innovation’ needs to be further unbundled and very specific and measurable criteria should be fixed. These
criteria should be maintained in all the stages from project appraisal to delivery level. The idea of
including ‘learning’ as key criteria in the M&E framework is laudable. However, such measures should be
also made specific and measurable.
• A criterion for the review of innovation support funds needs to be operationalized for the
promotion of innovations: The broader objectives with concrete and detailed parameters engaging
the following may be considered:
1. Governance (in terms of the fund charter, organizational structure, management and
accountability arrangements)
2. Monitoring and Impact (in terms of M&E systems and impact assessments)
3. Implementation (in terms of concrete experiences and case studies)
4. Transaction Costs (in terms of administrative or overhead arrangements and costs in relation to
results)
5. Flexibility (to include adaptability)
6. Beneficiaries (in terms of identifying primary target groups)
7. Innovation Scouting (as identification and vetting strategies for innovations)
8. Replenishment Strategy (as a plan for economic sustainability)
9. Selection Criteria and Procedures (as a matter of application procedures and selection criteria,
including the question of whether these include competitive arrangements)
10. Commercialization Learning (as a matter of learning and sharing systems, including
documentation and dissemination, whether through brokerage involving the public or private
sector, and any IPR such as patents)
11. Access to and Control of Resources (in terms of access and control by beneficiaries)
12. Partners and Stakeholders (as a matter of partnership approach and stakeholder involvement)
(viii) Stakeholder & beneficiary behavioural change

Introduction

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The 2015 World Development Report207 highlights three major features of human decision-making based
on the evidence from a large number of research papers. `First, people make most judgments and most
choices automatically, not deliberatively: we call this “thinking automatically.” Second, how people act and
think often depends on what others around them do and think: we call this “thinking socially.” Third,
individuals in a given society share a common perspective on making sense of the world around them and
understanding themselves: we call this “thinking with mental models”.’

Transformational potential of behaviour change

The Economic Survey 2018-19 has drawn on Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler’s Behavioural Economics
Theory208 to lay out what it describes as an “ambitious agenda” for behaviour change that will bring in
social change, which in turn, will help India transit to a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25. Few of the
programmes executed by the government of India provide testimony to the potential for behavioural
change in India. Given India’s rich cultural and spiritual heritage, social norms (that play a very important
role in shaping the behaviour), can be utilized to effect behavioural change. It proves to be an effective
method of economic analysis that applies psychological insights into human behaviour to explain
economic decision-making. Drawing on the psychology of human behaviour, behavioural economics
provides insights to ‘nudge’ people towards desirable behaviour.
Do poor people have to change their behaviour to enable their human development? Can practitioners
bring about such behavioural change among the beneficiaries of their development actions? These are
highly contested questions in social science and in debates on behavioural change. There is need in the
context of rural India to identify the set of specific changes in behaviour that are needed to address certain
well-known issues of underdevelopment in the country.
Behaviour change in development interventions
To date, research to understand individual behaviour in the context of development interventions has
tended to focus on the use of experimental methods to identify where behavioural insights can be usefully
applied to improve the effect of an intervention. Behavioural insights can be particularly successful for
understanding one-off decision-making at one point in time, e.g. women engaged in thrift and savings
programs or families deciding to engage in non-farm economic activity.
There is a growing body of work that focuses on understanding ongoing, repeated behaviours and habit
formation, for example, studies have looked at the effect of incentives on long term need around collective
actions such as federations or producer organizations. Instances also include interventions on common
property resources to increase the water retention potential in the long term in entitlement programmes
of Government of India, as well as interventions to nudge to provide women workers the necessary
facility at the construction sites.
Some studies have focused on shifts in a set of behaviours within a specific environment, for example,
saving and risk aversion behaviour in the micro finance programmes in rural areas.

207 Cammack, P. (2014). World Development Report 2015: Programming the Poor. The Multilateral Development Banks and the

Global Financial Crisis Working Papers Series, 7.

208 Thaler, R. H. (2016). Behavioral economics: Past, present, and future. American Economic Review, 106(7), 1577-1600.

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There are fewer examples of behavioural insights applied to understand behaviour in complex change
processes, where a set of different behaviours need to change within individuals, or where different actors
need to shift multiple behaviours simultaneously (e.g. rural community adopting the package of support
being offered within the housing and village road programs or rural households engaging with the
maintenance of community assets). To effectively apply behavioural insights, it is necessary to know
precisely where and when in a process of changing behaviour that specific behavioural determinants come
into play, as well as the relative importance of various behavioural determinants in the decision-making
landscape and the role and influence of other actors on the behaviour change process.
Research on resilience and social-ecological systems has attempted to overcome the challenge of
explaining behaviour in complex change processes, in particular the human dimensions of social-ecological
dilemmas. However, the research tends to focus on social units, rather than the complex interplay
between individuals and the social units. Such concepts do attempt to answer the challenges that are
being faced in the social-ecological systems to acknowledge the complexity and social diversity of systems
and thereby achieve outcomes.
The rural sector policy design can be thought as the map and development outcomes as the destination,
then nudges can be the pointers that gently guide actions towards the best route. Formulating these
pointers requires expertise at two levels: understanding why consumers pick fewer optimum routes
(cognitive biases); and designing signs that guide users to better routes (nudges/interventions).
Background
Tools of stakeholder and beneficiary behaviour change
Behavioural science can be applied to large-scale rural development programs. The very nature of the
science being imbued in a social and cultural context enables it to generate effective and sustained results
to public service programs. Interventions that are designed using this science can reduce the intent-to-
action gap. There exists a plethora of tools like defaults, reminders, prompts, and incentives that can reduce
poor adherence and increase compliance for sustained impact throughout the life of an intervention. There
is evidence of use of such tools in the rural development space as well.
For instance, engaging with the cadre of Community Resource Persons (CRPs) from the community under
DAY-NRLM, has helped people identify with their language and culture. These CRPs have proved to be
key social motivators for providing critical inputs on various knowledge, skills and related behaviours with
culturally appropriate social measures to convert thought process into a sustained habit has yielded
results. Another good example is the use of digital platforms to provide messages in the rural domain
directly to families’ mobile phones. This behavioural insight approach improves the management of
programme performances. The impressive work done by DoRD, on monitoring the implementation of
national flagship schemes through DISHA dashboards are also notable examples of digital interventions
for behaviour change.
Leveraging socio-cultural norms to change behaviours
In the rural development sector, contextual behaviours are also shaped by social factors, such as people’s
cultural beliefs and their perceptions of how socially acceptable particular behaviours are in their
community. This is critical in the context of various social capital formation initiatives in the rural domain.
The interventions around social groups, interpersonal interactions, social norms, and moral norms drive
home an explicit message that is desired for the programs.
Social groups may include community or other support groups. In behavioural interventions, they may
be used to apply social pressure or leverage social capital in order to influence people’s practices and

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behaviours. This may include public meetings and events or local language theatre that is tailored to
and/or targets local traditions. For example, in a rural institution formation framework- - several
meetings and public events conducted as part of IEC activities go in line with the nudge theory to improve
decisions among both female and male population. Such interventions also prevail upon the influence of
male members of community and prevents the participation of women from being discouraged.
Behavioural change interventions primarily rely on design and messaging that address the effect of
behavioural biases on human behaviour. These biases are no unique phenomenon in government and
public policy, neither do they affect only a small percentage of the population—cognitive biases are
everywhere. Previous experiences suggest that, if planned carefully, and backed by accurate bias-
targeting, then, such interventions do work.
In Bihar, efforts to improve the quality of health-care service delivery by front-line workers takes into
account popular ‘rituals’, like keeping a baby away from the ground in a cot (palna), or marking
decorations around her hearth (chulah), for transmitting messages that are culturally acceptable. Lessons
from such interventions can form the basis of other interventions in the rural sector related to
infrastructure, social security and livelihoods. In rural India, where social and religious norms play such a
dominant role in influencing behaviour; behavioural economics can provide a valuable instrument for
change. Many Indian schemes that employ insights from behavioural economics have met with success.
Leading examples include the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme.
Role of “nudge policies”
The efficacy of a new class of policies called “nudge” policies to gently steer people towards desirable
behaviour even while preserving their liberty to choose need reminders and positive reinforcement to
sustain socially desirable behaviour. Few examples of nudge policies are for increasing the saving base
by the women led SHG programmes in India. Rural women are sent messages regarding the ways in which
savings can make a difference to their household emergency needs. Even the rural population may be
offered specially designed savings accounts that locked up funds until a self-specified target was met.
While the Jan Dhan Yojana opened a large number of bank accounts in a short span of time, its success
relies on people using these accounts regularly. The programme’s mandate is not only to open accounts
but to enable access to credit, insurance, pension schemes and other facilities offered by the formal
banking sector. Going forward, the programme offers tremendous scope to employ behavioural insights. In
line with “savings up” and “savings down” theory209, the habit of households’ major assets or savings, is a
case of classic “saving up” technique. The SHG members have also resorted to “saving down” approach
whereby they borrowed money to tide through known or unknown expenditures such as an emergency
medical expenditure.
The applications of behavioural insights appear to be a result of confirmation bias (to the extent that past
policies were viewed with a behavioural lens). Reducing corruption in MGNREGS inculcates a sense of
pride of being the best local governance system (Panchayat) in a District and rewarding it would go a
long way in ensuring behavioural change vis-à-vis compliance with program norms. In this scenario,
government regulation, awards and reward policies may be clubbed with a nudge effect to increase the
efficacy of policymaking.
Targeting demand side behaviour

209 Rutherford, S. (2000). The poor and their money. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

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When economic, psychological, social, or other mechanisms inhibit service use, directly targeting
demand-side behaviour change is essential for sustained service delivery. Interventions that acknowledge
individuals’ decision-making processes and the implicit trade-offs required of individuals are likely to be
more successful. Relevance of objectives to behaviour change covers three topics:
1. Defining the project’s targeted population, whether and which behaviours are targeted in the project
development objectives (PDOs) and other indicators and diagnosing the current behaviours. First,
“behavioural” activities must have a defined population of target beneficiaries.
2. Next, by capturing the PDOs and their indicators and by interrogating the degree to which the project
explicitly aims for changes in the way beneficiaries use their agency, A pilot test of whether or not the
project is governed by behavioural considerations seeks to identify the template to help answer the
question of whether the project has identified a specific behaviour that it is trying to change.
3. Finally, the template asks for details on whether there was any diagnostic work done to identify the
current behaviours. Nearly all prescriptive behavioural frameworks emphasize the importance of
doing diagnostic work before a project is designed in order to understand the different processes that
can produce beneficiary behaviour.
It is realized that the behavioural diagnostic stage in project design is typically underdeveloped. Such
diagnostic work may come from a wide range of sources but understanding the contextual bottlenecks to
behaviour that can affect the design of the intervention is critical.
Success elsewhere
In Israel, the issuing or renewal of an ID, passport or driving license, became conditional upon answering
the question of becoming a registered donor. The default option was an ‘opt-in’ provision, which greatly
increased the list of registered donors by targeting the status quo bias.
Similarly, in Singapore—known for a number of innovations in governance—providing the average
electricity usage of the locality on the back of bills has nudged households to think about their own energy
consumption, driving them towards reducing it to the average levels, an example of the groupthink effect.
Copenhagen’s experiment of using green footsteps to lead to trash bins helped reduce littering by 46
percent. Similarly, in Singapore, printing tax bills on the pink paper typically used for debt collection led
to an improvement in the prompt payment rate of between three to five percentage points. These are the
means that can well form the basis of strengthening the role of Panchayats in either tax collection or for
that matter the norms that are required to be developed within the community.
Takeaways
Behavioural science-based approaches to design and test development interventions have come a long
way in terms of identifying key cognitive processes and behavioural levers to trigger behaviour change in
rural sector. A change in behaviours and social norms seems hugely important for addressing the issues
faced in rural India. An example of the lower work participation rate among women with implications for
both human development and economic growth of the country can well be attended to by the change
behaviour. The key takeaways are:
• Rigorous evaluation of behavior is often missed while measuring programme performances:
However such data is crucial and can help explain the limited impact of well-intended government
programmes.

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• People value losses and gains differently: In the rural sector, the potential losses out of various
economic opportunities are being viewed differently. There is a tendency to preserve what they
already have; their perceived loss/gain is based on a benchmark. All entrepreneurial interventions for
rural development should take cognizance of facts in order to propose for the business opportunities
potential.
• Behavioural design framework recognizes the opportunity to closely link behavioural insights
and intervention design: Such a framework helps to identify unintended consequences, generate
better solutions and diagnoses, and develop diagnostic techniques relevant for other contexts.
• Iterative experimental approaches hold the potential to being transformational change in the
rural development sector: An iterative experimental approach requires isolating the causal effect
of a single cognitive process or pathway. Further, it is also important to focus on a set of interconnected
design innovations. A key strength of such an approach lies in the thorough testing that takes place at
each point in the process allowing for mistakes, for example, misdiagnosed problems to be corrected
along the way.

Way forward
• There is need to merge the methodological approach of service design with behavioral
insights in value-chain based interventions: Service design offers both a process for carefully
finding solutions, and a methodology for basing such solutions on a knowledge base that is as widely
and inclusively informed as possible. The user journey component of the framework allows us to
visualize the experiences and perceptions of users of a given technology or service throughout a
change process and ensures that important behavioural drivers and social processes are captured at
every phase of the journey.
The systems mapping component situates the lived experiences of users within complex social-
ecological systems and highlights connections between users and other potentially important actors
and processes at different levels of society. Such a methodology to fuel behaviour change is critical
for the value chain-based interventions that is desired for both farm / non-farm-based interventions in
the rural context.
• Every rural development sector program must go through a “behavioural economics” audit
before its implementation: DoRD may adhere to the principles of behavioural economics to conduct
its audit. Such an audit and the modifications undertaken, therein, can significantly enhance the
efficacy of the program.
• Mental models focusing on aspirations for a better life should be encouraged: The importance
of financial disciplines needs to be communicated effectively through popular narratives and by
exposing people to social contexts which have undergone desirable social changes. The exposure to the
new social contexts may create new mental models enabling people to think about a better life. This
need for creating aspirations or the dream of a desirable world is important in several contexts in
rural India. This is needed for gender mainstreaming across various rural development programs
particularly among the marginalized communities. The absence of such aspirations may be
discouraging. Multiple strategies may be required for this purpose. Consciously cultivating role models
from these social groups who have benefitted could be one. The experience and success of these role
models may have to be communicated widely. Inspirational videos can be used for such
communication.

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The influence of prevailing mental models may encourage people to behave in ways that may not be
desirable for their development. Decisions to engage into a process or program based on the prevalent
mental model is not completely effective and hence, strategies to change mental models must be tried
out.
• There is a need for behavioural change among development researchers and practitioners:
These stakeholders may be prone to biases, ideological pre-conditioning, and incorrect presumption
regarding the abilities of the beneficiaries of development actions. Hence, they should be made aware
of their possible influences if their research is to inform development actions or policies. These
stakeholders need to be more open to data which does not conform to their theory of action, and also
to the need to experiment in each and every context.
Organizations involved in development practice should be more open to contextual factors both from
within and outside. There needs to be arguments and counter-arguments at the time of design and at
every stage of the project implementation with respect to such behavioural biases. A conducive
environment to encourage genuine disagreements and concerns about the program strategy should
enable critical engagement without affecting the process of implementation.
• Information dissemination should be undertaken across diverse platforms: People act without
seeking information either by simply believing that such information is not needed or by accepting
what a few other people tell them to do. Many people may not act timely to participate in schemes
even if such participation is useful to them. Hence, information provision by all possible means –
including those that can be easily accessed by technology and social media – is important. The role of
reminders, public notices, non-monetary gifts (which are given at the time of subscription), making
products convenient and easy to understand are important.
• Steps to increase the coverage of education should be taken to benefit from cognitive
stimulation: The one area where some progress is achieved in India is the provision of education
which is necessary for the socio-emotional and cognitive stimulation of not only the children but
essential for their cognitive development and achievements during adulthood. Though a system for
education is in place, this is not well-utilized (for the cognitive stimulation). Making it more effective
is an important contributor to the cognitive development of the rural population.
(ix) Research and Development

Introduction
Rural circumstances are changing; development thinking is changing; and rural development policy needs
to keep up: these are the core messages for research and development. Different governments and donor
agencies have different perspectives and pursue different combinations of rural development policies. If
aid for rural development is to be re-established on a growth path, then it will be within the wider context,
dominated by ideas about the Comprehensive Development Framework, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers
and Sector Wide Approaches. Key features of the holistic approach, ownership, partnership, and results-
orientation (especially in connection with the International Development Targets) have to be suitably
imbibed.
Based on secondary literature review, emerging issues in rural sector are as follows:
1. The paradox in funding: The majority of the poor still live in rural areas, and yet donor support for
agricultural and other rural development has slumped.

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2. A diminishing urban-rural divide: Rural and urban livelihoods are inter-dependent, and there is
rarely a sharp geographical divide between rural and peri-urban. Rural development strategies must
take account of the urban links and context.
3. Diversified livelihoods: There are few full-time farmers now, as households pursue multi-functional
and multi-spatial livelihoods. Thus, support to the non-farm rural economy and to migration are as
important as agricultural support.
4. Small-holder farming in rural areas faces new challenges: Increasingly rural households consist
of part-time farmers, work smaller plots and are headed by the elderly, young and women who face
severe credit and input constraints. Further, the format of access to subsidies and extension services
has changed. Market changes increase the need for specialist techniques, quality control, information-
intensive technologies and marketing involving high transaction costs – factors which provide larger
farms with economies of scale. Targeted assistance is needed where small-scale farming can be
competitive; otherwise small farmers need good exits from farming.
5. Reverse state compression: A strong state is needed to underpin the market and enable private sector
development. Public interventions are needed to increase access to new opportunities (agricultural
or non-farm) specifically by the poor, and to establish the institutional framework for effective market
development.
6. Technological targeting: Production increases based on the seed-fertilizer model of the Green
Revolution have slowed. New technologies are likely to be more crop and region specific, and
information-intensive. Technical change is largely biased against the poor. Policies to target
technologies need to be location specific. Public intervention is particularly required in developing
technologies and information channels appropriate to poor farmers.
7. Rethinking institutional capacity and governance: Many recommended measures for rural
development cannot be effective without significant capacity building and institutional support. In
some areas, decentralization should prevail to reinforce positive trends for increased accountability.
But in some areas, like aspirational districts, the second-best solutions would be more effective than
attempts at business as usual.
8. Growing divergence between low and high potential areas: Low potential areas have very different
needs as compared to high potential areas where diversification and modernization is already
underway. They generally still need agriculture-based development, are least likely to gain from
globalization opportunities, and will generate lower returns because of their inherent disadvantages
(remoteness, poor soils etc.). Policy must adapt to context.
9. Rural risks and vulnerability: The rural sector faces new risks due to increasing natural disasters
and rapid economic change. External support for risk-mitigation and coping strategies is generally
insufficient. Public and private roles in supporting insurance and risk-coping need to be strengthened,
which in turn depends on the fiscal burden being addressed.
10. Preventing and managing conflict: Conflict has a debilitating impact on rural livelihoods, and
increasing levels of conflict threaten the achievement of poverty reduction targets. Program
frameworks and implementation strategies need to escape from the conceptual and programmatic
constraints of a linear approach to relief and development.
Background

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DoRD is committed to eradicate poverty and hunger from the rural India and usher in all round
development of rural masses. Accordingly, the DoRD is implementing a number of programmes, which
aim at, bridging the rural-urban divide, guaranteeing wage employment and ensuring food security,
providing economic uplift by self-employment, creating rural infrastructure, providing dignified living by
providing shelter and restoring lost or depleted productivity of natural resources like land, water and
biomass. The research and development needs of the rural sector has been attended to by ‘Guidelines for
Evaluation, Impact Assessment and Research Study’ which lay-down in clear terms, the methods and
processes of research and development, along with the priorities.
Over the last few years, the budgetary allocations for rural development programmes are increasing at a
fast pace. Considering the size and scope of the programme implementation, it is necessary for the policy
makers and implementers to know the benefits and impacts of such development intervention.
In order to assess the outcomes of this huge expenditure and to improve the efficiencies and effectiveness
of the programmes, the Ministry organizes evaluation and impact assessment studies on a regular basis.
Issues and challenges limiting the effective implementation of the programme at the grass-root level can
be diagnosed through detailed micro-level data analyses and corrective measures can be outlined,
accordingly. Further, DoRD regards the evaluation of its policies, programmes, schemes, projects and
interventions as an instrument of accountability.
The evaluations are entrusted to the agencies internal to the Ministry (Programme Divisions, NIRD,
Monitoring Division, etc.), or external agencies or are conducted jointly. Partnership by choice in
evaluation is encouraged- between the Ministry and outside agencies, between programme divisions and
monitoring division. But, in order to ensure credibility, third party independent evaluations too are the
preferred mode of evaluation. The focus of the evaluation approach is practical, and the findings are
useable to large extent. To ensure usability of the findings, the main users of evaluation are involved in
specifying the objectives and selecting the most appropriate model, methods and theory. The evaluation
studies are either ex-ante, ex-post and/or mid-term. The instruments such as concurrent evaluation,
evaluation and impact assessment (pilot or otherwise) too are employed. Wherever evaluation is necessary
or mandatory, funding provisions are made to conduct such studies. All the policies, programmes,
schemes, projects and interventions of the Ministry are framed in such a way that it becomes possible to
evaluate them meaningfully. This means; outcome budgeting, logical framework analysis, stakeholder
analysis and modern tools of management are used while framing them. The findings of the evaluation
studies or even the dashboards of the Ministries are shared and updated regularly with all the concerned
as per the discloser policy of the Ministry and the Right to Information Act.
In general, the evaluation and impact assessment studies capture the ground realities regarding the
execution/implementation processes and the impact of the programme/projects. However, these studies
in general, at times do not examine specific queries with regard to individual programmes/projects. The
theories, hypotheses and assumptions on the basis of which the rural development interventions are
designed and implemented do not find proper mentioned in the probes. As the utility of such studies are
of immense importance to strengthen the public accountability of the range of poverty alleviation and
rural development programs, issue based, and thematic research studies are desired. Such research studies
may concentrate mainly on:
1. Sector, area and programme/scheme/project specific issues relating to theories, hypotheses and
assumptions of government interventions in rural sector.
2. Adopting research methodology keeping in view the recent developments in the field of social research
in the subject of economics, statistics, sociology and psychology etc.

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3. Ensuring that the findings will be used to design and implement central government interventions at
the all-India level.
4. Prioritizing studies that cut across various government schemes/interventions.
There are several modes of devising operational plans viz.; Suo-moto proposals; Invited Proposals
(Competitive); Commissioned Proposals (Non-competitive), depending upon specific needs of policy
making and preparation of Scheme.
National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) has been leading the research
agenda keeping in view the shifts in development paradigms. The major themes for NIRD research include
poverty reduction and rural employment, environment and sustainable development, decentralization
and good governance, and transfer of technology. It lays special emphasis on livelihoods of core poverty
groups and empowerment of marginalized groups and women.
The Institute also undertakes action research projects on relevant themes. NIRDPR has been taking up
research studies on several themes relating to development strategies, qualitative aspects of programme
implementation, focusing on DoRD schemes and emerging development issues. In addition, case studies
of successful initiatives are also taken up. The studies identify the critical areas affecting the process of
implementation, deficiencies and also clearly suggest action points based on the causative analysis.
The Institute disseminates the results of the research studies and recommendations of its various
seminars and workshops through a number of publications. It brings out a quarterly Journal of Rural
Development and monthly NIRDPR Newsletter in English and Hindi. The Journal of Rural Development, a
peer-reviewed quarterly publication is rated highly among the academicians. The journal publishes
theoretical and empirical articles and provides a forum for exchange of views between various policy
makers, planners, researchers and functionaries concerned with rural development. The Centre for Media
and Rural Documentation (CMRD) of the Institute acts as a referral and serving agency for the rural
development sector as a whole.
In addition, several national institutes and centres of excellence are engaged in undertaking various
research to offer necessary linkages to the policies and programs in rural economy. Largely the research
themes have been focused on the following:
• Analysis of theories, hypotheses and assumptions of wage employment interventions, self-
employment interventions, skill development, rural road sector with special reference to PMGSY;
rural housing sector with special reference to PMAY (G); rural infrastructure sector;
• Inclusive growth through Rural Development Programmes viz., MGNREGS and DAY-NRLM;
• Women empowerment and gender issues;
• Levels of living of women and other vulnerable social groups;
• Labour market relations and role of government interventions like MGNREGS and DAY-NRLM;
• Process studies of various schemes/programmes to find out its effectiveness and efficiencies;
• Rural Development and good governance;
• Sustainable livelihood support- role of government, particularly the DoRD;
• Vulnerability reduction through Rural Development Programmes;
• Financial inclusion;

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• Social Capital formation and its impact on the implementation of Rural Development Programme;
• Community based monitoring;
• Social audit and community empowerment;
• Public-private-PRI-community partnerships for sustainable development;
• Convergence feasibilities and methods;
• Rural development interventions and human skill implications;
• Institutional capacity of PRIs and Effective Implementation of RD Programmes;
• Gender Budgeting and its operationalization.
Takeaways
• Strengthening feedback mechanism is desired urgently: The officers at the District level often feel
that their only role with respect to the policies of the central government is implementing them as per
the guidelines. While there are huge lacunas even in putting theory into practice, a crucial link that is
missing in policy formulation is the feedback on existing policies which should come from the officers
in charge at the lowest tier of development administration, that is, either the Block Development
Officer or a district-level officer in charge of development administration. An efficient institutionalized
feedback channel should be established so that the challenges faced are brainstormed by those
involved in policy formulation and implementation, and the learnings can be incorporated in the
policies to make them more effective. The absence of institutionalized feedback mechanism will only
lead to ineffective policies getting implemented in an inefficient manner.
• Wide dissemination of research findings should be further encouraged. Apart from professional
journals/books, final technical reports of completed projects may be disseminated through one or more
of the following channels, as appropriate viz.; website of the Ministry; website of
NIRDPR/SIRDs/Institutes; Websites of Major Universities (through UGC); Websites of State Rural
Development Departments; Professional and Policy-makers’ Workshops.
• R&D efforts should focus on calibrating India’s social safety net programmes to present
circumstances: The objectives and design of India’s safety net programs, whether food or cash based,
need to evolve with economic growth and the changing nutritional needs of the marginalized
populations. The future role of safety nets needs to be more transformational rather than vulnerability
reducing. Overall effectiveness of safety nets would depend to a large extent on how they are
combined with structural reforms and long-term interventions to increase human capabilities and
address structural poverty through that. Synergies between agriculture and safety nets, therefore,
become essential. Urbanization, especially, poses a challenge as well as opportunity in restructuring
the safety net architecture. The future research and development themes should take into account the
fact that India would be more urban than rural by 2050.
• Research efforts exploring agrarian innovations would be significant knowledge gains:
Institutional interventions, such as Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and cooperatives, can
offset scale disadvantages faced by small farms in supplying to the modern value chains as well as
access to electronic markets and futures trading platforms. By reducing the risk associated with the
adoption of new crop technologies and reducing transaction costs in market access, these
interventions could help in farm diversification as well as better price realizations in the output

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market. Appropriate applied research to identify innovative models and solutions that highlight such
ways by the stage of development a particular State is in should be prioritized.
In the few States with low agricultural productivity, FPOs have the potential to enable greater
commercialization, enabling greater yields. Linkages to output markets will help incentivize the
production of pulses and coarse grains, given their comparative advantage. In agriculture-led states
and urbanizing states, alternative models such as contract farming are more likely to succeed since
farms in these areas are already highly commercialized. Hence, aggregation models and pilots to help
reduce organization costs of engaging with a more significant number of small farms and reduce
contracting costs to evolve policy measures with necessary financial and insurance-based services,
linking them to information and extension services and enabling market linkages by improving
connectivity, will further incentivize social capital formation efforts and establish linkages across the
value chain. The focus now should shift on research aimed at structural transformations in the rural
sector so as to augment the efforts of livelihood missions.
With increasing demand for quality and high-value agricultural produce, alternative value chains and
newer marketing platforms have emerged. Vertical coordination (VC) by which retailers form direct
linkages with farms, bypassing traditional markets, has been growing in India’s more progressive
states. VC can be more relevant for regions with good linkages to market (agriculture-led growth
states), while futures and warehousing platforms can be useful for non-perishable commodities and
can emerge in low potential areas.
• A sustained focus on climate change is desired in all R&D efforts: Climate change can have
significant adverse impacts on agricultural productivity, rural incomes and welfare; in addition, it can
pose serious risks to the food security of not only the rural populace but for the economy as a whole.
Climate resilient policies for the future should allow diversification of greening rural development
efforts in ways that enhance the environment while improving the food production system and also
the employment pattern and income security of rural youths in particular. Climate change risks must
not be understated, and appropriate actions towards its mitigation need to be adopted in all the research
and development dimensions of the rural sector. The research should be focused on insights with data
and evidence on the current systems challenges from external forces such as the overuse of the
environment and the also the projections on actions desired from the perspective of climate change.
• There is potential for change in allowing public sector access to private sector innovations:
Unlike Green Revolution technologies which were public sector generated, technological innovations
today are generated in the private sector and hence pose challenges of access for rural sector. Process
evaluations and monitoring, formative assessments, impact evaluations and summative evaluations
should be suitably designed to take cognizance of institutional interventions that enable public sector
access to private sector innovations and to adapt them to rural sector are crucial.
• Spatial dimensions of rural development need to take into cognizance the constraints and
opportunities differently and require different strategies: Key factors such as proximity and
access to cities; the amount and quality of natural resources; density of settlement and vulnerability to
natural catastrophes needs to be considered. Simplifying a complex spatial picture, it may be helpful
to distinguish between peri-urban zones, the ‘standard’ countryside, and remote rural areas.
In general, though, ‘location theory suggests that rural areas in developing countries only have a
comparative advantage in a narrow range of activity. These dimensions have implications for
diversification. Rural people seek to diversify livelihoods and may do this locally or over long
distances: the phenomenon of ‘multi-locational’ households is increasingly familiar. In many places,

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there is a U-curve of diversification, which sees non-farm activity concentrated among the poor (as a
survival or coping strategy) and among the rich (as an accumulation strategy). Similarly,
decentralization, de-concentration and devolution aim to make the state apparatus more responsive
to local needs require emphasis. In doing so the essential preconditions for success such as adequate
funds; powers; and accountability of elected representatives to citizens, and of bureaucrats to elected
representatives need to form the core.
Way forward
In the ecosystem of research institutions, universities and think tanks charged with the task of rural
sector transformation, the way forward to carry forward research and development agenda may engage
the following:
• Research Roles: Institutions and centers of excellence are supposed to do extensive research on the
rural context in order to find out the inequalities between the different sub-systems. Often, earliest
predictions help in diverting or abolishing formulation of program implementation frameworks.
• Coordinating Roles: Significant coordinating roles between different sub-systems of the rural sector
are to be prioritized in order to understand the future implications and also to identify issues in an
effective, convenient and time bound manner.
• Innovation: Innovative solutions, where and when required, in order to bring the balance between
various sub-systems need to help understand the root cause of any problem and suggest solutions in
order to address the problem satisfactorily, effectively and efficiently.
• Testing Roles: Roles of such nature provide credibility and proof of concept to newly
innovated/invented solutions/models/strategies that work perfectly in sync with various sub-
systems. Prime testing may precede before implementing anything on the rural sector as a whole.
Testing always gives options to fine tune and fool proof the solutions/models/ strategies.
• Incubation Roles: Some ideas/solutions sometimes require incubation facilities in order to develop a
full pledged solution. Conducive atmosphere to incubate such solutions/ideas to a matured level
would be desired. For e.g.; rural cottage industries being set-up will have inherent initial challenges
of site or location problem. However, later to the initiation of work and production it may not be able
to locate it to a place of choice until the micro enterprise reaches a certain stage. Incubation centres
help in growing micro enterprises by reducing an initial investment costs and thereby making ventures
profitable by an early period.
• Mediating Roles: In the rural development space, often the inclusion of several organizations in
achieving a particular goal may help the sector at large to increase its effectiveness of its
solutions/models. In such situations, a mediating agency coordination role on research and
development among several ecosystems may help to bring out the desired synergy.
• Venture Capital Roles: The biggest obstacle in the rural development sector is the dearth of viability
gap funding at times to secure employment of masses. However, sourcing, channelizing distributing
and recollecting it in an organized manner to safeguard the interests of all the involved stakeholders
is major challenge. There would be several stakeholders required to collectivize and thereby develop
the necessary bridge.
• Evaluation Roles: In the process of rural development, evaluation of existing actions and strategies is
critical. It also calls continuous monitoring of implementing models / solutions on a regular basis to

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ensure that objectives are achieved in a continuous and time bound manner. Besides this, continuous
evaluation of all rural and rural convergent policies may dedicatedly be carried out.
(x) Unlocking synergies with other government programmes

Introduction
Mutually beneficial programs along rural trajectories can contribute substantially to rural sector’s smart,
sustainable and inclusive growth agenda. Success in creating synergies is largely determined by decisions
made at local and regional levels. Well-designed governance arrangements can be conducive to decisions
that strengthen beneficial relations. Thematic functional linkages cutting across departments to identify
and strengthen policies, governance systems and practices is desired. Some of the key concerns on
unlocking synergies include:
1. What type of synergies (fund, institutional technical expertise, and social mobilization) has been
attempted? How simultaneous convergence of all the dimensions can be achieved?
2. How participatory was the process adopted? Whether PRIs or local bodies, in particular, have been
involved in the planning and implementation of convergence initiatives?
3. What is the scope for achieving multi-sectoral collaboration taking into account regional diversity to
make a significant contribution to project sustainability and maximization of benefits?
4. What institutional arrangement would ensure the identification of convergence projects by the
community for wider acceptance and ownership?
5. Why are the successful/innovative projects not being replicated? How can this be institutionalized?
6. How to address the various factors (capacity, commitment) hindering the convergence planning for
achieving synergy and optimal use of resources?
Background
Social sector expenditure accounts for a major share of the government expenditure. The financial
resources currently allocated under different thematic areas, such as rural development, health and
family welfare, school education and literacy, food and public distribution, women and child
development, grants from the 14th Finance Commission, and State shares for Centrally Sponsored
Schemes, amounts to more than Rs. 4 lakh crores annually. Budget expenditure on Rural Development
itself has been enhanced by 62 percent from Rs. 58,630 crores in the year 2013-14, to Rs. 95,990 crores
in the year 2016-17. Later, this amount rose to Rs. 1, 05,448 crores for the year 2017-18.
As a consequence, substantial public investments are being made for strengthening of rural economy and
livelihood base of the poor. This includes especially the marginalized groups such as SC/STs and women.
To effectively address the issue of poverty alleviation, there is a need to optimize efforts through inter-
sectoral approaches. The convergence of different programmes with MGNREGS, such as Watershed
Programmes, National Agriculture Development Programme (Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana), National
Horticulture Mission, Scheme of Artificial Recharge of Ground Water through Dug well, Backward
Regions Grant Fund, would enable better planning and effective investments in rural areas. This
convergence would bring synergies between different government programme/schemes in terms of
planning, process and implementation. This will also facilitate sustainable development.
In this sense, although substantial public investments are being made for strengthening rural economy
and livelihoods base of the poor; due to multidimensionality of poverty, there is a need to optimize efforts
through synergies with other departments. There is a growing realization that the phenomenon of
poverty is more complex than mere mismatch in income and expenditure of a particular household.

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Hence, it is necessary to develop / unlock the synergies with other government programs to address this
multi-dimensionality of poverty, which is based on convergence, accountability and measurable
outcomes to ensure that the resources are effectively spent in providing “sustainable livelihoods for every
deprived households”. It means that while existing resources are used more effectively along with annual
increases, progress is also monitored on the basis of an agreed set of indicators employed by different
central and state departments. Thus, a composite index would not only ensure accountability and
convergence, but also indicate progress on measurable outcomes at the Gram Panchayat and household
level.
In this regard, it is important to note some of DoRD’s initiatives to ensure a sustainable and integrated
Rural Development. One that deserves mention is the Disha initiative built towards a more participative
governance to facilitate synergies in planning, monitoring and implementation of different schemes. Its
mandate seeks to achieve efficient and timely Centre monitoring of all administrative levels through
coordination, synergy and convergence for greater impact. The initiative involves elected representatives
and district administration in scheme implementation stages in quarterly Committee Meetings. It also
relies on a digital MIS system for unified data keeping. Another initiative is the Performance Review
Committee, in which the performance of difference schemes under the umbrella of the Ministry are
reviewed. All Principal Secretaries of all States are invited to attend the meeting personally to participate
in the advancements towards the vision of New India 2022 and the 75 Milestones for India @75.
Another initiative that contributed to a better understanding of poverty is the Socio Economic Caste
Census, conducted by DoRD in 2011. The SECC data allows us to understand the socio-economic
conditions of a household from the perspective of multidimensional deprivations (e.g. landlessness,
households headed by single woman, SC/ST households etc.). Multidimensionality of deprivation means
that a household could be deprived not only due to absence of assets, poor quality of housing, lack of
access to sanitation and clean water but also due to social inequality, lack of education, absence of
sustainable livelihoods, inadequate income. Inadequate skills or/ and health care this deprivation itself
could be further compounded due to say disability or absence of an earning member in the women
headed household, which could throw specific challenges.
After the 73rd Amendment to the constitution, three tier Panchayat systems are increasingly
spearheading the development efforts at the grassroots. However, due to multiple layers of planning,
administration and resource allocation to tackle deprivation, the efforts are often dispersed in time and
space leading to suboptimal results. Thus, convergent planning with the Gram Panchayat as its basic unit
provides the key to address multidimensionality of poverty by synergizing all resources – financial and
human – in saturation mode, across different governments, departments and schemes to target these
deprivations simultaneously and it has to be state led partnership for rural transformation.
The overarching global commitment on SDGs seeks to address the inequalities across countries and
disparities of opportunity, wealth and power. The 2030 agenda for SDGs advocates sustained, inclusive
and sustainable economic growth as an outcome. DoRD is the nodal ministry of Government of India for
SDG goal; “End poverty in all its forms everywhere”. The achievement of such outcome requires
convergence of plans, efforts and constant monitoring of progress for remedial measures. DoRD strives
to work on the sustainable and inclusive growth of rural India through a multi-pronged strategy by
diversification and enhancement of livelihoods opportunities, providing social safety and developing
quality infrastructure.

To ensure transparency in MGNREGS, district administration and Gram Panchayats tried to involve multiple
agencies in the implementation of work including all the major line departments, such as Revenue, Public Works
Department, Agriculture, Horticulture, etc. Further, 10,454 inspections have been done by the block-level rural
development functionaries and 1,677 inspections by the district-level officials of the Rural Development

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Department. Additionally, 5,432 inspections are done by the Line Department officials. These officers are given
a monthly minimum target of five inspections. The administration closely monitors these targets during monthly
review meetings of Revenue and other Line Department functionaries. For motivating and encouraging them, a
revolving trophy has been introduced. Every month, the trophy goes to the department and the individuals doing
the highest number of quality inspections Thus, this multi-agency monitoring mechanism helps to keep the
village-level implementing machinery on a constant high alert. This has ensured correctness in Muster Rolls
eliminating ghost workers.

Takeaways
• The present approach to synergy falls short on addressing multidimensional aspects of
poverty: Schemes are designed based on different conceptions and approaches towards poverty,
which creates a discrepancy between the various strategies adopted in each scheme. As a result, there
is considerable variance in selection criteria and targeting across schemes. This is because there is a
spatial and temporal mismatch in supporting individuals and households through different
government schemes. In this sense, synergies across departments could contribute to a wider vision
of the multidimensionality of poverty, one which would be more consistent across different
interventions and lead to more effective interaction with agencies. This includes especially line
departments, Panchayat Raj Institutions, banks and other financial institutions for resources is
required for productive poverty reduction efforts.
• There are overlaps among similar schemes under DoRD: The Ministry’s schemes focus on local
infrastructure development, betterment of poor by providing wage employment and self-
employment opportunities. Overlaps lead to repetitive planning, as well as lack of synergy. There is a
need to evolve a system of synchronization among these schemes. Further, variations in benefits and
support provided under these schemes create problems at operational level. There is also a need to
identify a solution to address this issue.
• Planning, implementation and monitoring of different schemes work in silos: The functional
delivery of programmes tends to happen independently, resulting in underutilization of capacity and
sub-optimal outcomes across departments and different administrative levels. This often imposes
obstacles to poverty alleviation. Therefore, there is need to bring in synergies between different
government programmes and schemes to achieve substantial poverty goals.
• The relationship between Panchayats and institutions of the poor need to be strengthened: In
view of the eminent roles of Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs), it is necessary to consciously structure
and facilitate a mutually beneficial working relationship between Panchayats and institutions of the
poor. Linkages with PRIs are particularly necessary at the level of Village Panchayats.
• Partnerships with NGOs and other CSOs contribute to synergies: DoRD programmes often seek
partnerships with Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and other Civil Society Organizations
(CSOs), at two levels - strategic and implementation. The partnerships are guided by DoRD’s core
beliefs and values, and mutual agreement on processes and outcomes.
Way forward
• Unlock synergies in planning, implementation and monitoring across schemes: Households and
villages should be considered as the basic unit of planning that facilitates household level micro plan
and GP development plan. Harmonizing selection criteria, implementation processes and guidelines
and availability of funds at the same time is critical for implementation. This would need pooling
financial and human resources in different schemes of government and their rationalization in
implementing the plans at HH level and GPDP. This requires alignment of interventions towards
convergences at all levels of government.

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• Build partnerships with government and non-government stakeholders: There are unexplored
opportunities of partnerships with NGOs, CSOs, academic and training institutions, Public, Private
and Cooperative Sectors to tap their areas of strength and experience.
• Set a robust monitoring and evaluation strategy of synergy interactions: Monitoring efforts
would include indicators for tracking progress of synergies, assessment of the performance of GPs,
arrangements regarding the coordination of work of different administrative levels, such as Central
and State level monitoring committees formation, and a baseline data to be interlinked with DISHA
portal to provide focused interventions and resource convergence.
• Provide Human Resource support: It includes information education and communication activities
and a system of incentives, particularly for GPs.
• Build linkages with PRIs: It is necessary to involve PRIs in programme implementation and building
interactive platforms between PRIs and SHGs/Federations for mutual support.
(xi) Reforms and regulations

Introduction
Regulations codify the spaces encompassing rural development and reforms bring in processes that
establish responsive and good governance in these spaces. This section aims at documenting the different
legislations that impact rural development as a sector and have a direct bearing on the programmatic
interventions and the different reform processes that have been instituted by other ministries and
departments in addition to the reforms that have been undertaken by DoRD.
Background
Regulations
The evaluation has not taken into account specific regulations that operate for specific livelihoods, e.g.
agriculture, forest based livelihoods, fisheries, khadi and village industries etc. These are livelihood
specific and come in to play when activities related to these livelihoods is undertaken. The laws that are
considered here are the ones that create an enabling environment within rural spaces and the laws that
empower rural people and households. Laws falling under each of these two categories are detailed in
the ensuing paragraphs.
Enabling environment
There are three types of laws that have an impact in the manner in which rural spaces are governed
(Panchayat and PESA); extension of rural development into new territories (FRA); and the laws that
operate for the development and functioning of people’s collectives (Cooperatives and Producer
Company).
(i) Panchayats: to fulfil the constitutional mandate to organize village Panchayats and endow them with
such power and authority that enables them to function as units of self-government (Article 40), the
Seventy Third Constitutional Amendment was passed that led to insertion of Part IX in the constitution.
Article 243B ensured that there “shall be constituted in every State, Panchayat at the village, intermediate
and district levels”. The Amendment redefined the political and administrative structure in the country
wherein Panchayats are endowed with powers to function as units of self -government in rural areas.
Consequent to the Amendment, each of the States enacted their respective Panchayat Raj Acts and the
institutions of Panchayat Raj were firmly established in all rural areas of the country. At present there are
654 District Panchayats, 6,824 Intermediate Panchayats and 2,55, 534 Village Panchayats in the country.
All states except Delhi, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland have Panchayat institutions within the rural
areas of the state.

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Panchayats once constituted hold office for a period of five years. Their composition at all levels is based
on direct elections from territorial constituencies within the Panchayat area. However, States have been
given the option to determine the manner of election of the Chairperson for each of these Panchayati
institutions. There are provisions for reservation of seats for SC, ST and women so as to make political
representation possible for the socially and economically marginalized groups in the rural society.
Though the Constitution gives flexibility to States to determine powers and authority that may be
necessary to enable Panchayats to function as institutions of self-government, it also lays down that all
such laws should contain provisions for devolution of powers and responsibilities with respect to (i) the
preparation of plans for economic development and social justice; and (ii) entrusting Panchayats for
implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice listed in Eleventh Schedule of
the Constitution. The schedule lists 29 subjects which among other items include issues related to
livelihoods such as agriculture, minor irrigation, animal husbandry, fisheries, minor forest produce, small
scale industries, and khadi and village industries. Programmes pertaining to rural housing, drinking
water, roads, poverty alleviation programmes, markets, and social welfare now fall within the domain of
Panchayats in rural areas.
Panchayats have thus become the primary unit for governance in rural development. The sector in all its
programmatic interventions plays the dual role of one, working through Panchayats at each level in the
implementation of schemes and programmes, and the other, to strengthen these institutions through
graduated devolution of powers, functions, and resources.
(ii) PESA for Schedule V Areas: Article 244 of the Constitution provides for the declaration of areas as
Scheduled Areas in the country. Two types of Scheduled areas have been envisaged in the Constitution:
one, is Schedule Six areas that include the tribal areas in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and
Mizoram; and second is the Schedule Five areas which includes tribal areas other than the areas under
Schedule Six210. The Constitution does not specify criteria for declaration of an area as a Scheduled Area,
yet the principles followed by different Acts, Commissions and sub-committees211 includes
preponderance of tribal population; compactness and reasonable size of the area; under-developed
nature of the area; and marked disparity in the economic standards of people. At present 10 States have
Fifth Schedule areas, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana.
There are three implications that have a direct bearing on the formulation and administration of
interventions related to rural development in Scheduled Areas. First, Governor of the State is empowered
to impact implementation of an Act, or its part thereof, subject to exceptions and modifications as deemed
necessary. Second, Governor may make regulations for peace and good government of the area that may
include (i) prohibition or restriction on the sale of land by or among members of ST; (ii) allotment of land
to members of ST; and (iii) conduct of business of money lending by persons who lend money to members
of ST. Third, the provisions of Panchayat Acts of respective states need to conform to the provisions of
PESA212 for Scheduled Areas in their respective states.
The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 is an Act that extends the
provisions related to Panchayats in the Constitution and the consequent respective State Acts to the

210 Schedule Five and Schedule Six areas gain their nomenclature mainly because the list of these areas is given in the Schedule

Five and Schedule Six of the constitution

211 ‘Excluded’ and ‘Partially Excluded” areas under the Government of India Act, 1935; Schedule B of recommendation of The

Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas Sub Committee of Constituent Assembly; and the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes
Commission 1961.
212 THE PROVISIONS OF THE PANCHAYATS (EXTENSION TO THE SCHEDULED AREAS) ACT, 1996 No.40 OF 1996 (24th

December, 1996)

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Scheduled Areas subject to certain exceptions and modification as specified under the act. The PESA has
provisions that are protective towards the life and livelihoods of Scheduled tribes; and provisions that
establish the supremacy of Gram Sabha as an institution in the design, development and implementation
of plans for development of such areas. More specifically these provisions are as follows:
• Protection of the life and livelihoods of STs: PESA prohibits the State Government to make any law that
is inconsistent with the customary law, social and religious practices and traditional management of
community resources.
• Establishment of Gram Sabha: In Scheduled Areas, village can be a habitation or group of habitations,
or a hamlet or group of hamlets comprising a community and managing its affairs in accordance with
their traditions and customs. PESA enables every such village to have Gram Sabha consisting of names
of persons included in the electoral rolls for Panchayats at the village level. This implies that even a
hamlet in a Scheduled Area can get declared itself as a village and have its own Gram Sabha and
programmes and schemes of development specifically for their village.
• Supremacy of Gram Sabha: PESA establishes the supremacy of Gram Sabha through provisions that:
(i) mandate their approval and recommendation of the Gram Sabha. The Gram Sabha will approve
plans, programmes and projects for social and economic development before these are taken up for
implementation; and they will identify or select persons as beneficiaries under poverty alleviation
programmes. Further it is mandatory to consult Gram Sabha before acquisition of land for
development projects and before resettlement and rehabilitation of persons affected by projects. The
Gram Sabha recommendations are mandatory prior to giving prospecting license or mining lease for
minor minerals; and before grant of concession for the exploitation of minor minerals for auction; (ii)
empower the Gram Sabha to intervene in specific instances especially to safeguard and preserve the
traditions and customs of people, their cultural identity, community resources and other customary
mode of dispute resolutions; (iii) endows Gram Sabhas with specific powers to enforce prohibition
or regulate or restrict the sale and consumption of any intoxicant; to exercise control over ownership
of minor forest produce, money lending to Scheduled Tribes, management of village markets,
institutions and functionaries in all social sectors, and local plans and resources for such plans
including tribal sub-plan; and prevent alienation of land; (iv) makes Panchayats accountable by
making it mandatory for Panchayat to obtain from Gram Sabha a certificate of utilization of funds by
the Panchayat for the plan, programmes and projects implemented in their area.
PESA creates an exception within the rural development space specifically for Scheduled Tribe
communities. The programmatic interventions and their impacts have to be assessed in reference to the
provisions of PESA before they can be implemented in these geographies. In fact some of the provisions
of PESA have been extended to all rural areas, For example, the endorsement of SECC final list by the
Gram Sabha is applicable to all Panchayats in the country. Similarly, the identification of works under
MGNREGS are required to have approval of Gram Sabha before these can be sent for inclusion as shelf of
projects under the programme. PESA has contributed in bringing Gram Sabha as a central body for
approval of works and interventions in the villages in all rural areas of the country.
(iii) Forest Rights Act: The Scheduled Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of
Forest Rights) Act, 2006213, popularly referred to as FRA, was enacted primarily to recognize and vest the
rights over forest and occupation in forest land by Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers especially
whose rights have not been recorded despite the fact that they have been residing in these forests for
generations. The Act creates a legal framework for staking claim, the nature of evidence required to back
the claim, and the process of vesting rights in respect of forest land to the above mentioned communities.

213 The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, No. 2 of 2007.

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The Act is equally sensitive to the needs for conservation regime of forests and includes responsibilities
for sustainable use, conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological balance along with
achieving livelihood and food security as part of the rights that are vested on ST and other traditional
forest dwellers.
From the point of view of rural development as a sector, FRA defines two categories of rights that are
vested under the act that align itself with the sector as follows:
- Individual forest right (IFR): These are rights available to individual to hold and live in forest land for
self-cultivation for livelihood or for habitation. These rights also include right of ownership, access to
collect, use and dispose of minor forest produce that has been traditionally collected within or outside
the village boundaries. Exception has been made for primitive tribal and pre-agriculture communities
to hold community tenures over land. These rights are thus aligned with the interventions related to
livelihoods, shelter, and employment within the rural development sector.
- Community forest right (CFR): Community rights for nistar and other community uses and
entitlements like fish and other products of water bodies, grazing (both settled and transhumant),
and rights to protect, regenerate, conserve and manage any community forest resource that has been
traditionally protected and conserved for sustainable use. The CFR also extends to include right of
access to biodiversity and community right to intellectual property and traditional knowledge related
to bio and cultural diversity. These rights relate to interventions pertaining to livelihoods and
infrastructure development within the rural development as a sector.
FRA creates an exception under Forest (Conservation) Act,1980 where in it provides for diversion of
forest land (if recommended by the Gram Sabha) for listed facilities that involve felling of not more than
75 trees per hectare. The listed activities, inter alia, includes tanks and minor water bodies, drinking
water supply ad water pipelines, water or rain water harvesting structures, minor irrigation canals, skill
up-gradation and vocational training centres, roads and community centres. Thus, rural infrastructure
development can be undertaken through investments in rural infrastructure that have a direct bearing
on the livelihood activities carried out by ST and other forest dwelling communities.
According to the latest report available 87 percent of the claims have been disposed of till November
2019. Amongst these 40, 92,183 have been Individual Forest Rights and 76,174 have been Community
Forest Right claims.
FRA has had two impacts in the rural development sector: one, the programmes of rural development
have been extended to households and communities that have been recognized under the act as the tag
of encroachers on forest land was removed; and second, the issues of forest conservation and livelihoods
for these communities have gained prominence for rural development. Though the sector as such has not
created any specific programme dealing with forest dwellers communities and the programme at present
are short on experience and design for improvements in livelihoods and infrastructure in these areas.
(iv) Cooperative: The spirit of cooperation and its institutional forms have been existent in rural India
for ages, be it devari or vanarai systems for creation of village tanks and forests, or phads that were used
to impound water leading to equitable distribution, or lana where peasants partnered with each other to
cultivate jointly. The first codified form of the Cooperative Act however dates back to 1904 with the
enactment of The Cooperative Credit Societies Act, 1904. The Act was restricted to credit cooperatives
and by 1911 there were 5,300 such societies in existence with membership of 3,00,000 persons.
The subject of cooperative societies is placed under the State List in the Constitution. This enabled each
State to frame its own laws and rules that governed the functioning of cooperatives in their respective
States. However, a Multistate Cooperative Act was framed by the Central Government for cooperatives
that operate in more than one state. The first of these Acts was enacted in 1954 which was replaced in

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1984 that has replaced with The Multi State Cooperatives Societies Act 2002214. The purpose of the new
Act has been stated to “serve the interests of members in more than one State, to facilitate the voluntary
formation and democratic functioning of cooperatives as people’s institutions based on self-help and
mutual aid and to enable them to promote their economic and social betterment and to provide functional
autonomy.”215
The legislative space for co-operatives has been strengthened with enactment of The Constitution Ninety
Seventh Amendment Act in 2011. The amendment led to three critical changes: one, the freedom to form
cooperative societies was placed as one of the fundamental rights in Art 19(1); second, in Directive
Principles of State Policy additional article 43B was inserted that enjoined upon the State to “promote
voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of co-
operative societies”; and third, Part IXB was inserted titled The Cooperative Societies which enabled the
States to make laws for cooperative societies for their incorporation, regulation and winding up based
on the principles of voluntary formation, democratic member control, member economic participation
and autonomous functioning. Similar enabling provision has been provided for Central Government to
make legislation related to multi-state cooperative societies.
There are 8,33,560 cooperative societies in the country with a total membership of 274.97 million
persons. Amongst these 17% are credit-based societies whereas others are engaged in non-credit related
activities. The advantage of the federated structure of cooperatives is reflected in the fact that there are
17 National level, 399 State level, and 357 District level federations. Additionally, 1,255 Co-operatives are
registered under Multi-state Cooperative Act and implying that their area of operations is in more than
one state216.
Cooperatives present an organizational format that is backed with enabling legislation to collectivise the
poor and enable them to take advantage of their synergetic social capital. The organizational format is
suited for developing and strengthening federated institutions that may be required as the collectives
gather strength in numbers over large geographical areas, namely cluster of villages, or block and even
district level. With each State having a long history of Cooperatives Acts in place there is sufficient
experience within States to navigate weaknesses and constraints within their respective Acts and use it
for the benefit of the poor.
(v) Producer Company: The concept of Producer Company (PC) was introduced through and
amendment to the Companies Act 1956 in 2002. The basis of PC is the definition of primary produce that
has been defined as produce of farmers arising from agriculture including animal husbandry,
horticulture, floriculture, pisciculture, viticulture, forestry, forest produce, re-vegetation, bee raising and
farming plantation products, produce of persons engaged in handloom, handicraft and other cottage
industries; by products of such products; and products arising out of ancillary industries.
PC is a body corporate registered under Companies Act that carries on production, harvesting,
processing, procurement, grading, handling, marketing, selling, export of primary produce of the
members or import goods or services for their benefit. The scope of PC also includes rendering of
technical service and/or training, education, research and development for promotion of the interests of
the members; and generation, transmission and distribution of power, revitalization of land and water
including their use and conservation, and communications related to primary products.
In a PC only persons engaged in activity connected with or related to primary produce can participate in
the ownership. As farmers are the primary producer the PCs have come to be known more commonly as

214 The Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 [Act No of 39 of 2002] in 2002
215 Preamble to The Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002
216 Indian Cooperative Movement, A Statistical Profile, National Cooperative Union of India, 2016

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Farmer Producer Company (FPC). A minimum of 10 primary producers are required for the formation of
the company which after incorporation will be known as limited liability body corporate and a private
limited company (without the limitation of maximum 50 members). There is no limit on the maximum
number of members for the FPC.
At present, there are 7,374 Producer Companies217 registered under the amended Companies Act.
PC as an institutional format has stringent protective measures as it restricts the membership to PC to
people from and amongst the primary producers only. This ensures that the producer will be the owner
of the organization and the organisation will thus work for the betterment of the members and the
primary produce. PCs also represent the opportunity for primary producers to move up the value chain
of their produce and take advantage through vertical integration of processes and by trading in value
added products.
Empowering People: Guaranteeing employment
There are two legislations that define the entitlements of rural households and individuals as rights and
create legal framework which enables them to access these as rights. These two legislations are
MGNREGA and RPWD Act.
MGNREGS
One of the focuses of rural development planning has been productive absorption of under-employed and
surplus labour force in rural areas. Programmes for wage employment were launched and implemented
that provided relief to the rural poor. However, an increasing need was being felt to create a legal
framework that will ensure minimum days of employment to every household in rural areas. Based on
the experience of the Employment Guarantee Scheme of Maharashtra the Government of India enacted
the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act218 that came in to force from 1 April
2007. The purpose of the Act is “enhancement of livelihood security of households in rural areas of the
country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year
to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled work.”219
The Act lays down the conditions and the manner in which the guarantee of hundred days of employment
will be fulfilled: (i) each state to prepare and notify the Scheme that will, inter alia, specify how the adult
workers will be enrolled, demand work, conditions for employment, assessment of work, payment of
wages, and list of permitted works. These schemes are known are MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) with reference to the name of respective states; (ii) wage rates
that will be paid under the Scheme; (iii) conditions under which unemployment allowance will be paid.
MGNREGS is comprehensive in its approach and coverage of the issues related to commitment of
provisioning guaranteed employment. It lays down the institutional arrangement including distribution
of roles and responsibilities along with powers and functions at the Centre, State, District, Intermediate
and Gram Panchayat level. An elaborate grievance redressal and accountability mechanism including that
of Social Audits have been mandated within the act.
Persons with Disability Act
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPD Act) was promulgated by Government of India,
inter alia, to give effect to the principles of non-discrimination, equality of opportunity and accessibility
to Divyang in the country. The Act comprehensively addresses their rights with respect to education,

217 Neti, Annapurna, Govil, Richa, and Rao, Madhushree R., (2019), "Farmer Producer Companies in India: Demystifying the

Numbers," Review of Agrarian Studies, vol. 9, no. 2, available at [Link]/fc5e6f86c86e8548e3eb17f4ec8fbc9f

218 The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2009 (42 of 2009)
219 Preamble to The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2009

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health care, rehabilitation, employment and skill development and protection against violence, abuse,
exploitation. For the rural development sector, specific provisions of the RPD Act that apply are as
follows:
- Promotional (Employment and Livelihoods): These are provisions that direct the governments at
appropriate levels to formulate schemes and programmes, subject to their economic capacity and
development, for Divyang that increase their opportunities for employment and livelihoods. These
provisions relate to facilitation of Divyang for: (i) vocational training and self-employment
programmes (sec 19); (ii) loans at concessional rates (including micro credit) (sec 19); (iii) marketing
of products (sec 19); and (iv) services and programmes for their rehabilitation including programmes
for employment (sec 27).
- Protective (Social security): The RPD Act expects Governments to formulate schemes and programmes
to safeguard and promote the rights of Divyang for adequate standard of living. Among other things,
these schemes relate to (i) disability pensions, subject to such income ceiling as may be notified; and
access to safe drinking water and accessible sanitation facilities. Though the Act stipulates that
provisioning of such schemes will be subject to the limits of economic capacity and development of
respective governments, yet the Act states that the quantum of assistance shall be at least 25% higher
than the similar schemes applicable to others (sec 24); and (ii) conduct of social audit to ensure
protection from adverse impact of all general schemes and programmes and to make sure that the
needs, requirements and concerns of Divyang are being met (sec 48).
- Entitlement (infrastructure): There are provisions in the RPD Act that accords rights to the Divyang
as specific entitlements that appear as reservations in government programmes. These provisions
include (i) measures to provide accessible roads to address mobility (sec 41); (ii) five percent
reservation in allotment of agriculture land and housing, poverty alleviation and developmental
schemes, and allotment of land on concessional rates where such land is to be used for purpose of
housing, shelter, setting up business, enterprise, recreation and production centres (sec 37).
According to Census 2011 there are 2.26 crores Divyang in India which comprise 2.21 percent of the
total population of the country. Among the Divyang, 56 percent are males and 69 percent of disabled
population resides in rural areas. The age break up of population of disabled persons comprise of 17
percent in the 10 to 19 year age bracket, 16 percent in the 20 to 29 year and 21 percent in the elderly
age bracket of 60 plus years.
MGNREGS is applicable to all persons residing in rural areas, the RPWD Act is specific to Divyang. The
intent and purpose of the both the Acts is however to define the entitlement, create a framework and
process to claim entitlement, and establish accountability for duty bearers in case the entitlements are
not made available within the given time frame. Whereas MGNREGS is implemented by the DoRD the
RPWD Act has implications for the sector where it has to develop interventions and secure resources that
will be specifically directed to Divyang. A large part of coverage by the sector has been ensured by making
the criteria of disability as inclusive within the SECC data. This has ensured identification and selection
of these groups of persons for individual benefit schemes like the PMAY-G. The design of infrastructure
and livelihoods related programmatic interventions do cater to the needs of Divyang but there are no
specific design and process interventions that ensure that these benefits are secured and reserved for
them only.
Reforms: Good Governance
Good governance frameworks have emphasized on the participation of beneficiaries as part of decision
making processes; on addressing spatial and inter-household inequalities to make interventions
inclusive; and an accountability framework that monitors and ensures compliances with laws and
guidelines of the scheme.

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Decentralised Governance
The 73rd Constitution Amendment led to the establishment of Panchayats and the consequent State Acts
gave them the State specific legal mandate for their functioning as units of self-government. However, the
autonomy of these institutions has been critically linked to the availability of untied funds at their
disposal that allows them to meet their developmental aspirations. Preparation of GPDP as a price has
been institutionalized which is now increasingly being used to give direction to development in rural
areas of the country.
In the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP), the 14th FFC recommended devolution of large amount
of money to Gram Panchayats to the tune of Rs. 2, 00,292 crores for providing basic services for a period
of five years during 2015-20. This was three times more allocation than was recommended under the
13th FFC. The Ministry of Panchayat Raj framed guidelines for the preparation of Gram Panchayat
Development Plans (GPDP) for economic development and social justice based on participatory
processes and convergence of all schemes of Central and State government on 29 subjects that have been
devolved to Panchayats under Schedule XI of the constitution.
GPDP essentially has three dimensions: first, it captures the vision of what the people would like their
village to be; second, it sets out goals to achieve the vision; and third, it gives an action plan to reach the
stated goals. GPDPs are expected to respond to the goals and action plans in a manner where execution
of plans will lead towards the achievement of SDG targets by 2030.
Out of 2, 66,870 GPs 93 percent had approved GPDPs in 2019-20. The number of GPs in the country opting
for focus area wise data for the year 2019-20 is given in the figure below. The focus area of Basic Service
includes water, sanitation, health and PDS; Social welfare includes schemes for weaker sections and tribal
welfare. Human Development includes education, libraries, women and child, and cultural activities.
Livelihoods include the entire range of livelihoods in rural areas agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries,
small scale industries, and khadi and village industries. Infrastructure is a broad group that includes
schemes for energy, plantation, housing, roads, social forestry and irrigation works. It is noteworthy that
largest share of works was in Basic services followed by Livelihoods and Infrastructure.
Figure 16 : Focus Area Wise GPs Plan 2019-20

22%
37%

6%

9%

26%

Basic Service Social welfare Human Development

Livelihoods Infrastructure

Addressing inequalities
Inclusion implies accounting for inequalities and differences among regions and households. Where the
laws mandate non-discrimination and equality of opportunity, it is reforms like adoption of

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Transformation of Aspirational Districts programme and SECC data for targeting of spatial and inter-
household inequalities. The details of both these reformative actions is given below.
(i) Geographical: Aspirational districts: The story of India’s growth will not be complete unless it
ensures that growth is both inclusive and sustainable. It is thus imperative that the results and fruits of
development are shared by all and the processes of development and growth create spaces where all can
participate and contribute in the growth story. There is, however, spatial dimension to
underdevelopment in the country. There are places that have not been able to keep pace with
development on account of their relatively poor resource endowment, poorer infrastructural network,
low quality of social capital, low standards of health, nutrition, education and skills. Depending on the
context these factors appear as cause and symptom of under development. The programme for
Transformation of Aspirational Districts was launched to address the causes of underdevelopment in
these districts and give a sustained push that will bring these districts in development alignment with
other areas of the country.
The Transformation of Aspirational Districts programme is aimed to increase the pace of developmental
activities in selected 117 districts in 28 states of the country. The programme is implemented by States
and the focus is to identify and use the strengths of each district and prioritise attainable outcomes for
immediate improvement. The programme works on the three core principles of Convergence, between
schemes of Central and State government; Collaboration, among citizens and district teams of Central and
State government; and Competition, among districts to maintain and sustain the pace of development.
The programme draws on five thematic areas including Education and Health and Nutrition. The other
three themes, Agriculture and Water Resources, Financial Inclusion and Skill Development, and Basic
Infrastructure, are related to indicators of Rural Development as they seek to enhance multiple aspects
of livelihoods and infrastructure in rural spaces in these districts.
The programme monitors the real-time progress of aspirational districts based on 49 indicators (81 data-
points) from the 5 identified thematic areas. NITI Aayog has completed a baseline ranking of 101 districts.
The districts are ranked based on their progress on a real-time basis to assess ‘distance to frontier’ – i.e.
the distance of each district from the state’s and nation’s best. The districts are ranked in each of the five
thematic areas as well as on a composite index. The dashboard in real time provides ranking of each of
the aspirational districts as well as give rank of the top and bottom district for each theme and on
composite index.220
(ii) Household: Addressing Deprivations: Identification of poor households is a prerequisite for
effective targeting of beneficiaries under poverty alleviation and rural development programmes. BPL
Census was conducted by DoRD every five years since 1992. The Census provided credible basis for
evidence based intervention; an estimate of extent of poverty in the country; and efficacy of the
government programmes in ameliorating socio-economic conditions of the targeted beneficiaries. The
BPL Census was conducted in 1992, 1997 and 2002. Targeting based on BPL list was negatively affected
by serious methodological errors that led to errors of exclusion and inclusion which not only deprived
the poor from getting benefits of poverty alleviation programmes, but also placed the non-poor into
category of poor.
Sumit Bose Committee recommended use of SECC data for targeting the poor and deprived households
as beneficiaries of poverty alleviation programmes. The BPL list is prepared based on the data provided
by NSSP, whereas SECC data ranks households on different parameters of deprivation and also accords
the opportunity of prioritizing households based on criteria of multiple deprivations. Further, since SECC

220 NITI Aayog (2018) Aspirational Districts: Unlocking Potentials ,NITI Aayog, Government of India

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has disaggregated data on different deprivations it allows use of the same data set for targeting
households for different programmes.
SECC was conducted with participation from DoRD, MoHUA and Office of the Registrar General and
Census Commissioner. The SECC was a respondent based survey that was ratified by the Gram Sabha and
Gram Panchayat. It had six steps: Enumeration, Supervision, Verification and Correction, Draft list
publication, Claims and Objections, Final list publication. The final approved list served as the reference
data to target programmes of rural development.
Accountability
Details of accountability and transparency that highlight the reforms instituted for good governance are
given in the Accountability and Transparency section of the report (Page 87). To summarise, the
accountability in the sector takes place through multiple mechanisms that include performance
monitoring through web based MIS system well supplemented by geo-tagging of assets and monitoring
by DISHA committee at district level. The second system in assessment by National Level Monitors,
conduct of Common review Missions and evaluation studies of specific schemes. The third oversight
mechanism entails statutory audit compliances as well as the social audit mechanism that has been
developed and instituted up to Gram Sabha level. For each of these three systems, specific mechanisms
and frameworks have been developed which have brought consistency and depth to the analysis and
have given valuable feedbacks for enhancing management and operational efficiency in programme
implementation.
E-Gram Swaraj
Ministry of Panchayati Raj in collaboration with States has undertaken the enormous task of e-Panchayat
in Mission Mode Project under Digital India programme of Government of India. The project aims to
automate internal workflow processes of all the 2.5 lakh Panchayats across the country and make a
significant contribution in transforming the rural governance landscape in the country. With the 14th
Finance Commission making large amounts of money available to Panchayats it has become imperative
to install a robust and effective monitoring system that captures activities in all their manifest forms not
only from planning to implementation but also fulfilling accountability compliances and ensuring
sustainability of benefits and impacts.
The e-Gram Swaraj, under the e-Panchayat, is a single platform for planning and accounting needs of
Panchayats. Developed as part of Panchayat Enterprise Suite, it aims to bring transparency and
strengthening of e-Governance in Panchayat institutions. It has five modules: one module profiles the
Panchayat in terms of details of elections and elected members of the Panchayats; the second module
facilitates planning by recording suggestions of Gram Sabha, repository of shelf of projects, details of
resources in terms of budgetary allocation from all sources and enables convergence and preparation of
action plans. The third and fourth modules are focused on progress reporting and accounting
respectively. These modules track physical and financial progress including geo tagging and securing
technical and administrative approvals of works and adopt double entry cash based system for work
based accounting and monitoring of flow of funds. The module facilitates daily, monthly and yearly
closure of books of accounts. The last module is an Asset Directory that keeps an inventory of all movable
and immovable assets of the Panchayats along with their location, status and ownership.
Takeaways
• Strengthening Decentralisation of Governance. Rural development interventions conform to
taking forward the agenda of strengthening Panchayats in the country. As all the subjects entrusted
to Panchayats fall within the purview of rural development sector the collaboration between the
sector and Panchayat is not a strategic option but a constitutional imperative. Working with

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Panchayats and increasingly giving them space in planning and implementation of programmes of
rural development has created institutional experience in these institutions that has worked for the
strengthening of decentralized governing systems. Making functions actionable through reformist
measures like GPDP furthers the constitutional vision of emergence of Village Panchayats as units of
self-government.
• Sensitivity to tribal cultural milieu. Most of programmes of rural development are designed for
universal coverage and implementation. The regional or cultural variations based on geographical
and community groups are not given enough prominence. For example, the design of rural houses
has geographical variations, but they have not been designed for the needs of tribal groups that give
specific meaning to different parts of their house. Similarly, the institution of Self-Help Groups has
been transplanted in tribal areas without assessment of their own traditional systems of collectives
and mechanisms for extending credit to each other. In large part the tribal groups in PESA areas have
not been informed of their rights and power under the PESA, generally or through programmes of
rural development. Thus, the traditional wisdom and socially accepted institutions have not become
part of the development design and rural development as a sector seems to have lost on this
opportunity.
• Forest as a special sub sector. Administratively forests have always been administered by Ministry
of Forest according to the provisions of Forest Conservation Act. As a result, rural development as a
sector has not developed specialization in forest based livelihoods as it has on farm and farm based
livelihoods. Further, rural development interventions that always lie outside the forest area.
However, with FRA bringing in area significant population, hitherto outside the ambit of rural
development, as part of the sector implies developing forest specific interventions in livelihoods and
infrastructure for these geographies and people.
• Rights and Entitlements. The rights and entitlements framework has been empowering to the rural
households and have given them opportunity to voice their aspirations. The impacts of these are also
reflected in the processes associated with GPDPs that has further strengthened these voices. The
impacts of rights based framework in legislations and their follow up with administratively
implemented schemes has prompted formulation of similar legislations (e.g. National Food Security
Act) in the country.
• Bridging the digital divide. Use of ICT and computer based, and digital technology is making
accountability easier and available to citizens. At one end it is making tasks of Panchayats easier and
on the other it is bridging the digital divide that exists between urban and rural areas.
Way forward
• No definition of “country”. There has been no definition of rural or country in any of the legislations
in the country. The Town and Country Planning Act do not define the word country. With rural and
urban areas developing as a continuum the distinction becomes important as institutions of
governance and standards of services and service delivery will have to be aligned accordingly. Such a
definition will contribute in developing long term plans for the country, similar to the plans that are
envisaged for town and cities.
• No legal framework that will guarantee social security to elderly and widows. At present, there
is no legal framework that defines the rights and entitlements related to social security of the elderly
and widows. These legislations will establish benchmark minimum of social security and will
guarantee a minimum standard of dignified living to the marginalized and dependent population in
the country.

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• Decrease of Agency function of Panchayats. The design of rural development programmes has
visualized Panchayats in the function of agency of the rural development administration. The
delegation of functions and devolution of powers to Panchayats have to gin in number and content so
that these are substantive in nature and enable Panchayats to increasingly function as units of self-
government. A review of functions entrusted to Panchayats in the rural development sector can
highlight and develop a plan that will gradually transfer powers and function to Panchayat
institutions.
• Universalisation of programme design. Programmatic designs are universal in nature. The
guidelines need to make exception for different geographical areas (Schedule Five and Six areas)
different communities (tribal groups) to account for their diversity and to people in different
circumstances (Divyang) to cater to their specific needs. These will require greater participation of
States in development of programmatic designs and formulations of schemes.
• Bringing forest and forest based communities and livelihoods as special group. Forest and
forest based livelihoods need to be carved out as special group within rural development so that
specific interventions in livelihoods and infrastructure can be developed for them.
• Pilots from Aspirational District for replication. Aspirational Districts have defined pathways that
have shown progress on different indicators. There is urgent need to document the experiments that
were undertaken for planning and implementation that have increased pace of development in these
districts for wider replication all over the country.
• Making SECC dynamic. For SECC to be made effective, it needs to be made more dynamic wherein
its updation is more frequent so that households that have been left out or have added to the list of
deprived households are included in the programmes for rural development.
(xii) Impact on and role of private sector, community/ collectives/ cooperatives
Introduction
The rural development sector comprises key stakeholder groups who contribute to and are impacted by
sectoral outcomes in different ways. The private sector has increasingly become an important stakeholder
in rural spaces, thereby opening up possibilities of public-private partnerships and creating spaces for
innovation and research. Further, India’s history of rural development has strong mechanisms to initiate
and reinforce community participation, with people’s aspirations and demands forming the basis of policies
and programmes. Furthermore, collectives and cooperatives are key innovations to aggregate actions and
interests in rural spaces, thereby enabling citizens to channelize their funds and efforts towards common
developmental goals.
Background
Private Sector
Private sector contribution to rural development is at two levels: one is through participation in creating
of value chains that enables producers in rural space to gain by participating as processors in the value
chain; and second, as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) investment in rural spaces.
(a) Value chain creation
The initial years of agricultural growth that were instrumental in ushering in development in rural areas
were focused on interventions designed to increase production and productivity of farms. However, in the
1990s as agriculture production stabilized and the sector was open to private players the opportunity of
private sector coming in participate in the creation of value chains become possible. Further, the private

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sector expanded its presence from agriculture to other sub- sectors that included animal husbandry and
livestock farming, fisheries, handloom and handicraft products.
The private sector plays multiple roles in the value chain: as trading partners, service providers like storage
and transportation, design and technology providers, knowledge disseminators, processors of` primary
produce and creators of agriculture/off farm business hubs in rural areas221. The private sector
participation has been instrumental in bringing transformation in agri-based businesses as well as
movement of surplus labour in rural areas from agriculture to non-agricultural sectors.
There is however lack of data that captures the role and contribution of private sector contribution in
creation of value chain emanating from rural sector. The information available is anecdotal and does not
provide a macro picture of the trends and impacts.
(b) CSR investment
The total CSR spend in 2014-15 was Rs.10, 065 crore that increased by 54 percent to Rs.18,653 crore in
2018-19. However, over this period the amount initially increased in 2015-16 but then decreased in the
subsequent two years and finally underwent a quantum jump in 2018-19. During 2014-15 to 2018-19 the
expenditure under CSR for Rural Development increased by 45 percent.222
As proportion to the total spend under CSR, investments under rural development have grown in absolute
as well as percentage terms. Rural development comprised 10.5 percent of total CSR in 2014-15 but it
increased to 12.3 percent in 2018-19 indicating that with increase in CSR expenditure rural development
is increasing its share in the total spend by private companies.223
Figure 17 : Total CSR spend and Expenditure on Rural Development (Rs. crores)

10,065.93 14,517.21 14,333.04 13,708.02 18,653.48

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%
1,059.34 1,376.16 1,554.77 1,479.80 2,308.83
0%
2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19

Rural Development Total CSR Spend

The CSR spend is however uneven across different states. The majority of investment is in Maharashtra,
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh followed by Karnataka, Rajasthan, Odisha and Delhi. Sector wise, the
largest share is that of education followed by health and then rural development.224
Civil Society
There are 92,484 NGOs registered with Darpan portal. Amongst these 22,891 (or 24 percent) work in the
field of rural development. These civil society organizations access funds from government, corporate,

221 Adapted from Jain N (2019) Role of private sector in building an efficient agricultural chain, TERI
222 National CSR Portal, Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Retrieved from [Link] Accessed on 27 May 2020.
223 Same as Footnote 239.
224 Same as Footnote 239.

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foreign and individual donations. In 2016-17 the largest donations came from foreign sources to the tune
of Rs. 14,824 crores followed with CSR fund of Rs. 13,465 crores and government donations of Rs. 5,367
crores. There is no centralized data for individual donations, yet these have been estimated to be
approximately Rs. 461 crores.225
The thematic disaggregation of data present difficulties for its categorization. For example, in case of
foreign funds the broad categories are Social, Educational, Religious, Economic and Cultural. Thematic
disaggregation is possible in case of CSR data that indicates that 18% data to civil society organizations
has been for rural development and poverty alleviation. In case of individual donation lack of centralized
and disaggregated data restricts assessment of thematic data sets.226
Community collectives
Self Help Groups (SHGs): There are two major sources that are responsible for formation of SHGs in the
country: NABARD through its SHG-BLP programme and DAY-NRLM. Both the Programmes have together
formed 1 crore SHGs in the country that cover 12 crore households in rural areas. These SHG have
mobilized Rs. 23,324 crore worth savings by March 2019227. Almost half (50.77 lakh) SHGs had
outstanding loan amounts as of March 2019 which were worth Rs. 87,098 crores. 228
Cooperatives: There were 8, 33,560 cooperatives in the country in 2016 with a total membership of
274.97 million persons. Of the total cooperatives 46,870 (around 5.6 percent) were defunct. Amongst the
total cooperatives, 17 percent (141,118) were credit-based cooperatives and the remaining were non-
credit based cooperatives. The cooperatives had a total share capital of Rs. 383,285 million. Among the
cooperatives there were 12 National, 399 state and 3,571 District level cooperative federations. Further
1,255 were multi-state cooperatives.229
The contribution of cooperatives in national economy can be assessed with the fact that cooperatives
cover 94.32 percent villages and distribute 17 percent of the total agriculture credit and Kisan Cards to
75.71 percent farmers.230
Producer Companies (PC): There are 7,374 producer companies registered in India between January
2003 and March 2019.231 The pace of registration of companies was slow in the initial 10 years of the
amendment to the Companies Act. It is only after 2016 that the registration of PCs took off with more
than 1,691 companies being registered during the year. In 2019, a total of 11,804 producer companies
were registered. 232
A total of 445 companies are in the process of being struck off or have been struck off representing 6
percent of the total companies registered. The percentage of companies struck off may be low as the
process of striking off begins after two years of registration and when the company has been given time
to respond to the queries of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Significantly, 46 percent of the companies
that have been registered for more than 10 years have been struck off by the Ministry.233

225 Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy, Ashoka University. (2019). Estimating Philanthropic Capital in India: Approaches

and Challenges.
226 Same as Footnote 242.
227 National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development. (2019). Status of Micro-Finance in India 2018-19
228 Same as Footnote 244.
229 National Cooperative Movement of India. (2016). India Cooperative Movement: A Statistical Profile.
230 Same as Footnote 246.
231 Registered as producer companies under Section 581 of Part IX-A of the Companies Act 1956 or Section 465 of the

Companies Act 2013

232 Neti, A., Govil, R., & Rao, M. R. Farmer Producer Companies in India: Demystifying the Numbers.
233 Same as Footnote 249.

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The registered producer companies have a total authorized capital of about Rs. 15.7 billion and total paid-
up capital of about Rs. 8.6 billion, with an average of Rs. 1.17 million per company. There are about 4.3
million shareholders across all producer companies.234
Key Takeaways
• Rural Development sector has gained by collaborating with private sector, civil society
organizations and people’s collectives: The gain to rural development by collaborating with
private sector and civil society has been manifold. There has been widespread penetration of civil
society and people’s collective (especially cooperatives) in the length and breadth of the rural areas of
the country. These organizations have been able to build a strong saving and credit base for collectives
of the poor and ensured their financial inclusion with banks.
In addition to its financial contribution through CSR funding, the private sector has made
contributions by way of developing and strengthening of value chain enabling movement from produce
to product and from farm to firm.
• There are no comprehensive policy guidelines for engagement with private sector and civil
society at a sectoral level: There are schematic guidelines that stipulate the manner of engagement
with collectives and civil society for the purpose of the scheme only. For example, the DAY-NRLM
guidelines stipulate the engagement of NGOs as technical support agencies and the formation of PCs
as aggregators of producer with common range of produce. There are, however, no comprehensive
policy guidelines that creates space for interface and engagement with private sector and civil society
organizations on a regular basis which are not only knowledge sharing platforms but also for
collaborative research and development as well action oriented initiatives.
Way Forward
• Creation of knowledge haring platform with private sector and civil society organizations:
Bringing together sectoral representatives from the private sector and civil society for knowledge
sharing and exchange will bring depth to the sector as it will gain from different experiences and
competencies.
• Interface platforms that can give rise to private-public-collective initiatives: There is need to
facilitate promotion of public, private and people’s partnerships that will create the base for
innovation and high risk ventures. These interfaces may create a new breed of startups in different
fields of rural development- namely livelihoods, infrastructure and social safety nets.
• Policy for engagement with private sector, civil society organizations and people’s collective:
There is need for sector level policy framework and guidelines that enable regular interaction
between private sector, civil society and people’s collectives with rural development interventions.
The policy needs to take a long term view that will promote these engagements and create synergies
among the strengths of different institutions.
(xiii) Migration

Introduction
Migration is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, manifested in a variety of forms, from local mobility
to permanent relocation across international boundaries.235 Despite the importance of migration as the

234 Same as Footnote 249.

235 Avis, W. R. (2017). Scoping study on defining and measuring distress migration.

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harbinger of economic transformation, it suffers definitional inconsistencies. The UN Convention on the

Rights of Migrants defines a migrant worker as a ‘person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been
engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national’236. However, this definition
does not take in to account cases where migrants leave their place of origin on account of economic
insecurity, conflicts, political or social persecution, environmental degradation or disasters or simply in
search of their very survival.
Based on review of various definitions that exist in different countries, scholars have grouped the
motivations to migrate in to five criteria: direction of movement, destination of movement, duration of
movement, lawfulness of movement, and willingness to move. Such a classification has been made to
understand the ‘degree to which individuals or household’s decision to migrate is made voluntarily or
involuntarily’.237 Voluntary migration indicates a decision based on their intrinsic desire to bring
improvement in their economic life by exploring better livelihood options. Involuntary migration on the
other hand depicts a migratory movement that has elements of coercion or threats to life and livelihoods
from manmade or natural causes. A relevant and significant factor for rural development as a sector is the
phenomena of distress migration that is prompted by the lack of access to employment and the inability to
survive with dignity238.
Background
Migration gains constitutional sanction which guarantees all citizens the right to move freely and reside
and settle in any part of the country (Article 19), prohibits discrimination on the basis of place of birth
(Article 15), and guarantees equal opportunity to all citizens in matters of public employment (Article
16).These sanctions have been further strengthened with the ruling of the Supreme Court239 that held
restrictions based on residence for the purpose of employment unconstitutional. Economically, migration
represents opportunity that carries human capital to regions where it is needed thereby enabling
acquisition of new skills and better standards of living240. At macroeconomic level rural to urban migration
has been the driver that has fuelled the Indian economy away from agriculture towards manufacturing and
services.
Data on macro trends internal migration in India is based on Census and the quinquennial household
surveys carried out by NSSO. Census defines migrant as a person residing in a place other than his or her
place of birth or one who has changed place usual place of residence to another place. Resident is defined
as one who is staying in a location for six months or more. NSSO uses the change in usual place of residence
as the basis of identifying migrant. In its 64th Round (2007- 08), migrant was defined as a household
member whose last usual place of residence, anytime in the past, was different from the present place of
enumeration. In both the cases the fact of migration has been captured but the reason for migration (based
on the willingness criteria) has not been captured. This defies a macro level assessment of the trend of
distress migration and whether the interventions at the sector level in rural development are able to
address the phenomena of distress migration.
Sangeeta (2017)241 explores the inverted U relationship between income/wealth and migration to looks
into situations of distress migration or high levels of migrations at abysmally low levels of income. The
paper posits that as income increases there is an increase in migration till a certain point beyond which

236 Faso, B. (2012). International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their

Families.
237Same as Footnote 252.
238 Mander, H. & Sahgal, G. (2015). Internal Migration in India: Distress and Opportunities.
239 Charu Khurana v. Union of India and Others (Civil Writ Petition No. 73/2013)
240 Korra, V. (2011). Labour migration in Mahabubnagar: Nature and characteristics. Economic and Political Weekly, 67-70.
241 Sangita, S. (2017). Poverty and Migration: Evidence of Distress Migration in India. In IARIW-ICIER Conference (pp. 23-25).

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there is an inflection. Beyond this point, there is a downward sloping curve, wherein improved levels of
income lead to decreased migration. At the same time there is a cost associated to migration and
households that are unable to bear the cost may not migrate and may remain trapped in the zone of
immobility. Sangeeta (2017) uses 64th Round of NSSO data and generates evidence that at extremely low
levels of income the inverted U curve hypothesis may not hold true for income/wealth and migration. That
is, lower levels of income will cause distress migration and the households may opt for unsafe passages
to migrate.
Rural development sector makes investment at both ends - investments that facilitate migration, and
interventions that seek to arrest the phenomena of distress migration.
- Sectoral interventions to facilitate migration: Investments in infrastructure by way of road rural
networks enhance mobility and bring down the cost of transportation, thereby facilitating migration.
Further, SPMRM recognizes the rural-urban continuum and adopts a cluster approach for livelihoods
enhancement. This, in turn, creates a network which facilitates increased opportunities for
employment within the cluster. These interventions are directed towards increased movement of
households seeking better job opportunities. Effects may also manifest in the form of decreased
migration as the job seekers will choose to commute, and not migrate within the cluster.
- Sectoral interventions to mitigate distress migration: Sectoral investments that direct their
impact on decreasing distress migration are at four levels: one, provisioning of demand-based
employment under MGNREGS that guarantees work/unemployment allowance; two, providing safe
and secure shelter by way of housing that acts as a dis-incentive to migrate (at least for long periods);
three, provisioning of pensions under NSAP that makes cash available to the households that act as a
deterrent to migrate; and fourth, easy access to credit to the poor families through the SHGs (including
Vulnerability Reduction Fund) provides opportunities to the families on threshold of distress to make
investments in their food security and livelihoods and refrain from migrating in distress (the impact
of the scheme and programmes on distress migration will be discussed in detail in respective
schematic sections in this report).
Takeaways
• There is a lack of typologies of migration: Migration as a phenomenon has been well documented
and researched. Surveys and narratives explore the phenomena as an evidence of structural
transformation on Indian economy and as evolution of the economy from an agrarian base towards
industrial and service oriented sources of wealth creation. These explorations have not dwelled in to
different types of migration, other than making broad generalizations of the push and the pull factors.
The lack of typologies of different types of migration has created an information and knowledge gap
wherein it is not possible to assess and determine long and short terms trends in migration in general,
and distress migration in particular.
• Sectoral interventions facilitate migration as well as seek to arrest distress migration: In the
absence of clear and consistent definition of distress migration it is difficult to make an assessment of
the impact of sectoral interventions on distress migration. Even within programmes, the factor of
migration is not tracked in regular monitoring and review processes. Consequently, the rural
development policy depends on systematic evaluations to provide feedback on the impact migration
and distress migration of the investments made in the sector. These gaps constrain the sector in
identifying and giving priority to households that are the verge of distress.
• MGNREGS holds the potential to mitigate distress migration to some extent: MGNREGS is
perhaps the only programmatic opportunity that has the capacity and the flexibility to bring succour
and relief to households and geographies facing distress on account of prolonged drought and/or

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natural disasters. The programme has increased the guarantee of 100 days to 150 days in Districts
that face high levels of migration on account of drought situations. However, since the programme is
demand-based, it does not impact the decisions of the household directly but indirectly by making
work available locally. Other issues of food security, debt burden etc. are not accounted for in the
programme.
Way Forward
• Initiate demand for definition of migration and typologies of different types of migration:
DoRD, representing the host to migrants, can collaborate with MoHUA, as destination and recipient of
migrants, demanding the definition of migration and creation of categories and typologies of different
types of migration. These will bring in consistency in data collection and exploration in the
phenomenon of migration, and its reasons and impacts thereof. The Ministry of Statistics can provide
technical backstopping to develop glossary related to migration in the country.
• Track migration as part of regular MIS of programmes: The sector needs to initiate the process
of tracking migration as a result of its programmatic interventions. The tracking can be of both, the
individuals and households that were facilitated to migrate (by way of skill development and/or
through facilitative investments in their economic system), and households that were supported to
reduce or stop their migration in distress. This data will be helpful in providing real time inputs of the
impacts of programmes in rural development for policy making. The pilot for tracking migration can
be made part of Transformation of Aspiration Districts programme which will give a pan-India view of
the magnitude, extent, processes, factors, and reasons for migration in the country.
• Promote impact studies on migration under different programmes: So far the studies in rural
development and migration have been with reference to MGNREGS. However, the impact of other
programmes especially PMAY-G, PMGSY, NSAP and SPMRM on migration have not been studied nor
assessed. These impact studies will be helpful in developing impact indicators for each of the schemes
and also generate the narrative that will link investment in rural spaces to development of human
capital, thereby laying down conditions that facilitate migration (whether in distress or for
improvement in standard of living).
• Developing a packaged approach to address distress migration: The issue of distress migration,
at present, does not have a packaged approach. There is reliance on MGNREGS to provide work locally.
Other issues of food security, debt servicing, availability of safe drinking water etc. are not packaged
with the programme. Even in high migrating districts/regions there is need for a packaged approach
to address the issue of distress migration.

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1.3. Issues and Challenges

Rural sector with considerable history of varying scale of projects and apparent success and challenges
requires stocktaking for understanding the relevant issues and challenges for future policy. There has
been considerable recent discussion of the changes that are taking place in the rural sector, both within
rural economies and in terms of the approaches adopted towards rural policy. The predominant
characterisation is of a single change, commonly from an approach focussed fundamentally on the
agricultural sector towards one focussed on the rural space and more diversified economic activity. These
were driven by a need to ensure domestic food security and the central role of agriculture in rural
economies. This approach met variety of objectives for food security, rural development and farm
incomes simultaneously. There has been a steadier process of economic and social change in rural areas
over a period.
The core of the rural transformation agenda now is defined by the following major imperatives242:
• Reducing poverty and inequalities243: not only those inherited from past policy decisions and social
structures but also the new gaps and inequalities being created by the process of rapid change itself.
• Ensuring food security and accelerating agricultural development244: securing a relevant role
and opportunities for small-scale producers and family farmers in value chains.
• Creating more and better jobs and economic self-sufficiency245 in rural areas: including small
towns and intermediate cities.
• Rural economic diversification246 as a major driver of job creation. At the same time, addressing
imperfect rural labour markets.
• Meeting the climate adaptation and enhancing green agenda247.
• Stimulating growth of rural towns and intermediate cities and strengthening the links248
between them and their rural households.
• Managing the complex249 and sensitive issue of rural–urban migration250.
• Securing universal access to basic public services251 with improved quality standards.
• Securing widespread access to efficient and sustainable financial services and capital with
improvements in efficiency and institutional capacity of rural financial systems252.

242 The agenda of rural transformation has been arrived at based on references derived from secondary literatures. Rural

transformation (both structural and sectoral) vis-à-vis the relationships that exists find relationship both in terms of conceptual
underpinnings and policy imperatives.
243 Claire Aubron, Hugo Lehoux et Corentin Lucas (2015); Poverty and inequality in rural India.
[Link]
244 HLPE. 2016. Sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition: what roles for livestock? A report by the

High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security, Rome.
245 IFAD (2019) Creating opportunities for rural youth; Rural Development report
246 Mehta, Niti. (2018). Occupational Diversification and Rural Transformation. 10.1007/978-981-10-8962-6_2.
247 UNDP (2012) Greening Rural Development in India Vol I & Vol II.
248 Sietchiping et. Al (2014) The Role of Small and Intermediate Towns in Enhancing Urban-Rural Linkages for Sustainable
Urbanization, Regional Development Dialogue, vol. 35, 2014 [Link] (accessed
8th March 2020)
249 Bhagat (2017) International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai. Paper presented at United Nations Expert Group

Meeting on Sustainable cities human mobility and International migration, Population Division, Department of Economic and
Social Affairs United Nations Secretariat New York 7-8 September 2017
250 Bhagat, R. B. (2016) ‘Changing pattern of migration in India’, In C. Guilmoto and Gavin Jones, (eds.) Contemporary

Demographic Transformations in China, India and Indonesia, Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 239-254
251 Same as Footnote 65.
252 IFAD. (2016). Rural Development Report Chapter 7 – Rural Finance.

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• Promoting innovation, research and development253 focused on the needs of rural ecosystem with
engagement for community and rural producers with opportunities offered by digital transformation.
• Putting in place social support schemes including cash transfers, pensions and employment
guarantees for the most vulnerable to secure the basic human dignity and ease of living254 for
every rural household.
All these offer sustainable long-term outcomes with localized, inclusive economic growth, complemented
and not replaced by social support schemes. The evolution of such a pattern leading to transformation,
enabling ecosystem and convergence-based interface across all the nodes of rural sector viz.;
infrastructure, livelihoods and social safety nets are tabulated below to understand the empirical pattern
and spatially explicit narrative of the rural sector.
Table 8: Evolution of Rural Development Transformation Agenda255

Underpinning Paradigm – Old Paradigm – New Enabling policies Paradigm

Basic principles Agriculture policy Multisectoral Multiple dimensions addressed by
Rural Policy (Competitiveness) programs viz.; rural economy
(infrastructure creation and
livelihoods); decentralized
planning and implementation
(PRIs) & resilience (ecological and
participation of women in economy
and society)
Policy, Support for single Inclusion and Inclusive • Promotion of Human
Procedural and dominant resource growth Development and gender
Institutional sector Equality
Changes • Capacity Building for
Decentralization
• Sustainable Livelihoods
• Vulnerability reduction and
Sustainability
Tools Subsidies Transparency and • Integrated approach
Accountability systems of incorporating Subsistence
PRIs rural households, diversified
Devolution and rural households, Specialized
Autonomy to farm and non-farm households
decentralized planning (agriculture, livestock fisheries,
Fiscal provisioning and forest based, services, skill
Targeting based etc.) & transitioning
rural households (Rural –
urban continuum)
• Aims to address both spatial-
and regional and gender-based
disparities / inequalities
Key actors and Central and State All level of synergy • Interface with Public sector,
stakeholders Governments and within and outside private sector and non-
incorporating public,

253 FAO (2017) Innovation for sustainable rural development

254 ILO (2014) Social protection for older persons: Key policy trends and statistics Social protection for older persons: key policy
trends and statistics / International Labour Office, Social Protection Department. - Geneva: ILO, 2014 (Social protection policy
paper: No.11, ISSN: 1020-9581; 1020-959X
255 Related indices to arrive at the matrix have been established based on the statistical information and the pattern of rural

transformation in India. Three multidimensional assessing indicator system viz.; Rural Development Index (RDI), Rural
Transformation Index (RTI) and urban-rural coordination index (URCI) have been considered as enumerated in the study by
Ohlan (2016); Rural Transformation in India in the Decade of Miraculous Economic Growth, Journal of Land and Rural Studies
4(2) 1–18 2016 Centre for Rural Studies, LBSNAA DOI: 10.1177/2321024916640110

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Underpinning Paradigm – Old Paradigm – New Enabling policies Paradigm

sectoral focussed private and civil society government organizations /
Institutions and local stakeholders civil society
• Demographic structure and
trends considered for
economic opportunities and
welfare
Approach Uniformly applied top Bottom up policy, local Opportunity (Demand) based vs.
down policy strategies Necessity (Provisioning) based
Empowered deliberative with policy and investment balance
democracy (EDD) (Fung
et. al., 2001)256
Rural Not urban (Classified Rural as variety of Functional areas: Switch from
Definition based on population) distinct types of static definition of “rural” and
geographies “urban” toward multidimensional
policies that incorporate rural
areas into regional development
and build on positive dynamics of
rural urban linkages
Policy and Operational Paradigm of Rural Sector
The increased complexity and differentiation of rural sector also has implications for the ways in which
policy decisions and various operational paradigm are being contextualized. Diversity of various kinds
implies that appropriate decisions within the multi-level governance system for the administration of
programs in the Indian rural sector should include an effective sovereign system for delivering policies
and assessing their impacts.
The causal mechanism including focus on the issues and challenges to drive the rural growth will bring
about not only economic but also social stability. An integrated approach with all sub sectoral policies in
conformity with each other, public goods becoming efficient in serving their purpose and markets serve
as guiding force towards allocation of resources, the vision of minimum government, maximum
governance can be realised. The entire process may not be achieved overnight but it may set the ball
rolling.
Developing productive assets and expanding economic inclusion to develop a supported market led
approach, which addresses regional economic opportunities, without changing the demand led drive of
current investments is the need. Investment in monitoring and evaluation to assess sustainability,
creation of platforms and networking systems for quick peer to peer/ cross-programme learning too are
critical. Systemic impacts of the social capital-based projects to negotiate and mediate the terms on which
the public and private sector interact with the poor on a completely new scale that facilitates targeting
and inclusion and builds on its leveraging capacity will be desired. Household sustainability along with
cost effectiveness and economic rates of return to cope with resilience and encourage innovations and
opportunities to building linkages for future will prove to be an enabler for the structural transformation
of the Indian rural economy.
1. Targeting the Poor257

256 Fung & Wright (2001). Deepening democracy: Innovations in empowered participatory governance; Politics and Society, Vol.

29, No. 1.
257 Targeting the poor forms part of the National level KII that was conducted with Shri N C Saxena (Chairman, Committee

constituted by Ministry of Rural Development). Further the article by Shri N C Saxena: Has it ignored too many poor households?
EPW, Vol.50, Issue no; 30, 25th July 2015 too has been referred to.

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The subject of ‘what’ is poverty and ‘who’ are the poor has been a long-debated issue in public discourse
for poverty alleviation in the country. Where ‘what’ of poverty is important for determining measures of
poverty and thereby estimates of number of poor, the ‘who’ of poverty gains significance in targeting and
identifying beneficiary’s poverty alleviation programmes.
The discourse on ‘what’ of poverty has come from income-minimum calories in-take measurement to the
contentious monthly per capita consumption expenditure258 that was revised by Rangarajan Committee in
2012. As shortcomings of these measurements became apparent, the multi-dimensional character of
poverty was recognized. The caste census that was mandated to be conducted in 2011 was reoriented to
collect data in terms of economic deprivation. SECC 2011 was a respondent-based survey that was
ratified by Gram Sabha and Gram Panchayat that has been used to estimate the poor and the household
level data has been used to target the programmes aimed at poverty alleviation. The main criticism of
SECC has been three-fold: methodological; under/over reporting; and updation.
(i) Methodological: Where privileges are attached in a respondent-based survey and vested
interests may creep in and distort information. This has the likelihood of increasing the errors
of inclusion and exclusion in the survey and its interpretation.
(ii) Under/Over reporting: There are specific sets of data that have been challenged and have
raised question over the authenticity and reliability of SECC data. For example, government
had declared a figure of 7.7 lakh manual scavengers in Lok Sabha but the SECC data
enumerated only 1.8 lakh households. Similarly, the poorest were enumerated to be 1.65
million which are well below the figure of number of issued Antyodaya cards at 25 million.
In addition to the under-reporting of the poor, there was over-reporting of the rich. This
occurred because the definition of deprivation was kept narrow so that more can be excluded.
For example, owning a two-wheeler was taken to be a measure of richness irrespective of the
fact that it could have been a second/third hand purchase and without taking in to account
the ability to use it at current level of income.
(iii) Updation: The BPL surveys were updated every five years. There has been no commitment
or declaration from the government on the frequency of updation of the list. As a result, the
households who had lost out due to various reasons and new entrants do not have the
opportunity to get their names added in the SECC list and stake their claim for entitlements.
One of the reasons that make targeting of poor a contentious issue is the challenge to determine a uniform
criterion for measurement of poverty. In vast and diverse economic and social milieu, this may not be the
best strategy for the sector.
2. Transformative Push: Panchayats as drivers of change259
Panchayats that gained constitutional status with the enactment of 73rd constitutional amendment have
led to creation of an institutional architecture that has made implementation of the schemes of rural
development universal. There are 2, 69, 059 Gram Panchayats in the country that provide local self-
governance to 6, 40,930 villages in the country. With conditions attached to the 14th FC grant, the
Panchayats prepare their Gram Panchayat Development Plans according to the local needs and
aspirations.

258 Alagh, Y. K. (2010). The poverty debate in perspective: moving forward with the Tendulkar committee. Indian Journal of

Human Development, 4(1), 33-44.

259 Sinha & Jaiswal (2020), Positioning Panchayats as agents of Change, National Council of Applied Economic Research, New

Delhi

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There is strong evidence that suggests that rural India is at threshold of a major transformation awaiting
the final push, awaiting its butterfly moment. Anecdotal instances indicate that this transformation will
be based on tapping/emergence of local genius and local energy. The potential for leadership and
commitment has been created through the institution of Panchayats.
At present the schemes of rural development Panchayats play a critical role in selection of beneficiaries
(MGNREGS, PMAY-G and NSAP), preparation of plans for infrastructure development (PMGSY, MGNREGS
and SPMRM), and execute wage employment scheme (MGNREGS). The perspective and design of the
programmes view Panchayats in the role of agency of Central government where the structure and
grammar of the programme has been pre-decided, and the Panchayats have a specific role to play in their
execution.
The other factor that brings in the role and function of Panchayats into rural development is the very
basic structure that defines the political economy of a federal State that is based on the tenets of
cooperative federalism and the control over resources. Both these aspects are based on two myths that
have been created and institutionalized:
(i) Lack of Institutional Capacity of Panchayats: A popular myth that operates amongst the policy
influencer in government is generally articulated as lack of institutional capacity of Panchayats. An
observation in this regard in the Convergence Report of NRCDDP is noteworthy. The report states
that “observation made in the course of the review of the CSSs is that bureaucrats with experience in
rural development and Panchayati Raj generally have a more positive perception of the role that PRIs
can play in more effective delivery of services. Officers with little or no exposure / experience to either
rural development or Panchayati Raj tend to brush aside suggestions of involvement of the PRIs. They
support their perception with anecdotal reference to their own field experience, often dated by over 25-
30 years, and with little regard to subsequent developments” 260.
At the same time, there is evidence that suggests that whenever Panchayats are endowed with
freedom to exercise their judgement there have been a positive quantitative and qualitative impact
on the programme. The same report stated that “there is ample anecdotal evidence to show that
wherever Panchayati Raj Institutions of their own volition, or with the authority conferred by the State
Governments, have involved themselves in overseeing the functioning of Schools, Anganwadi Centres
and Primary Health Centres, invariably, absenteeism of staff has come down because client satisfaction
becomes an issue. This has led to an almost immediate improvement of the quality of services for the
Aam Aadmi. Clearly, any direct and upfront involvement of PRIs in the planning, implementation and
oversight of CSSs, being so far run through departmental structures, does impact outputs and outcomes
in a positive manner.”
The design of institutional mechanism Panchayats with paramount supremacy of Gram Sabha and
the political prudence of the elected representatives creates situations where decisions and their
execution must correspond closely to the needs and aspirations of the electorate/Gram Sabha.
(ii) Resources are available with and will come from Centre: An unstated but unchallenged myth that
pervades thinking in determining resources and agencies for rural development is that the resources
are available with the Centre and it is the Centre which will allocate these resources. It assumes
perpetual dependency of States and hence by implication Panchayats on Centre261.
This myth has been busted in case of programmes pertaining to social safety net. In each of the
schemes under NSAP, the State governments top up the amount allocated by DoRD to improve the

260 Convergence Report, Centrally Sponsored Schemes: Identifying a domain for the Panchayati Raj Institutions. National

Resource Cell for Decentralized District Planning.

261 Finding of a Key Informant Interview with a senior official from the NGO sector.

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efficacy and effectiveness of these schemes. Similar experiments have been made in case of PMAY-G
where States have added on amenities to the houses constructed under the rural housing
programme. The argument needs to be stretched to give this space and opportunity to Panchayats
to add and create their own value within the larger framework of rural development.
3. Specific use devolution by Finance Commission262
Finance Commission may adopt two streams of devolution of funds: one, is the regular process of marking
funds in to schematic or programmatic silos; and second, specific use devolution of funds that are placed
in an escrow account which can be drawn upon by states subject to fulfilment of certain condition
pertaining to rural development. For example, matching funds to Gram Panchayats that are able to raise
funds for maintenance of infrastructure created under programmes of rural development. Similarly, the
Finance Commission can place funds in the escrow account that can be drawn by States or Panchayats to
upscale/replicate any of the proven innovation/pilots developed by them to the entire state. The primary
criterion for specific use should be activities and processes that improve the ease of living in rural areas.

4. Addressing inequality and regional disparity263

Among the various axes of inequality in India, regional disparities have acquired greater salience in
recent times, with demands being made for special status for certain states on this basis. What has been
completely overlooked in the process is that regional backwardness in India is a moving frontier with the
most intense forms of poverty and deprivation getting increasingly concentrated within enclaves of
backwardness, especially those inhabited by indigenous communities.
This spatial dimension of uneven development in these polarised districts calls for a re-examination of
some of the conventional theories of development planning. Mainstream regional economic planning
entails a growth pole strategy designed with the expectation of favourable spin-off impacts for the larger
region. Advocates for the strategy argue that all regions do not possess equal capacity to grow and
deliberate focusing of investment on a limited number of centres would satisfy a necessary condition for
development.
5. Convergence264
When convergence has been built into the design of the programme, it inevitably happens and is also
reported upon. In most cases, such convergences have element of linearity built into it that makes it easier
for different implementing agencies to build their execution system on achievement of the previous
milestone. This is best exemplified in houses constructed under PMAY-G. The design and guidelines of
the scheme provide for 90 person days of unskilled labour which is implemented and reported under
MGNREGS as well as PMAY-G. Similarly, assistance for construction of toilet, distribution of gas under
Ujjwala, etc. happens after the house is constructed and the information is transmitted to the relevant
implementing agencies.
However, in case of SPMRM, where the design of intervention is based on the premise of convergent
planning and execution, making different agencies work together has been the major challenge. Further

262 Accountability Initiative, Centre for policy Research (2019); Devolution of Union Finance Commission Grants to Panchayats
– A study for the Fifteenth finance commission.
263 Jose (2019), IFMR, Chennai - India's regional disparity and its policy responses, Journal of Public affairs, volume 19, issue
4.
264 [Link] finds mention by DoRD wherein various CSS address

different dimensions of poverty and deprivation with convergence to facilitate entitlements, Improve quality of rural life by
enhancing capabilities, skills enhancement, creating livelihoods opportunities through facilitating Institutional finance, Physical
Infrastructure etc.

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vertical integration in DAY-NRLM and MGNREGS within the scheme and across the schemes have posed
functional challenges of coordination and collaboration.
6. Non-Farm Livelihoods265
Transition from agriculture-based employment to non-farm job opportunities is both the driver and
indicator of change in rural areas. This out-migration of labour from agriculture is constrained by
multiple factors: availability of skill, employment opportunities not being able to meet the aspirational
levels of the rural populations, growth of entrepreneurial ability, access to credit based on credible
business plan, facilitative ecosystem for growth of micro enterprises, land laws that do not permit change
of land use from agriculture to non-agriculture uses, etc.
7. Maintenance of Infrastructure266
The rural development sector has made substantial investment in creation of range of social and
economic infrastructure: roads, housing, water harvesting, and storage structures, soil and moisture
conservation works, basic amenities including drinking water, sanitation etc. In some cases, the
maintenance of infrastructure has been built into design, e.g. roads, but the same cannot be said for other
items of infrastructure.
The demand for repair and maintenance of houses constructed under IAY has been expressed by the
beneficiaries. Similarly, the ponds constructed in the first phase of MGNREGS are now demanding
resources for their maintenance and upkeep. The PMGSY roads constructed in the early 2000s are now
past their contractual period of maintenance.
In the absence of regular monitoring and maintenance of the infrastructure it is likely that the rural areas
will lose the advantage of wellbeing and ease of living that has been developed during the period. At
present the maintenance is the responsibility of the States. They are expected to create a maintenance
fund for the infrastructure created under rural development programmes. This progress in this regard
has been inconsistent and except for PMGSY, the need for and the system for maintenance of
infrastructure has not been factored into the programmes.
8. Green Technology267
In the context of climate change and the depletion of natural resources the implementation of
Infrastructure programmes in rural development spaces necessitate increasing use of green technology.
The construction material used in construction of houses; rural roads; wells, animal sheds, dams,
irrigation works etc. have not been assessed for their carbon footprint and modified in usage to make the
technology used green and climate adaptive.
Adoption of green technology requires re-orientation of skills and procurement of relevant green
material. The implementation machinery is not geared to, nor do they take it their responsibility, to
search for and institute green processes and material in construction of infrastructure under rural
development programmes. This factor has not even been identified and hence not been incorporated
under the SPMRM programme which is likely to usher in major infrastructure development works in at
least 300 clusters in different locations in the country.
9. Sustainability of Social Safety Nets268

265 [Link] advisories on

diversification of livelihoods under DAY – NRLM. April 2020.

266 McCord & Paul (February 2019); An Introduction to MGNREGA Innovations and their Potential for India-Africa Linkages on

Public Employment Programming – Working Paper GIZ.

267 Same as Footnote 283.
268 World Bank. (2018). The State of Social Safety Nets.

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Social safety nets have largely come down to mean direct cash transfers to the beneficiaries. These nets
have been effective in providing critical assistance to the most vulnerable and marginalized. These
perpetual cash transfers raise the challenge of defining sustainability as by themselves these cash
transfers do address the causes and factors that have led to the vulnerabilities and marginalization of the
beneficiaries.
If the welfare character of the State demands that the cash transfers should continue in perpetuity then
the issue of adequacy of pension amounts and demand from other vulnerable groups should be taken in
to account with greater degree of frequency than it is being done at present.
10. Reimagining Rural Areas: Future of Work
The dominant outlook of rural spaces (socially, economically or politically) has been with a deficit
perspective. That is, rural areas were always viewed as having a “lack of” - it could be lack of knowledge,
resources, productivity, opportunity, facilities, amenities and so on. The consequent programmatic
interventions were on provisioning that would remove one (or more than one deficit). This led to
identification of a visible product (house, road, amenities, natural resource, credit) which was to be
transplanted in rural areas with the assumption that this will remove the deficit and hence increase the
wellbeing of the rural population. The perspective works well in defining and creating a potential for
change.
Presently, rural areas faced with globalization, technological innovations and demographic shifts have
become diverse in their economic profiles. There is no one picture of rural economy. In fact, there are
multiple pictures of rural economy and each of these pose the challenge of defining the types of
livelihoods that will emerge in rural areas. The fast pace with which technological innovations are
moving, demand a re-imagination of rural spaces in order to identify and define future of work in these
economies.
To enable rural areas to adapt to these transformative forces requires a new perspective: a perspective
of appreciation (as opposed to deficit). The appreciative inquiry will seek answers to what exists (as
opposed to what lacks). Consequently, the programmatic interventions will be designed to build on
resources and opportunities that exists in rural spaces. This perspective will allow programmes to be
diverse, flexible and widespread in content to keep pace with technological innovations which are
creating their own economy.
11. Redefining the role of central ministry: entrusting the task ahead of Sustainable livelihoods to
the states
In the rural sector, the programs under CSS have been prescribed by the DoRD for implementation by the
state governments. States have been the centre stage of all innovations – process and design269. Schemes
such as MGNREGS are focussed on decentralised programme delivery while others such as DAY-NRLM
allow for localisation of livelihood needs. Going forward, it is key that greater decentralisation is ensured.
It is important to unravel the developmental phenomena as societies are cursed by ethnic, lingual,
religious, and caste pathologies, along with the ever-increasing problem of population. It is true that
'public administration' in general will be held responsible in forging ahead with this uphill task but being
pivotal to developing nations, this instrument should help bring about a change as well as development.
Thus, the quality and quantity of progress depends largely on the public administration in general. An
antiquated political structure and leisurely procedures are insufficient to realise the goals of a welfare

269 Based on innovations in institutional approaches in livelihood promotion (SEWA, Gujarat, Care & DFID – ACCESS, BRLPS, and

MPRLP etc.).

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state. Attention needs to be given towards evolving an administrative setup and modes of functioning
tinged with professionalism.

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

ANNEX 1: DETAILS OF KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS (KIIS)

KII Level
KII
S. No. Name of KI (National/State/District/Block/ Scheme State District Block GP
Post/Occupation
GP)
Mr GIRIJA SHANKAR /
Andhra
1 Mr NISHANTH Hussain Commissioner RD State All 6 NA NA NA
Pradesh
/ Mr Rama Rao
Mr RAJA BABU / Mr
Andhra
2 SUBBA REDDY / CEO State PMGSY NA NA NA
Pradesh
Nishanth Hussain
Nodal Officer /
Mrs INDRA PRIYA Andhra
3 Additional State SPMRM NA NA NA
DARSHINI / Ranga Rao Pradesh
Commissioner RD
Mr AJAY JAIN / Mr
Andhra
4 Dhanumjayudu B / Mr MD / Project Director State PMAY-G NA NA NA
Pradesh
SRIRAMULLU
Deputy General Andhra
5 Mr KESHAVA KUMAR State DAY-NRLM NA NA NA
Manager Pradesh
Mr GIRIJA SHANKAR /
Andhra
6 Mr G Venkata Commissioner RD State MGNREGS NA NA NA
Pradesh
Suryanarayana
Mr RAJA BABU / Mr P Chief executive Andhra
7 State NSAP NA NA NA
RAMA RAO officer Pradesh
Andhra
8 Mr Shiva Kumar Director District PMGSY KRISHNA NA NA
Pradesh
Mr A Md Imtiaz. / Andhra
9 District Magistrate District All 6 KRISHNA NA NA
Venkateshwara rao Pradesh
Mr G Venkata Andhra
10 Project Director District MGNREGS KRISHNA NA NA
Suryanarayana Pradesh
Andhra
11 Mr KESHAVA KUMAR Director District All 6 KRISHNA NA NA
Pradesh
Andhra
12 Mr Dhanumjayudu B Project Director District PMAY-G KRISHNA NA NA
Pradesh

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Chief Executive Andhra

13 Mr Surya Prakash District SPMRM KRISHNA NA NA
officer Pradesh
Andhra
14 Mr Suresh Project Director District DAY-NRLM KRISHNA NA NA
Pradesh
Andhra
15 Mr Sudhkar Director District NSAP KRISHNA NA NA
Pradesh
Project Engineering Andhra ANANTA
16 Mr Maheshwariah District MGNREGS NA NA
Officer Pradesh PUR
Mr Maheshwaraih P, Mr
Chandramouli Reddy,
Andhra ANANTA
17 Mr Narasihmha Reddy District Magistrate District All 6 NA NA
Pradesh PUR
& Mr Gandham
Chandradu
District Program Andhra ANANTA
18 Mr Prasad Babu District MGNREGS NA NA
Officer Pradesh PUR
Andhra ANANTA
19 Mr Narasimha Reddy DRDA Officer District All 6 NA NA
Pradesh PUR
Mr Chandramoulidhar Andhra ANANTA
20 Director District PMAY-G NA NA
Reddy / Pradesh PUR
Andhra ANANTA
21 Mr Adi Narayana Reddy Assistant Engineer District SPMRM NA NA
Pradesh PUR
Mr Narsaiah / Mr Andhra ANANTA
22 Assistant Engineer District DAY-NRLM NA NA
Maheshwariah Pradesh PUR
Mr Nazeer Ahmed / Andhra ANANTA
23 Assistant Engineer District NSAP NA NA
Narasimha Reddy Pradesh PUR
Andhra Srikakula
24 Mr H Kurmarao Project Director District MGNREGS NA NA
Pradesh m
Mr NIWAS / Mr H Andhra Srikakula
25 DM / Project Director District All 6 NA NA
Kurmarao Pradesh m
Andhra Srikakula
26 Mr H Kurmarao Project Director District MGNREGS NA NA
Pradesh m
Mr Kalyana Andhra Srikakula
27 Project Director District All 6 NA NA
Chakaravarthi Pradesh m
Andhra Srikakula
28 Mr Srinivas Project Director District PMAY-G NA NA
Pradesh m
Chief Executive Andhra Srikakula
29 Mr Chakravarthi District SPMRM NA NA
officer Pradesh m
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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Chief Executive Andhra Srikakula

30 Mr Chakravarthi District DAY-NRLM NA NA
officer Pradesh m
Chief Executive Andhra Srikakula
31 Mr Chakravarthi District NSAP NA NA
officer Pradesh m
Mandal Parishad
ANDHRA SRIKAKU Ranast
32 Mrs M SUDHA RANI Development Officer Block All 6 NA
PRADESH LAM alam
(MPDO)
ANDHRA SRIKAKU Ranast
33 Mr Dayanandh Kumar AO Block DAY-NRLM NA
PRADESH LAM alam
ANDHRA SRIKAKU Ranast
34 Mr B GOPI KRISHNA SDO Block PMGSY NA
PRADESH LAM alam
ANDHRA SRIKAKU Ranast
35 Mr B Purnandh Rao AE Block PMAY-G NA
PRADESH LAM alam
Extension officer
ANDHRA SRIKAKU Ranast
36 Mrs S VASTHA KUMARI Panchayat raj rural Block MGNREGS NA
PRADESH LAM alam
development
ANDHRA SRIKAKU Ranast
37 Mr Chandrashekar PS Block SPMRM NA
PRADESH LAM alam
Mandal parishad
Mrs B SAILAJA / Shivaji Development Officer ANDHRA SRIKAKU Sompe
38 Block All 6 NA
Panigrahi / Mandal Revenue PRADESH LAM ta
Officer
Administrative ANDHRA SRIKAKU Sompe
39 Mr Patnayak Tirupati Block DAY-NRLM NA
Officer PRADESH LAM ta
ANDHRA SRIKAKU Sompe
40 Mr K RAMESH Assistant Engineer Block PMGSY NA
PRADESH LAM ta
Mr P SHIVA RAMA ANDHRA SRIKAKU Sompe
41 Assistant Engineer Block PMAY-G NA
KRISHNA PRADESH LAM ta
Extension Officer
Mr G Jyothishwar ANDHRA SRIKAKU Sompe
42 Panchayat raj & Rural Block MGNREGS NA
Reddy PRADESH LAM ta
Development
ANDHRA SRIKAKU Sompe
43 Mr M Shanthi Kumari PS Block SPMRM NA
PRADESH LAM ta
Mandal Parishad
ANDHRA ANANTA Kamba
44 Mr Shiva Reddy Development Officer Block All 6 NA
PRADESH PUR dur
(MPDO)

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Mr Govindappa / Shiva Additional Program ANDHRA ANANTA Kamba

45 Block DAY-NRLM NA
Reddy Officer PRADESH PUR dur
ANDHRA ANANTA Kamba
46 Mr Sudhakar G SDO Block PMGSY NA
PRADESH PUR dur
ANDHRA ANANTA Kamba
47 Mr Prudhvi Raj Work Inspector Block PMAY-G NA
PRADESH PUR dur
Extension officer
ANDHRA ANANTA Kamba
48 Mr Parandhamaiah Panchayat raj rural Block MGNREGS NA
PRADESH PUR dur
development
Mandal Parishad
ANDHRA ANANTA Kamba
49 Mr Shiva Reddy Development Officer Block SPMRM NA
PRADESH PUR dur
(MPDO)
Mandal Parishad
ANDHRA ANANTA Nalla
50 Mr K AZAD Development Officer Block All 6 NA
PRADESH PUR mada
(MPDO)
Village program Co- ANDHRA ANANTA Nalla
51 Mr SHAKEER Block DAY-NRLM NA
ordinator PRADESH PUR mada
ANDHRA ANANTA Nalla
52 Mr Hari Prakash Reddy AE Block PMAY-G NA
PRADESH PUR mada
ANDHRA ANANTA Nalla
53 Mr Surya Narayana PPO Block MGNREGS NA
PRADESH PUR mada
Chand
Mr Venkateshwar ANDHRA
54 BDO Block All 6 KRISHNA arlapa NA
Reddy PRADESH
du
Chand
Administrative ANDHRA
55 Mr Kotiswararao Block DAY-NRLM KRISHNA arlapa NA
Officer PRADESH
du
Chand
PRAE (Panchayat Raj ANDHRA
56 Mr Ramesh Block PMGSY KRISHNA arlapa NA
Assistant Engineer) PRADESH
du
Chand
ANDHRA
57 Mr Sridhar Assistant Engineer Block PMAY-G KRISHNA arlapa NA
PRADESH
du
Chand
ANDHRA
58 Mr VENKATESH Technical Assistant Block MGNREGS KRISHNA arlapa NA
PRADESH
du

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Chand
ANDHRA
59 Mr Prasad Panchayat Secretary Block SPMRM KRISHNA arlapa NA
PRADESH
du
Mandal Parchiat
ANDHRA Agirip
60 Mrs Bhargavi Development Officer Block All 6 KRISHNA NA
PRADESH alle
(MPDO)
Assistant Project ANDHRA Agirip
61 MR Rama Krishna Block DAY-NRLM KRISHNA NA
Manager PRADESH alle
ANDHRA Agirip
62 Mr Srinivasrao Assistant Engineer Block PMGSY KRISHNA NA
PRADESH alle
Additional Program ANDHRA Agirip
63 Mr Sharath Babu Block MGNREGS KRISHNA NA
Officer PRADESH alle
ANDHRA Agirip
64 Mr B SRINIVAS RAO Site Engineering Block SPMRM KRISHNA NA
PRADESH alle
Asst Executive
65 Mr N S Sinha Engineer , SRDA , State PMGSY Assam NA NA NA
PWD
Joint Director , Assam
66 Utpala Saikia State DAY-NRLM Assam NA NA NA
Civil Service
Sr State Project
67 Rashul Hussain State PMAY-G Assam NA NA NA
Manager
Joint Director , Assam
Mriganka Choudhury /
68 Civil Service / IT State NSAP Assam NA NA NA
Dibyajoti Borah
Manager NSAP
Joint Director , Assam
69 Arup Pathak State SPMRM Assam NA NA NA
Civil Service
Padmananda
70 Executive Enngineer District PMGSY Assam Goalpara NA NA
Choudhury
71 Navid Anjumul Haque Dist MIS Manager District MGNREGS Assam Goalpara NA NA
CEO Zila Parishad , 4 schemes excluding
72 Arup Kumar Sarma District Assam Goalpara NA NA
ACS PMGSY and SPMRM
Additional District
73 Khalid [Link] District PMAY-G Assam Goalpara NA NA
Programme Manager
Musaraf Hussain
74 Dist Project Manager District DAY-NRLM Assam Goalpara NA NA
Choudhury
Additional District
75 Mrinal Kanti Sarkar District NSAP Assam Goalpara NA NA
Programme Manager
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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Executive Engineer,
76 Manuranjan Saikia District PMGSY Assam Tinsukia NA NA
PWD , DPIU
4 schemes excluding
77 Monjit Borkakoty ADC, Development District Assam Tinsukia NA NA
PMGSY and SPMRM
Assistant District
78 Saptarshi Paul District MGNREGS Assam Tinsukia NA NA
Program Manager
79 Moidul Islam ADPM District PMAY-G Assam Tinsukia NA NA
80 Kamal Kanto Goala DPM District DAY-NRLM Assam Tinsukia NA NA
81 Subendu Dutta DPM District NSAP Assam Tinsukia NA NA
Executive Engineer (
82 Bidur Borgiyari District PMGSY Assam Nagaon NA NA
DPIU )
Additional District
Nilam Sarma/Ashinta
83 Program Manager/ District MGNREGS Assam Nagaon NA NA
Baruah
Asst Engineer
4 schemes excluding
84 Debasish Baishya CEO Zila Parishat District Assam Nagaon NA NA
PMGSY and SPMRM
Chandramohan
85 District IT officer District PMAY-G Assam Nagaon NA NA
Barkakaty
District Functional
86 Abhijeet Dey District DAY-NRLM Assam Nagaon NA NA
Expert
District Programme
87 Mrinal Kumar Nath District NSAP Assam Nagaon NA NA
Manger
4 schemes excluding Margh
88 Ramchandra Deuri BDO Block Assam Tinsukia NA
PMGSY and SPMRM erita
Margh
89 Olee Paul BPM Block DAY-NRLM Assam Tinsukia NA
erita
Margh
90 Pulin Sharma AEE Block PMGSY Assam Tinsukia NA
erita
Margh
91 Pranjal Rajkhowa Junior Asst Block PMAY-G Assam Tinsukia NA
erita
Margh
92 Manoj Sharma Computer Asst Block MGNREGS Assam Tinsukia NA
erita
4 schemes excluding
93 Mofidur Rahman BDO Block Assam Tinsukia Sadiya NA
PMGSY and SPMRM
Block Program
94 Manoj Kumar Borah Block DAY-NRLM Assam Tinsukia Sadiya NA
Manager

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Asst Executive
95 Rahul Amin Block PMGSY Assam Tinsukia Sadiya NA
Engineer, PWD
Senior Asst cum
96 Tarun Chandra Gogoi Block PMAY-G Assam Tinsukia Sadiya NA
Accountant
97 Ritrajit Sarkar Computer Assistant Block MGNREGS Assam Tinsukia Sadiya NA
4 schemes excluding
98 Muslim Ali BDO Block Assam Goalpara Matia NA
PMGSY and SPMRM
BlockProgram
Babyshree Deka/Luit
Manager/Block
99 Borkalita/Parashar Block DAY-NRLM Assam Goalpara Matia NA
coordinator/Block
Deka
Coordinator
100 Banajit Adhikary SDO Block PMGSY Assam Goalpara Matia NA
Abdul Haseem Mandal
NSC-IT Computer
101 / Mustafa Galib Block PMAY-G Assam Goalpara Matia NA
Asst/GPC
Hussain/Abdur Razzak
Achyut Madak/ Arup Accountant/MIS
102 Block MGNREGS Assam Goalpara Matia NA
Kumar Das Manager
Mailnul Haque 4 schemes excluding
103 BDO Block Assam Nagaon Juria NA
Choudhury PMGSY and SPMRM
Block Project
Kumud Nath/ Apurba
104 Manager/Block Block DAY-NRLM Assam Nagaon Juria NA
Kataky
Coordinator
Assistant Executive
105 Girin Hazarika Block PMGSY Assam Nagaon Juria NA
Engineer
Imamul Haque/ Rakib
Computer
Alom/ Wahidur
106 Assistant/GPC/GPC/ Block PMAY-G Assam Nagaon Juria NA
Rahman/ Ibrahim
GRS
ussain
Manoj Kumar Saikia / Computer
107 Gautam Saikia/ Iqbal Assistant/JE/GRS/GR Block MGNREGS Assam Nagaon Juria NA
Ahmed / Jiaul Haque S
Munindranath 4 schemes excluding Kathia
108 BDO Block Assam Nagaon NA
Bhattacharjee PMGSY and SPMRM toli
Block Program
Kuldip Kathia
109 Manager/Block Block DAY-NRLM Assam Nagaon NA
Lekharo/Gopinath Das toli
Coordinator

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Assistant Executive Kathia

110 Manoj Saikia Block PMGSY Assam Nagaon NA
Engineer toli
Abhijeet Kumar Das/ Computer Asst Kathia
111 Block PMAY-G Assam Nagaon NA
Dilip Kumar Medhi /Senior Accountant toli
Debojit Deka Baruah /
Kathia
112 Assanullah / Poragjyoti Comp. Asst /GRS/AE Block MGNREGS Assam Nagaon NA
toli
Kalita
4 schemes excluding Kharm
113 Mahmud Ul Hassan Incharge BDO Block Assam Goalpara NA
PMGSY and SPMRM uja
Block Program Kharm
114 Alfaruque Hussain Block DAY-NRLM Assam Goalpara NA
Manager uja
Asst Executive Kharm
115 Abhijeet Rajkhuwa Block PMGSY Assam Goalpara NA
Engineer uja
Sultana Parveen
Ahmeed / Mansur Comuter Kharm
116 Block PMAY-G Assam Goalpara NA
Rahman/Mukibur Asst/GPC/AE uja
Rahman
Kharm
117 Samim Ahmed Khan Incharge Account Block MGNREGS Assam Goalpara NA
uja
DADRA & Dadra
DPMU-PMAY-G-
118 Vaishali Solanki District PMAY-G NAGAR Nagar NA NA
Nodle Officer
HAVELI Haveli
DADRA & Dadra
SPMRM-DPMU-Nodle
119 [Link] Desai District SPMRM NAGAR Nagar NA NA
Officer
HAVELI Haveli
DADRA & Dadra
DAY-NRLM-Nodle
120 [Link] Desai District DAY-NRLM NAGAR Nagar NA NA
Officer
HAVELI Haveli
DADRA & Dadra
DRDA-NSAP-Nodle
121 Nilesh Shivaji Patel District NSAP NAGAR Nagar NA NA
Officer
HAVELI Haveli
Project Officer,
122 [Link] State SPMRM Haryana NA NA NA
SPMRM
123 Varun Gupta Executive Engineer State PMGSY Haryana NA NA NA
[Link] Research Officer,
124 State PMAY-G Haryana NA NA NA
MALHOTRA PMAY-G

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Infrastructure
125 Mr. Naveen State DAY-NRLM Haryana NA NA NA
Incharge
126 [Link] Finance Manager State MGNREGS Haryana NA NA NA
Assistant-
127 Krishan Lal Superintendent State NSAP Haryana NA NA NA
Pension
MGNREGS & DAY-
128 Narender Kumar ADPO (HQ) District Haryana Hisar NA NA
NRLM
129 Dr. Priyanka Soni DM District All 6 Haryana Hisar NA NA
Project Officer, DRDA
130 Dr. Rajkumar Narwala District MGNREGS Haryana Hisar NA NA
HISAR
MGNREGS, NRLM, &
131 Manoj Kumar, HCS CEO, DRDA Hisar District Haryana Hisar NA NA
PMAY-G
132 Suresh Kumar District Coordinater District PMAY-G Haryana Hisar NA NA
District Program
133 Virender Singh District DAY-NRLM Haryana Hisar NA NA
Manager
District Social
134 Dr. Dalbir Singh Saini District NSAP Haryana Hisar NA NA
Welfare Officer
135 Mr. Darshan Rathi DRDA Officer District MGNREGS Haryana Rohtak NA NA
136 Sh. R S Verma, IAS DM District All 6 Haryana Rohtak NA NA
137 Ravinder Kumar CO-MIS District MGNREGS Haryana Rohtak NA NA
138 Mr. Bharham Prakasha CEO District MGNREGS & PMAY-G Haryana Rohtak NA NA
139 Mr. Manjeet PO-MIS District PMAY-G Haryana Rohtak NA NA
District Program
140 Dr. Vinod Dhankar District DAY-NRLM Haryana Rohtak NA NA
Manager
141 Mr. Rajesh Malik Assistant-DSWO District NSAP Haryana Rohtak NA NA
142 Jaswinder Singh Malik Executive Engineer District PMGSY Haryana Ambala NA NA
District Program
143 Gurudev Singh District MGNREGS Haryana Ambala NA NA
Officer
144 Ashok Kumar CEO District MGNREGS & PMAY-G Haryana Ambala NA NA
Additional Program
145 Dalvinder Kaur District PMAY-G Haryana Ambala NA NA
Officer
District Program
146 Gayatri District SPMRM Haryana Ambala NA NA
Officer
District Program
147 Mamta Sharma District DAY-NRLM Haryana Ambala NA NA
Officer

144
 Sector Report: Rural Development

District Social
148 Surjeet Kaur District NSAP Haryana Ambala NA NA
Welfare Officer
PMAY-G, MGNREGS & Hansi-
149 Kanchan Lata BDPO Hansi Block Haryana Hisar NA
DAY-NRLM Block
Hansi-
150 Anil Kumar DEO (NRLM) Block DAY-NRLM Haryana Hisar NA
Block
Hansi-
151 Vajir Singh SDO (PWD/BR) Block PMGSY Haryana Hisar NA
Block
Hansi-
152 Jitender Malik ÁSSTT JRY Block PMAY-G Haryana Hisar NA
Block
Hansi-
153 Mr. Jabir Hooda ABPO Block MGNREGS Haryana Hisar NA
Block
Barwa
PMAY-G, MGNREGS &
154 Narender Malhotra BDPO Block Haryana Hisar la- NA
DAY-NRLM
Block
Barwa
155 Anita Rani Assistant Block DAY-NRLM Haryana Hisar la- NA
Block
Barwa
156 Vajir Singh SDO (PWD/BR) Block PMGSY Haryana Hisar la- NA
Block
Barwa
157 Rajkumar Assistant Block PMAY-G Haryana Hisar la- NA
Block
Barwa
158 Rajpal Poonia ABPO Block MGNREGS Haryana Hisar la- NA
Block
Block-
PMAY-G, MGNREGS &
159 Raj Pal Chahal BDPO Block Haryana Rohtak SAMP NA
DAY-NRLM
LA
Block-
160 Robin BPM Block DAY-NRLM Haryana Rohtak SAMP NA
LA
Block-
161 Arun Singmar SDO-PWD Block PMGSY Haryana Rohtak SAMP NA
LA

145
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Block-
162 Shree Mohinder Singh Assistant Block PMAY-G Haryana Rohtak SAMP NA
LA
Block-
163 Deepak Kumar ABPO Block MGNREGS Haryana Rohtak SAMP NA
LA
BLOCK
PMAY-G, MGNREGS & -
164 Raj Kumar Sharma BDPO Block Haryana Rohtak NA
DAY-NRLM KALA
NAUR
BLOCK
-
165 Sandeep BPM Block DAY-NRLM Haryana Rohtak NA
KALA
NAUR
BLOCK
Sub-divisional -
166 Vijay Dalal Block PMGSY Haryana Rohtak NA
Officer-PWD KALA
NAUR
BLOCK
-
167 Suman Ji DO-MIS Block PMAY-G Haryana Rohtak NA
KALA
NAUR
BLOCK
-
168 Amit Dangi ABPO Block MGNREGS Haryana Rohtak NA
KALA
NAUR
BLOCK
-
169 Daljeet Singh BDPO Block PMAY-G, MGNREGS Haryana Ambala NA
Ambal
a-1
BLOCK
-
170 Mr. Gourav BPM Block DAY-NRLM Haryana Ambala NA
Ambal
a-1
Assistant Sub- BLOCK
171 Surender Sharma Block PMGSY Haryana Ambala NA
divisional Officer -

146
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Ambal
a-1
BLOCK
-
172 Avtar Singh Assistant Block PMAY-G Haryana Ambala NA
Ambal
a-1
BLOCK
-
173 Balveer ABPO Block MGNREGS Haryana Ambala NA
Ambal
a-1
BLOCK
-
174 Mr. RK Chandna BDPO Block MGNREGS & PMAY-G Haryana Ambala NA
BARA
RA
BLOCK
-
175 Niranjan BPM Block DAY-NRLM Haryana Ambala NA
BARA
RA
BLOCK
-
176 [Link] SDO Block PMGSY Haryana Ambala NA
BARA
RA
BLOCK
-
177 Rakesh Kumar BPO Block PMAY-G Haryana Ambala NA
BARA
RA
BLOCK
-
178 Mr. Sukhvinder Assistant Block MGNREGS Haryana Ambala NA
BARA
RA
BLOCK
-
179 Girish Kumar Rathi SDO Block SPMRM Haryana Ambala NA
BARA
RA
Deep kumar - SPMU/STSA (State Himachal
180 State PMAY-G NA NA NA
(Superintendent) Project Management Pradesh

147
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Unit/State Technical
Support Agency)
State nodal officer- Himachal
181 Minakshi State SPMRM NA NA NA
SPMRM Pradesh
Director- SEGC Himachal
182 Sandeep Jishtu State MGNREGS NA NA NA
MGNREGS Pradesh
DPMU/Statistical Himachal
183 Neeraj Kapoor District PMAY-G Chamba NA NA
assistants Pradesh
Himachal
184 Chain Lal Sharma DPO District MGNREGS Chamba NA NA
Pradesh
District mission Himachal
185 Anita Narula District DAY-NRLM Chamba NA NA
manager Pradesh
District Social Himachal
186 Narender Jarial District NSAP Chamba NA NA
Welfare Officer Pradesh
Computer oprator
Himachal
187 Sanjay Kumar refer by Superintend District MGNREGS Sirmaur NA NA
Pradesh
DRDA
Computer oprator
Himachal
188 MaheshKumar Refer Superintend District PMAY-G Sirmaur NA NA
Pradesh
DRDA
Ladies Social Himachal
189 Rama District DAY-NRLM Sirmaur NA NA
Education officer Pradesh
District Welfare Himachal
190 Vivek Arora District NSAP Sirmaur NA NA
officer Sirmaur Pradesh
District Program Himachal Hamirpu
191 Sujeev Kumar Juglani District MGNREGS NA NA
Officer Pradesh r
Deputy Director Himachal Hamirpu
192 Kamal Dev District All 6 NA NA
DRDA Pradesh r
Senior Assistant Himachal Hamirpu
193 Totu Ram District PMAY-G NA NA
DRDA Pradesh r
Himachal Hamirpu
194 Khushi Ram Technical Assistant District DAY-NRLM NA NA
Pradesh r
District welfare Himachal Hamirpu
195 Sanjeev Sharma District NSAP NA NA
officer Pradesh r
Social education & Himachal Saloon
196 Vijay Kumar Block DAY-NRLM Chamba NA
Block Program officer Pradesh i

148
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Social education & Himachal Saloon

197 Vijay Kumar Block PMAY-G Chamba NA
Block Program officer Pradesh i
Lead Manerga in Himachal Saloon
198 Yogal Joshi Block MGNREGS Chamba NA
block level Pradesh i
Himachal Batiya
199 Anish Rawat Young Professional Block DAY-NRLM Chamba NA
Pradesh at
Himachal Batiya
200 Anish Rawat Young Professional Block SPMRM Chamba NA
Pradesh at
Himachal Ponta
201 Gaurav Dhiman BDO Block All 6 Sirmaur NA
Pradesh Sahib
Himachal Ponta
202 Renu Thakur LSEO Block DAY-NRLM Sirmaur NA
Pradesh Sahib
Himachal Ponta
203 DS Tomar SDO Block PMGSY Sirmaur NA
Pradesh Sahib
Social Education
Himachal Ponta
204 Rajesh Naegi Block Program Block PMAY-G Sirmaur NA
Pradesh Sahib
Officer
Social Education
Himachal Ponta
205 Rajesh Naegi Block Program Block MGNREGS Sirmaur NA
Pradesh Sahib
Officer
Himachal
206 Anuj Sharma BDO Block All 6 Sirmaur Nahan NA
Pradesh
Himachal
207 Babita Chauhan LSEO Block DAY-NRLM Sirmaur Nahan NA
Pradesh
Social Education Himachal
208 Darshan Lal Block PMAY-G Sirmaur Nahan NA
Plaining officer Pradesh
Himachal
209 Anil Sharma Superintend Block MGNREGS Sirmaur Nahan NA
Pradesh
Himachal Hamirpu
210 Dinesh Kumar BDO Block All 6 Bhijri NA
Pradesh r
Block Mission Himachal Hamirpu
211 Anupan kumar Block DAY-NRLM Bhijri NA
Manager Pradesh r
Himachal Hamirpu
212 Lalit Kumar SDO Block PMGSY Bhijri NA
Pradesh r
Himachal Hamirpu
213 Dinesh Kumar BDO Block PMAY-G Bhijri NA
Pradesh r

149
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Block Panchayat Himachal Hamirpu

214 Ajay Pathania Block MGNREGS Bhijri NA
officer Pradesh r
Himachal Hamirpu Bhora
215 Kedar Nath BDO Block All 6 NA
Pradesh r nj
Block Mission Himachal Hamirpu Bhora
216 Neena Soni Block DAY-NRLM NA
Manager Pradesh r nj
Himachal Hamirpu Bhora
217 Sanjay Gupta SDO Block PMGSY NA
Pradesh r nj
Himachal Hamirpu Bhora
218 Kedar Nath BDO Block PMAY-G NA
Pradesh r nj
Himachal Hamirpu Bhora
219 Ashok Kumar Program officer Block MGNREGS NA
Pradesh r nj
Hazariba
220 Deerendra Prasad Executive Engineer District PMGSY Jharkhand NA NA
gh
Hazariba
221 Abhik ADF District All 6 Jharkhand NA NA
gh
[Link] Prasad Hazariba
222 District Collector District All 6 Jharkhand NA NA
Singh gh
Hazariba
223 Anuja Rana Project Officer District MGNREGS Jharkhand NA NA
gh
MGNREGS,PMAY-G, Hazariba
224 Uma Manto Director DRDA District Jharkhand NA NA
SPMRM gh
Hazariba
225 Shalu Prasad Mehta Project Economist District PMAY-G Jharkhand NA NA
gh
Rural Delopment Hazariba
226 Amit Kumar District SPMRM Jharkhand NA NA
Expert gh
Hazariba
227 Gaurav Jaiswal DPM District DAY-NRLM Jharkhand NA NA
gh
Assistant Director Hazariba
228 Niyaz Ahmed District NSAP Jharkhand NA NA
Social Security gh
Hazariba
229 Charvee ADF District All 6 Jharkhand NA NA
gh
230 Amrendra kumar PIA District PMGSY Jharkhand Gumla NA NA
PMAY-
231 Smaikshak Mohanti ADF DG of DRDA District G,PMGSY,SPMRM,DAY- Jharkhand Gumla NA NA
NRLM
232 Sashi Ranjan District Collector District All 6 Jharkhand Gumla NA NA
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 Sector Report: Rural Development

233 Rajni Kant ADO PRDA District MGNREGS Jharkhand Gumla NA NA

Deputy District MGNREGS,PMAY-G,
234 Hari Prashad Keshri District Jharkhand Gumla NA NA
Commissioner SPMRM
235 Bikas Kumar District Cordinator District PMAY-G Jharkhand Gumla NA NA
236 Beby Kumari DPMU District SPMRM Jharkhand Gumla NA NA
District Program
237 Manisha Sancha District DAY-NRLM Jharkhand Gumla NA NA
Manager
Assistant Director
238 Bhagirat Mahto District NSAP Jharkhand Gumla NA NA
Social Security
239 Gautam Kr Thakur MIS District MGNREGS Jharkhand Godda NA NA
Sail Incharge Cum Aspiration Dist.
240 Santosh Kumar District Jharkhand Godda NA NA
Dist. Coo. Nity AAYOG Fellowship all 5 section
Deputy District Com 5 schemes excluding
241 Sunil Kumar District Jharkhand Godda NA NA
missioner SPMRM
242 Sunil KUMAR DDC-CUM-DPC District MGNREGS Jharkhand Godda NA NA
5 schemes excluding
243 Nalini kant Acountant DRDA District Jharkhand Godda NA NA
SPMRM
244 Kr. Sanjiv DIST Coordinator District PMAY-G Jharkhand Godda NA NA
245 Sushil kr das DPM District DAY-NRLM Jharkhand Godda NA NA
Assistant Director NSAP Nodal Officer at
246 Anil Tudu District Jharkhand Godda NA NA
Social Security Dist.
PMAY-G, MGNREGS, Hazariba
247 Smt. Aruna Kumari B.D.O Block Jharkhand Barhi NA
SPMRM, NSAP gh
Block Program Hazariba
248 Deepak Kumar Block DAY-NRLM Jharkhand Barhi NA
Manager gh
Hazariba
249 Ajay Kumar Block Co-ordinator Block PMAY-G Jharkhand Barhi NA
gh
Hazariba
250 Rajesh Kumar B.P.O Block MGNREGS Jharkhand Barhi NA
gh
MGNREGS,PMAY-LD, Hazariba Barkat
251 [Link] Bala Cakra B.D.O Block Jharkhand NA
DAY-NRLM,NSAP gh ha
Dharmendra Kumar Hazariba Barkat
252 Block Anchor Person Block DAY-NRLM Jharkhand NA
Soha gh ha
Hazariba Barkat
253 Sanjoy Kr. Rana Block Co-ordinator Block PMAY-G Jharkhand NA
gh ha
Hazariba Barkat
254 Ekram Hussain B.P.O Block MGNREGS Jharkhand NA
gh ha
151
 Sector Report: Rural Development

MGNREGS, PMAY-G,
255 Ravindra Kumar Gupta B.D.O Block Jharkhand Gumla Basia NA
NSAP, DAY-NRLM
BPM (Block
256 Bindo Kumar Programme Block DAY-NRLM Jharkhand Gumla Basia NA
Manager)
257 Surydev Ram Assistant Engineer Block PMGSY Jharkhand Gumla Basia NA
258 Alok Kumar Mishra Block -Co-ordinator Block PMAY-G Jharkhand Gumla Basia NA
259 Bipin Kumar B.P.O Block MGNREGS Jharkhand Gumla Basia NA
MGNREGS, PMAY-G,
260 Sandhya B.D.O Block NSAP, DAY- Jharkhand Gumla Gumla NA
NRLM,SPMRM
261 Ranikant Mishra B.M.M.U Block DAY-NRLM Jharkhand Gumla Gumla NA
262 Anjani Kumar Assistant Engineer Block PMGSY Jharkhand Gumla Gumla NA
263 Kamlesh Barla Block -Co-ordinator Block PMAY-G Jharkhand Gumla Gumla NA
264 Beby KumarI B.P.O, MGNREGS Block MGNREGS Jharkhand Gumla Gumla NA
265 Geeta Devi SPMRM, CDMU Block SPMRM Jharkhand Gumla Gumla NA
MGNREGS, PMAY-G,
266 Ashoak Kumar Chopra B.D.O Block Jharkhand Godda Godda NA
BDO,PMGSY
267 Yogendra Kuamar BPM Block DAY-NRLM Jharkhand Godda Godda NA
268 Ramashish Ram Assistant Engineer Block PMGSY Jharkhand Godda Godda NA
269 Kunal Kishore BC Block PMAY-G Jharkhand Godda Godda NA
270 Kamal Kishore Das B.P.O Block MGNREGS Jharkhand Godda Godda NA
MGNREGS, PMAY-G, MAHA
271 Dhiraj Prakash B.D.O Block Jharkhand Godda NA
BDO,PMGSY GAMA
MAHA
272 Prem Prakash BPM Block DAY-NRLM Jharkhand Godda NA
GAMA
MAHA
273 Ramjanam Mandal Assistant Engineer Block PMGSY Jharkhand Godda NA
GAMA
MAHA
274 Mithun Kr. Singh BC Block PMAY-G Jharkhand Godda NA
GAMA
MAHA
275 Purusottam Kumar B.P.O Block MGNREGS Jharkhand Godda NA
GAMA
Additional Secretary,
276 Siddharth Tripathi State All 6 Jharkhand NA NA NA
SRRD

152
 Sector Report: Rural Development

MIS Nodal
Manish Keshri.
officer,Senior
277 S. Verma State PMGSY Jharkhand NA NA NA
Enigineer & Asssitant
Subodh Paswan
Engineer
Naveen Kishan
Commisioner,
Subarno,
SPMRM,Civil
Abhishek Kr. Dipak,
278 Engineer, RURBAN State SPMRM Jharkhand NA NA NA
Ranjit Kr. Singh,
&Convergence
Jayprakash Kushwaha,
expert, RURBAN.
MIS Officer
Additional Secretary,
Yatindra Prasad,
279 PMAY-G &Finance State PMAY-G Jharkhand NA NA NA
Mrs. Shyama,
Manager, PMAY-G
COO, DAY-
NRLM,RSETI &
Bishnu Charan Parida, Supporting person,
280 Anil Kumar, DAY-NRLM &M & E, State DAY-NRLM Jharkhand NA NA NA
Ajay Srivastava, Jharkhand State
Livelihood
Promotion Society
Nodal Officer,
281 Pankaj Rana State MGNREGS Jharkhand NA NA NA
MGNREGS
282 Jaya Minz Assitant Director, State NSAP Jharkhand NA NA NA
Director, Directorate
283 IONA R SANGMA, IAS of Community & State All 6 Meghalaya NA NA NA
Rural Development
Chief Engineer, PWD
(State Rural Roads
284 Teneson Gini Nennong State PMGSY Meghalaya NA NA NA
Development
Agency)
Program Manager,
285 ROPLANG KHARMALKI State PMAY-G Meghalaya NA NA NA
SPMU
Chief Operating
Officer - Programme,
286 RONALD KYNTA Meghalaya State State DAY-NRLM Meghalaya NA NA NA
Rural Livelihoods
Society

153
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Officer on Special
287 Mr [Link] State SPMRM Meghalaya NA NA NA
Duty ( OSD )- SPMRM
Joint Mission
Director (STATE
IARAPHUNLIN
288 RURAL State MGNREGS Meghalaya NA NA NA
DIENGDOH
EMPLOYMENT
SOCIETY)
Senior Rural
Development Officer
Community & Rural
289 NERIUS SAWKMIE State NSAP Meghalaya NA NA NA
Development
(NSAP- Nodal
department)
DPIU , Executive
290 Tirot Laloo District PMGSY Meghalaya Ri Bhoi NA NA
Engineer
Additional Deputy
Commissioner cum 4 schemes excluding
291 D. P. Kharsati District Meghalaya Ri Bhoi NA NA
planning officer Ri PMGSY and SPMRM
Bhoi
P.
292 Marbaninang/[Link] DPM/ADPM District MGNREGS Meghalaya Ri Bhoi NA NA
iang
Additional Deputy
Commissioner cum 4 schemes excluding
293 Benteliang Kharshandi District Meghalaya Ri Bhoi NA NA
Project Directotor PMGSY and SPMRM
DRDA Ri bhoi
[Link]/Kras
294 IT / Accounts officer District PMAY-G Meghalaya Ri Bhoi NA NA
Nongsiej
DMM/ District
T Khongshi / Andreas
295 functional Specialist District DAY-NRLM Meghalaya Ri Bhoi NA NA
Mymrn
financial inclusion
296 W Nongkling Accountant District NSAP Meghalaya Ri Bhoi NA NA
East
297 Parnel Hynneiewta Executive Engineer District PMGSY Meghalaya Khasi NA NA
Hills

154
 Sector Report: Rural Development

East
Miss Lajied Lang District Program
298 District DAY-NRLM Meghalaya Khasi NA NA
Basaiawmoit Manager
Hills
East
District Program
299 P. Paul Syiemiong District MGNREGS Meghalaya Khasi NA NA
Officer ( MGNREGS)
Hills
Project Director East
4 schemes excluding
300 Mr D. Hynniewta , MCS DRDA & ADC East District Meghalaya Khasi NA NA
PMGSY and SPMRM
Khasi Hills Hills
East
Assistant Project
301 Mr Pakma District PMAY-G Meghalaya Khasi NA NA
Officer- PMAY_G
Hills
East
Assistant Project
302 Mr Pakma District NSAP Meghalaya Khasi NA NA
Officer- NSAP
Hills
Executive Engineer & East
303 A Phawa & Anu Manda Asst Executive District PMGSY Meghalaya jayanti NA NA
Engineer Hills
East
304 MT. D. SUJA, MCS ADC & PD DRDA District All 6 Meghalaya jayanti NA NA
Hills
East
District Program
305 Miss Sandalim Sutna District MGNREGS Meghalaya jayanti NA NA
Manager
Hills
East
SMT. ERWAMAYA District Program
306 District DAY-NRLM Meghalaya jayanti NA NA
NONGSIEJ Manager
Hills
Additional East
307 Baia Kmenlang Sumer Programme Officer - District PMAY-G Meghalaya jayanti NA NA
PMYG Hills
Lower Division East
308 J Diana Darmai Assistant- Nodal District NSAP Meghalaya jayanti NA NA
officer Hills
4 schemes excluding Umsni
309 Raja Brahma BDO Block Meghalaya Ri bhoi NA
PMGSY and SPMRM ng
Wallamlad S Umsni
310 Coordinator BMMU Block DAY-NRLM Meghalaya Ri bhoi NA
Kharwanlang ng
155
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Werlis Sumer / Umlin

311 SDO /JE Block PMGSY Meghalaya Ri bhoi NA
Pynsukjai Hujon g
Bantailang Marwein/ Technical Asst ( both Umsni
312 Block PMAY-G Meghalaya Ri bhoi NA
Esterisus Marbeniang ) ng
Additional Prog
Moralisa Swer
Officer/Additional Umsni
313 /Rebecca Kharbuli / Block MGNREGS Meghalaya Ri bhoi NA
ProgOfficer CLIB/ ng
Referman Lyngdoh
Technical Assistant
4 schemes excluding Umlin
314 Rodrik Nongrum BDO Block Meghalaya Ri bhoi NA
PMGSY and SPMRM g
Manager Block
Umlin
315 Erlina Lyngdoh Mission Management Block DAY-NRLM Meghalaya Ri bhoi NA
g
Unit
Umsni
316 Rymphang Kharkongor Executive Engineer Block PMGSY Meghalaya Ri bhoi NA
ng
Umlin
317 Meristela Syiem Data Entry Operator Block PMAY-G Meghalaya Ri bhoi NA
g
Omita Syiemlieh /
Bundorlin Kharjana APO/ Rest 3 Tech Umlin
318 Block MGNREGS Meghalaya Ri bhoi NA
/Mary W Lyngdoh/ Asst g
Margrita Lyngdoh
East
4 schemes excluding Pynur
319 Mr P. Khonglah BDO Block Meghalaya Khasi NA
PMGSY and SPMRM sla
Hills
Asst Executive East
Pynur
320 W R Lingdow Engineer - SDO- Block PMGSY Meghalaya Khasi NA
sla
PMGSY Hills
East
Pynur
321 Fran Copper Thapa Technical Assistant Block PMAY-G Meghalaya Khasi NA
sla
Hills
East
Block Program Pynur
322 Evanpynhun Lyngdoh Block MGNREGS Meghalaya Khasi NA
Manager sla
Hills
East
Cluster coordinator- Pynur
323 Moonstar Pyngrope Block DAY-NRLM Meghalaya Khasi NA
BMMU - NRLM sla
Hills

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

East Shella
BDO (Block
324 Mr Mukhim Block All 6 Meghalaya Khasi Bholag NA
Development Officer)
Hills anj
East Shella
Asst Executive
325 Bayahulam Makado Block PMGSY Meghalaya Khasi Bholag NA
Engineer , PWD
Hills anj
East Shella
326 Nickey Kharbuli Junior Engineer Block PMAY-G Meghalaya Khasi Bholag NA
Hills anj
East Shella
MIS Executive Nodal
327 Pynlang Shangplyang Block MGNREGS Meghalaya Khasi Bholag NA
Officer
Hills anj
East
BDO (Block Saipun
328 S. MARWEIN, MCS Block All 6 Meghalaya Jayantia NA
Development Officer) g
Hills
East
KUNE LANG IBHA Saipun
329 Asst Program Officer Block DAY-NRLM Meghalaya Jayantia NA
SYNNAH g
Hills
East
Asst Executive Saipun
330 JOHN TARIANG Block PMGSY Meghalaya Jayantia NA
Engineer , PWD g
Hills
SHRI. BISWAJIT East
Section Assistant & Saipun
331 KHONGLAH & SHRI. Block PMAY-G Meghalaya Jayantia NA
Technical Assistant g
OVERSEE MALANG Hills
East
[Link] Asstion Program Saipun
332 Block MGNREGS Meghalaya Jayantia NA
SYNGKREM, officer g
Hills
East
BDO (Block Khleri
333 S. MARWEIN, MCS Block All 6 Meghalaya Jayantia NA
Development Officer) at
Hills
East
SMT. ERWAMAYA Khleri
334 BPM cum DPM Block DAY-NRLM Meghalaya Jayantia NA
NONGSIEJ at
Hills
East
Asst Executive Khleri
335 JOHN TARIANG Block PMGSY Meghalaya Jayantia NA
Engineer , PWD at
Hills

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 Sector Report: Rural Development

Assistant Program East

MEDA CHALLAM & Khleri
336 officer & OFFICE Block MGNREGS Meghalaya Jayantia NA
SMT. A. NONGBRI at
ASST. Hills
SHRI. BANJOP East
Junior Engineer & Khleri
337 WARBAH, JE & SMT. Block PMAY-G Meghalaya Jayantia NA
Data Entry Operator at
RIMAYA SAIOO, DEO Hills
MGNREGS Co-
338 Sasmita Jena District MGNREGS Odisha Bhadrak NA NA
ordinator
339 Sandip Kumar Mohanty Program Officer District MGNREGS Odisha Bhadrak NA NA
340 Madhusudan Dash PD DRDA District All 6 Odisha Bhadrak NA NA
Additional Program
341 Debendra Pandab Director, Rural District PMAY-G Odisha Bhadrak NA NA
Housing
342 Sanjay Barik DPM District DAY-NRLM Odisha Bhadrak NA NA
District Social
343 Saurendra Kr Behuri District NSAP Odisha Bhadrak NA NA
Security Officer
344 Sandhyarani Pattanaik MC, MGNREGS District MGNREGS Odisha Ganjam NA NA
Officer on Special
345 Abhijit District MGNREGS Odisha Ganjam NA NA
Duty ( OSD )
Computer
346 B. Kiran Kumar District MGNREGS Odisha Ganjam NA NA
Programer,
Additional Program
347 Saumya Ranjan Hota Director, Rural District PMAY-G Odisha Ganjam NA NA
Housing
348 Naveen Kumar Senapati DPM District SPMRM Odisha Ganjam NA NA
349 Naveen Kumar Senapati DPM-OLM District DAY-NRLM Odisha Ganjam NA NA
350 Subhranshu Maharana DSSO District NSAP Odisha Ganjam NA NA
351 Sanjay Kumar Mishra Executive Engineer District PMGSY Odisha Bargarh NA NA
352 Himansu Sekhar Patra MC, MGNREGS District MGNREGS Odisha Bargarh NA NA
Prashant Priyadarshini
353 APD, RH District PMAY-G Odisha Bargarh NA NA
Panda
354 Sankar Challan DPM District DAY-NRLM Odisha Bargarh NA NA
355 Nava Sahu DSSO District NSAP Odisha Bargarh NA NA
Additional Project
356 Chittaranjan Monhanty District SPMRM Odisha Bargarh NA NA
Director, Technical

158
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Dham
357 Shyamsunder Tudu BDO Block All 6 Odisha Bhadrak NA
nagar
Dham
358 Pitabas Biswal BPM, OLM Block DAY-NRLM Odisha Bhadrak NA
nagar
Dham
359 Narayan Sahoo SDO Block PMGSY Odisha Bhadrak NA
nagar
Dham
360 Piyusha Ranjan Rout APO Block MGNREGS Odisha Bhadrak NA
nagar
Chand
361 Abinash Barik SDO Block PMGSY Odisha Bhadrak NA
bali
Chand
362 Satya Narayan Sethi ABDO Block All 6 Odisha Bhadrak NA
bali
Chand
363 Stalin Nayak BPM, OLM Block DAY-NRLM Odisha Bhadrak NA
bali
Chand
364 Manoj Kumar Patra BPA Block PMAY-G Odisha Bhadrak NA
bali
Chand
365 Santosh Kumar Nayak MGNREGS ASST Block MGNREGS Odisha Bhadrak NA
bali
Khalli
366 Bimal Kumar Rayguru BMMU Block DAY-NRLM Odisha Ganjam NA
kote
Khalli
367 Bipra charan Behera Executive Engineer Block PMGSY Odisha Ganjam NA
kote
Sukanta Kumar Khalli
368 BPC, RH Block PMAY-G Odisha Ganjam NA
Pattanaik kote
Khalli
369 Anil Kumar Pani APO Block MGNREGS Odisha Ganjam NA
kote
Khalli
370 Dibyajyoti Mohanty Program Executive Block SPMRM Odisha Ganjam NA
kote
Chhatr
371 Archita Panigrahi APO Block MGNREGS Odisha Ganjam NA
apur
BPC, RH, BPMU, Chhatr
372 Umesh kumar Sabat Block PMAY-G Odisha Ganjam NA
PMAY apur
Chhatr
373 Manini Jena BPO, NRLM Block DAY-NRLM Odisha Ganjam NA
apur
Atabir
374 Pranati Bag BPM, OLM Block DAY-NRLM Odisha Bargarh NA
a

159
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Atabir
375 Gagan Bihari Mishra SDO Block PMGSY Odisha Bargarh NA
a
Atabir
376 Amiya Charan Pradhan BPC, RH Block PMAY-G Odisha Bargarh NA
a
Atabir
377 Puspanjali Mahakud APO Block MGNREGS Odisha Bargarh NA
a
Atabir
378 Pranab Kumar Chand BDO Block All 6 Odisha Bargarh NA
a
Padam
379 Sankarsan Behera BDO Block All 6 Odisha Bargarh NA
pur
BPC, RH, BPMU, Padam
380 Bikram Keshari Barik Block PMAY-G Odisha Bargarh NA
PMAY pur
Padam
381 Suresh Budhia APO, MNREGA Block MGNREGS Odisha Bargarh NA
pur
Padam
382 Satya Kumbhar BPM, NRLM Block DAY-NRLM Odisha Bargarh NA
pur
Young Professonal, Padam
383 Hema Sharma Block SPMRM Odisha Bargarh NA
RURBAN, CDMU pur
Padam
384 Laxman Kumar Soren Executive Engineer Block PMGSY Odisha Bargarh NA
pur
385 Sanjeev Mathur Chief Enginner State PMGSY Rajasthan NA NA NA
386 RameshKumar Project Officer State SPMRM Rajasthan NA NA NA
387 Jaypal Singh State Nodal Officer State PMAY-G Rajasthan NA NA NA
388 Noordeen State Nodal Officer State DAY-NRLM Rajasthan NA NA NA
389 Arbind Saksena State Nodal Officer State MGNREGS Rajasthan NA NA NA
390 Suresh Gupta Project Officer State NSAP Rajasthan NA NA NA
Suprintendent
391 Balveer ji District DAY-NRLM Rajasthan Barmer NA NA
Engineer
392 Anshudeep DM District All 6 Rajasthan Barmer NA NA
393 Net Singh MIS Manager District MGNREGS Rajasthan Barmer NA NA
5 schemes excluding
394 Mohan Dan Ratnoo Circle Officer District Rajasthan Barmer NA NA
SPMRM
Supridented
395 Rajendra singh District PMAY-G Rajasthan Barmer NA NA
Engineer
Supridented
396 Rajendra singh District SPMRM Rajasthan Barmer NA NA
Engineer

160
 Sector Report: Rural Development

District Mission
397 Ankit Bhargaw District DAY-NRLM Rajasthan Barmer NA NA
Director
398 Manoj Poorwa Gola Executive Engineer District MGNREGS Rajasthan Baran NA NA
AddItional District
399 Poonam Sharma District ADS Rajasthan Baran NA NA
Information Officer
400 Genda Lal Garge Assistant Engineer District MGNREGS Rajasthan Baran NA NA
5 schemes excluding
401 Braj Mohan Bairwa CEO District Rajasthan Baran NA NA
SPMRM
402 Genda Lal Garge Assistant Engineer District PMAY-G Rajasthan Baran NA NA
403 Vishwar Nagar DM District DAY-NRLM Rajasthan Baran NA NA
Additional Tragry
404 Chandra Shekhar District NSAP Rajasthan Baran NA NA
Officer
405 [Link] Executive Engineer District PMGSY Rajasthan Baran NA NA
Supridented
406 Mahendra Singh District PMGSY Rajasthan Churu NA NA
Engineer
Suprintendent
407 Mahendra Singh District MGNREGS Rajasthan Churu NA NA
Engineer
408 Ramsaroop Chauhan CEO District All 6 Rajasthan Churu NA NA
Supridented
409 Anup Sharma District PMAY-G Rajasthan Churu NA NA
Engineer
410 Saurav Mehta District Manager District DAY-NRLM Rajasthan Churu NA NA
411 Ramdhan Nodal Officer District NSAP Rajasthan Churu NA NA
Sindhr
412 Sumer Singh BDO Block All 6 Rajasthan Barmer NA
i
Sindhr
413 Mahaveer Enginner Block PMGSY Rajasthan Barmer NA
i
Sindhr
414 Parbhu Singh BPMU Block PMAY-G Rajasthan Barmer NA
i
Balotra, Sindhr
415 Ashok Area Manager Block DAY-NRLM Rajasthan NA
Barmer i
Sindhr
416 Jitendra Chaudhary Program Officer Block MGNREGS Rajasthan Barmer NA
i
Balotr
417 Rajkumar BDO Block All 6 Rajasthan Barmer NA
a
Balotr
418 Ashok Area Manager Block DAY-NRLM Rajasthan Barmer NA
a

161
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Balotr
419 Jhunja Ram Chaudhary Engineer Block PMGSY Rajasthan Barmer NA
a
Balotr
420 Shankar Lal Unit Head Block PMAY-G Rajasthan Barmer NA
a
Balotr
421 Sanjay Kumar Dubey Program Officer Block MGNREGS Rajasthan Barmer NA
a
Chandra prakash Balotr
422 Enginner Block SPMRM Rajasthan Barmer NA
Mathur a
423 Mazhar Imam BDO Block All 6 Rajasthan Baran Anta NA
424 Hariom BPM Block DAY-NRLM Rajasthan Baran Anta NA
425 Arifa Khatoon Assistant Engineer Block PMGSY Rajasthan Baran Anta NA
426 Gobardan Bairwa APO Block PMAY-G Rajasthan Baran Anta NA
427 Saukat Ali Program Officer Block MGNREGS Rajasthan Baran Anta NA
Shaha
428 Chhotan Lal meena BDO Block All 6 Rajasthan Baran NA
bad
Shaha
429 Hemraj BPM Block DAY-NRLM Rajasthan Baran NA
bad
Shaha
430 Mukesh Assistant Engineer Block PMGSY Rajasthan Baran NA
bad
Shaha
431 Vimal Kumar Jain BPM Block PMAY-G Rajasthan Baran NA
bad
Shaha
432 Manohar Meena Program Officer Block MGNREGS Rajasthan Baran NA
bad
Sardar
433 Sant Kumar Meena BDO Block All 6 Rajasthan Churu NA
Sahar
Sayar/ Ravinda Sardar
434 BPMU Block DAY-NRLM Rajasthan Churu NA
Kumawat Sahar
Sardar
435 Omprakash Sharma Enginner Block PMGSY Rajasthan Churu NA
Sahar
Sardar
436 Pawan Kumar parikh BPMU Block PMAY-G Rajasthan Churu NA
Sahar
Sardar
437 Bhawani singh Program Officer Block MGNREGS Rajasthan Churu NA
Sahar
Ratang
438 Dinesh Mishra BDO Block All 6 Rajasthan Churu NA
argh
Ratang
439 Shivani Bhatnagar BPMU Block DAY-NRLM Rajasthan Churu NA
argh
162
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Ratang
440 Ritik Sakla Enginner Block PMGSY Rajasthan Churu NA
argh
Ratang
441 Lal Chandra PO Block PMAYG Rajasthan Churu NA
argh
Ratang
442 Rajveer Singh Program Officer Block MGNREGS Rajasthan Churu NA
argh
TAMIL
443 Rajesh Add Director State PMGSY NA NA NA
NADU
TAMIL
444 Radha Add Director State SPMRM NA NA NA
NADU
TAMIL
445 Razik Add Director State PMAY-G NA NA NA
NADU
TAMIL
446 Veeranan Add Director State DAY-NRLM NA NA NA
NADU
TAMIL
447 Muthumeena Add Director State MGNREGS NA NA NA
NADU
TAMIL
448 Subha Asst Commissioner State NSAP NA NA NA
NADU
TAMIL
449 Kavitha EE District PMGSY Theni NA NA
NADU
Additional Program TAMIL
450 Sankaranarayanan District MGNREGS Theni NA NA
Officer NADU
TAMIL
451 Thilagavathy PD District All 6 Theni NA NA
NADU
Additional Program TAMIL
452 Dhandapani District PMAY-G Theni NA NA
Director NADU
TAMIL
453 Kavitha EE District SPMRM Theni NA NA
NADU
TAMIL
454 Sivakumar PD District DAY-NRLM Theni NA NA
NADU
TAMIL
455 Kavitha Deputy Thasildar District NSAP Theni NA NA
NADU
Additional Program TAMIL Nagapatti
456 Angusamy District PMGSY NA NA
Officer NADU nam
TAMIL Nagapatti
457 Praveen Nair District Collector District All 6 NA NA
NADU nam

163
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Additional Program TAMIL Nagapatti

458 Kumar District MGNREGS NA NA
Officer NADU nam
TAMIL Nagapatti
459 Prasanth PD District All 6 NA NA
NADU nam
Additional Program TAMIL Nagapatti
460 Selvam District PMAY-G NA NA
Officer NADU nam
Additional Program TAMIL Nagapatti
461 PANDIYAN District DAY-NRLM NA NA
Officer NADU nam
TAMIL Nagapatti
462 RAJAN Deputy Collector District NSAP NA NA
NADU nam
TAMIL
463 Sadaiyappan EE District PMGSY Salem NA NA
NADU
TAMIL
464 RAMAN District Collector District All 6 Salem NA NA
NADU
Additional Program TAMIL
465 Susilarani/Srinivasan District MGNREGS Salem NA NA
Officer NADU
TAMIL
466 Arul Jothiarasan PD District All 6 Salem NA NA
NADU
Additional Program TAMIL
467 Priya District PMAY-G Salem NA NA
Officer NADU
TAMIL
468 Selvakumar PD District DAY-NRLM Salem NA NA
NADU
TAMIL
469 Baskaran Sp Deputy Collector District NSAP Salem NA NA
NADU
TAMIL
470 Monikka BDO Block All 6 Theni Theni NA
NADU
TAMIL
471 Sasi Deputy BDO Block DAY-NRLM Theni Theni NA
NADU
TAMIL
472 Karthik AE Block PMGSY Theni Theni NA
NADU
TAMIL
473 Balakrishnan Deputy BDO Block PMAY-G Theni Theni NA
NADU
TAMIL
474 Palani Raj Deputy BDO Block MGNREGS Theni Theni NA
NADU
TAMIL
475 Monikka BDO Block SPMRM Theni Theni NA
NADU

164
 Sector Report: Rural Development

TAMIL Periya
476 Thirupathi Muthu BDO Block All 6 Theni NA
NADU kulam
TAMIL Periya
477 Kalaivani Deputy BDO Block DAY-NRLM Theni NA
NADU kulam
TAMIL Periya
478 Nagarajan Asst Engineer Block PMGSY Theni NA
NADU kulam
TAMIL Periya
479 Nagarajan Asst Engineer Block PMAY-G Theni NA
NADU kulam
TAMIL Periya
480 Chitra Deputy BDO Block MGNREGS Theni NA
NADU kulam
TAMIL Nagapatti KILVE
481 Thirumalaikannan BDO Block All 6 NA
NADU nam LUR
TAMIL Nagapatti KILVE
482 Rajagopal BMMU Block DAY-NRLM NA
NADU nam LUR
TAMIL Nagapatti KILVE
483 Vetrivel JE Block PMGSY NA
NADU nam LUR
TAMIL Nagapatti KILVE
484 Rajakumar Deputy BDO Block PMAY-G NA
NADU nam LUR
TAMIL Nagapatti KILVE
485 Subramaniyan Deputy BDO Block MGNREGS NA
NADU nam LUR
VEDA
TAMIL Nagapatti
486 Raju BDO Block All 6 RANY NA
NADU nam
AM
VEDA
TAMIL Nagapatti
487 Prema BMM Block DAY-NRLM RANY NA
NADU nam
AM
VEDA
Manimaran/Thirunavu TAMIL Nagapatti
488 AE Block PMGSY RANY NA
karasu NADU nam
AM
VEDA
TAMIL Nagapatti
489 Rajakannan BDO Block PMAY-G RANY NA
NADU nam
AM
VEDA
TAMIL Nagapatti
490 Tamilselvi Deputy BDO Block MGNREGS RANY NA
NADU nam
AM
TAMIL OMAL
491 Murugesan BDO Block All 6 Salem NA
NADU UR
165
 Sector Report: Rural Development

TAMIL OMAL
492 Jothi BMMU Block DAY-NRLM Salem NA
NADU UR
TAMIL OMAL
493 Sankar AE Block PMGSY Salem NA
NADU UR
TAMIL OMAL
494 Ayyandurai Deputy BDO Block PMAY-G Salem NA
NADU UR
TAMIL OMAL
495 Yamuna Deputy BDO Block MGNREGS Salem NA
NADU UR
TAMIL ATTU
496 Sundarraj BDO Block All 6 Salem NA
NADU R
TAMIL ATTU
497 Saritha BMMU Block DAY-NRLM Salem NA
NADU R
Rajkumar / TAMIL ATTU
498 Assistant Engineer Block PMGSY Salem NA
Prabhavathi NADU R
TAMIL ATTU
499 Periyasamy Deputy BDO Block PMAY-G Salem NA
NADU R
TAMIL ATTU
500 Madeswaran Deputy BDO Block MGNREGS Salem NA
NADU R
Uttar
501 SUJIT KUMAR CEO State PMGSY NA NA NA
Pradesh
Uttar
502 SUJIT KUMAR MD State DAY-NRLM NA NA NA
Pradesh
MAHAMA
RAJESH KUMAR Uttar
503 AE District PMGSY YA NA NA
GAUTAM Pradesh
NAGAR
MAHAMA
ASHWANI KUMAR Uttar
504 Project Director District MGNREGS YA NA NA
MISHRA Pradesh
NAGAR
MAHAMA
ASHWANI KUMAR 5 schemes excluding Uttar
505 Project Director District YA NA NA
MISHRA SPMRM Pradesh
NAGAR
MAHAMA
ASHWANI KUMAR Uttar
506 Project Director District PMAY-G YA NA NA
MISHRA Pradesh
NAGAR
MAHAMA
AWDHESH SINGH District Mission Uttar
507 District DAY-NRLM YA NA NA
YADAV Manager Pradesh
NAGAR
166
 Sector Report: Rural Development

MAHAMA
District Social Uttar
508 SHIV KUMAR District NSAP YA NA NA
Welfare Officer Pradesh
NAGAR
Uttar
509 Goutam Singh Yadav AEE District PMGSY Ballia NA NA
Pradesh
Uttar
510 Dev Nandan Dubey Project Director District MGNREGS & PMAY-G Ballia NA NA
Pradesh
Community Uttar
511 Badri Nath Singh District All 6 Ballia NA NA
Development Officer Pradesh
Uttar
512 Devki Nandan Dubey Project Director District PMAY-G Ballia NA NA
Pradesh
District Development Uttar
513 Sashi moli mishra District DAY-NRLM Ballia NA NA
Officer Pradesh
District Social Uttar
514 Vijay Shankar District NSAP Ballia NA NA
Welfare Officer Pradesh
Uttar Chitrako
515 Pardeep EE- RED District PMGSY NA NA
Pradesh ot
Deputy
Uttar Chitrako
516 [Link] Yadav Commissioner Labor District MGNREGS NA NA
Pradesh ot
Employment
Project Director, Uttar Chitrako
517 Anay Mishra District All 6 NA NA
DRDA Pradesh ot
Project Director, Uttar Chitrako
518 Anay Mishra District PMAY-G NA NA
DRDA Pradesh ot
Project Director, Uttar Chitrako
519 Anay Mishra District SPMRM NA NA
DRDA Pradesh ot
Deputy
Uttar Chitrako
520 Ram Udrej Yadav Commissioner Self District DAY-NRLM NA NA
Pradesh ot
Employment
District Social Uttar Chitrako
521 Neelam Singh District NSAP NA NA
Welfare Officer Pradesh ot
5 schemes excluding Uttar Mahamay Sikand
522 Garrima Khare BDO Block NA
SPMRM Pradesh a Nagar ra Rao
Uttar Mahamay Sikand
523 Rajiv Gautam ADO Block DAY-NRLM NA
Pradesh a Nagar ra Rao
Uttar Mahamay Sikand
524 Sahib Singh Asst Eng Block PMGSY NA
Pradesh a Nagar ra Rao
167
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Uttar Mahamay Sikand

525 Avnish Babu Accountent Block PMAY-G NA
Pradesh a Nagar ra Rao
Uttar Mahamay Sikand
526 Mohd Jameel APO Block MGNREGS NA
Pradesh a Nagar ra Rao
4 schemes excluding Uttar Mahamay Hathra
527 Manoj Sharma BDO Block NA
PMGSY and SPMRM Pradesh a Nagar s
Uttar Mahamay Hathra
528 Pramod Kr Sharma ADO Block DAY-NRLM NA
Pradesh a Nagar s
Uttar Mahamay Hathra
529 Chandra Shekhar Asst Eng Block PMGSY NA
Pradesh a Nagar s
Uttar Mahamay Hathra
530 Ramkumar Goswami APO Block PMAY-G NA
Pradesh a Nagar s
Uttar Mahamay Hathra
531 Jitendra Dixit APO Block MGNREGS NA
Pradesh a Nagar s
4 schemes excluding Uttar
532 Ram Ashish BDO Block Ballia Nagra NA
PMGSY and SPMRM Pradesh
Uttar
533 Pramod Kr Pandey ADO ISB Block DAY-NRLM Ballia Nagra NA
Pradesh
Uttar
534 Md Shamshad Accountant Block PMAY-G Ballia Nagra NA
Pradesh
Uttar
535 Amit Singh APO Block MGNREGS Ballia Nagra NA
Pradesh
Hanu
4 schemes excluding Uttar
536 Rajesh Yadav BDO Block Ballia manga NA
PMGSY and SPMRM Pradesh
nj
Hanu
Uttar
537 Dharmendra Yadav ADO ISB Block DAY-NRLM Ballia manga NA
Pradesh
nj
Hanu
Uttar
538 Majid Ali Accountant Block PMAY-G Ballia manga NA
Pradesh
nj
Hanu
Uttar
539 Gyanendra Yadav APO Block MGNREGS Ballia manga NA
Pradesh
nj
Block Mission Uttar Chitrako
540 Pankaj Sharma Block DAY-NRLM Karwi NA
Manager Pradesh ot

168
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Block Program Uttar Chitrako

541 Ramesh Singh Block PMAY-G Karwi NA
Officer Pradesh ot
Uttar Chitrako
542 Rajendra Chauhan Computer Operator Block MGNREGS Karwi NA
Pradesh ot
4 schemes excluding Uttar Chitrako Manik
543 DK Agarwal BDO Block NA
PMGSY and SPMRM Pradesh ot pur
Block Mission Uttar Chitrako Manik
544 Muneesh Jogi Block DAY-NRLM NA
Manager Pradesh ot pur
Uttar Chitrako Manik
545 Surya Prakash Computer Operator Block PMAY-G NA
Pradesh ot pur
Uttar Chitrako Manik
546 Bhuwal Singh(APO) BPPO Block MGNREGS NA
Pradesh ot pur
Uttarakhan
547 Sushil Mohan Add seceratery State DAY-NRLM NA NA NA
d
Uttarakhan
548 MOHD ASLAM State consultant State MGNREGS NA NA NA
d
Uttarakhan
549 Vivek Upadhyay Deputy Director State PMAY-G NA NA NA
d
Director Social Uttarakhan
550 Vinod Goswami State NSAP NA NA NA
walfare department d
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
551 RAVINDRA SINGH DPO District MGNREGS NA NA
d I
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
552 DHANANJAY LINGWAL DDO District NSAP NA NA
d I
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
553 Prathviraj Rawat AE- DMMU District DAY-NRLM NA NA
d I
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
554 SHRI PRAKASH RAWAT PD- DRDA District PMAY-G, DAY-NRLM NA NA
d I
EE- PWD Nodal Uttarakhan CHAMOL
555 Pramod Gangari District PMGSY NA NA
division-PIA- PMGSY d I
Uttarakhan DEHRAD
556 PK PANDEY DDC District MGNREGS NA NA
d UN
PROJECT Uttarakhan DEHRAD
557 ARTI SEMWAL District PMAY-G NA NA
ECONIMICST d UN
Uttarakhan DEHRAD
558 R S BISHT ASSIT ENG District SPMRM NA NA
d UN

169
 Sector Report: Rural Development

DISTT THEMETIC Uttarakhan DEHRAD

559 MO BASIF District DAY-NRLM NA NA
EXPERT d UN
Uttarakhan DEHRAD
560 HEMLATA PANDEY NODAL OFFICER District NSAP NA NA
d UN
PMAY_G,NRLM and Uttarakhan US
561 Himanshu Joshi PD- DRDA District NA NA
SPMRM d NAGAR
MANGAL CHANDRA Uttarakhan US
562 DPO District MGNREGS NA NA
JOSHI d NAGAR
SHAILENDRA Uttarakhan US
563 DPMO District PMAY-G NA NA
SRIVASTAVA d NAGAR
Uttarakhan US
564 PRAMOND KANDPAL DMMO District SPMRM NA NA
d NAGAR
Uttarakhan US
565 PRAMOND KANDPAL DMMO District DAY-NRLM NA NA
d NAGAR
Uttarakhan US
566 K S RANA NODAL OFFICER District NSAP NA NA
d NAGAR
KARA
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
567 R S BARATWAL BDO Block All 6 NPRA NA
d I
YAG
KARA
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
568 PRASHANT KUMAR BMM Block DAY-NRLM NPRA NA
d I
YAG
KARA
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
569 ARUN KUMAR JET Block PMGSY NPRA NA
d I
YAG
KARA
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
570 KAILASH BPMU Block PMAY-G NPRA NA
d I
YAG
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
571 PANNI LAL ASSIT ENG. Block PMGSY GHAT NA
d I
KARA
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
572 N C ARYA ACCOUNTENT Block MGNREGS NPRA NA
d I
YAG
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
573 MANOJ KUMAR ADO Block All 6 GHAT NA
d I
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
574 SUMITRA KHANERA BMM Block DAY-NRLM GHAT NA
d I
170
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Uttarakhan CHAMOL
575 NANDAN SINGH RANA ADO Block PMAY-G GHAT NA
d I
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
576 MOHAN PRASAD Data Entry Operator Block MGNREGS GHAT NA
d I
4 schemes excluding Uttarakhan DEHRAD CHAK
577 SMT ANITA PAWANR BDO Block NA
PMGSY and SPMRM d UN RATA
Uttarakhan DEHRAD CHAK
578 ANKIT RAWAT BMM Block DAY-NRLM NA
d UN RATA
COMPUTER Uttarakhan DEHRAD CHAK
579 KULDEEP RANA Block PMAY-G NA
OPPERATOR d UN RATA
Uttarakhan DEHRAD CHAK
580 Sandeep kaushik BPO- MGNREGS Block MGNREGS NA
d UN RATA
5 schemes excluding Uttarakhan DEHRAD DOIW
581 BHAGWAN SINGH BDO Block NA
PMGSY d UN ALA
Uttarakhan DEHRAD DOIW
582 SURAJ CHAMOLI BMM Block DAY-NRLM NA
d UN ALA
Village Development Uttarakhan DEHRAD DOIW
583 KIRTAN SINGH Block PMAY-G NA
Officer d UN ALA
NARENDRA SINGH Uttarakhan DEHRAD DOIW
584 ADO Block MGNREGS NA
CHAUHAN d UN ALA
Village Development Uttarakhan DEHRAD DOIW
585 ANIL SHARMA Block SPMRM NA
Officer d UN ALA
NAVIN CHANDRA 5 schemes excluding Uttarakhan US KHATI
586 BDO Block NA
UPADHAYA PMGSY d NAGAR MA
Uttarakhan US KHATI
587 MD IQBAL BMM Block DAY-NRLM NA
d NAGAR MA
Uttarakhan US KHATI
588 SUNDER SINGH Accountant Block PMAY-G NA
d NAGAR MA
Uttarakhan US KHATI
589 GRISH CHANDRA JOSHI BPO Block MGNREGS NA
d NAGAR MA
Uttarakhan US KHATI
590 MD IQBAL CDMU Block SPMRM NA
d NAGAR MA
HARISH CHANDRA 4 schemes excluding Uttarakhan US SITAR
591 BDO Block NA
JOSHI PMGSY and SPMRM d NAGAR GANJ
Uttarakhan US SITAR
592 BHAWNA BMM Block DAY-NRLM NA
d NAGAR GANJ

171
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Uttarakhan US SITAR
593 GHANSHAYAM SINGH ACCOUNTENT Block PMAY-G NA
d NAGAR GANJ
Uttarakhan US SITAR
594 NEERAJ JOSHI BPO Block MGNREGS NA
d NAGAR GANJ
IDI with Beneficiaries Himachal Bhatti BALA
595 Nirmla Devi GP WPS Chamba
(NSAP) Pradesh yat NA
IDI with Beneficiaries Himachal Hamirpu
596 Sapna Devi GP WPS Bhijri Bhijri
(NSAP) Pradesh r
DADRA & Dadra Dadra
IDI with Beneficiaries RAND
597 Amresh Patel GP DPS NAGAR Nagar Nagar
(NSAP) HA
HAVELI Haveli Haveli
DADRA & Dadra Dadra
IDI with Beneficiaries
598 Savitaben Patel GP WPS NAGAR Nagar Nagar Dadra
(NSAP)
HAVELI Haveli Haveli
IDI with Beneficiaries Hazariba
599 Girdhari Gop GP DPS Jharkhand Barhi Karso
(NSAP) gh
Bari
IDI with Beneficiaries
600 Champa mosamat GP WPS Jharkhand Godda Godda Kalya
(NSAP)
ni
IDI with Beneficiaries Bakai
601 Jagat Nath GP DPS Assam Goalpara Matia
(NSAP) tari
IDI with Beneficiaries Kathia Bakul
602 Surjyabanu Bibi GP WPS Assam Nagaon
(NSAP) toli guri
IDI with Beneficiaries Umlin Belku
603 Wilfred Klein GP DPS Meghalaya Ri Bhoi
(NSAP) g ri
IDI with Beneficiaries Andhra Srikakkul Sompe Korla
604 Mr Penam Chiatyan dev GP DPS
(NSAP) Pradesh am ta m
CHAR
IDI with Beneficiaries Andhra ANANTA Nalla
605 Mr GANGULLAPPA GP IGNOAPS UPAL
(NSAP) Pradesh PUR mada
LI
Poom
IDI with Beneficiaries
606 Rajammal GP WPS Tamil Nadu THENI THENI alaiku
(NSAP)
ndu
MAN
IDI with Beneficiaries OMAL
607 Balu GP DPS Tamil Nadu SALEM GUPP
(NSAP) UR
AI

172
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Bhani
IDI with Beneficiaries Barwa
608 Balwan Singh GP DPS Haryana Hisar Badsh
(NSAP) la
apur
IDI with Beneficiaries Sampl Khara
609 Santosh GP WPS Haryana Rohtak
(NSAP) a wad
IDI with Beneficiaries Sindhr AADE
610 Rajkumar GP DPS Rajasthan Barmer
(NSAP) i L
IDI with Beneficiaries Shaha AAGA
611 Kanchan Lal GP IGNOAPS Rajasthan Baran
(NSAP) bad R
IDI with Beneficiaries Uttarakhan US Sitarga GOTH
612 VIMAL RAM GP IGNOAPS
(NSAP) d NAGAR nj A
IDI with Beneficiaries Uttarakhan
613 Khilafi Ram GP DPS Chamoli Ghat BURA
(NSAP) d
Poom
IDI with Beneficiaries
614 Samuthiran GP NSAP-Disability Tamil Nadu Theni Theni alaiku
(NSAP)
ndu
District Mission
615 Madhurjya Borah District DAY-NRLM Assam Nagaon NA NA
Manager
Himachal Bhatti
616 Basheer Khan BDO Block BDO Chamba NA
Pradesh yat
Himachal Bhatti
617 Yateshwar Singh Data entry operator Block MGNREGS Chamba NA
Pradesh yat
Village level Himachal Bhatti
618 Sonu Block PMAY-G Chamba NA
coordinator Pradesh yat
Not given responses for
any scheme and
District Nodal officer(
provided general Himachal
619 Gautam Sharma ADF )+ District District Chamba NA NA
information about ADF Pradesh
Program officer
as it is recently
implemented in district.
IDI with Beneficiaries Amla
620 Sita Ram GP IGNOAPS Rajasthan Baran Anta
(NSAP) sera
Andhra ANANTA
621 Soma Shekhar PIA District PMGSY NA NA
Pradesh PUR
Block program Dham
622 Prasanta Kumar Barik Block PMAY-G Odisha Bhadrak NA
manager nagar
623 Bhura lal Mali District Manager District DAY-NRLM Rajasthan Baran NA NA
173
 Sector Report: Rural Development

IDI with Beneficiaries Subhr

624 Parmjeet GP DPS Haryana Ambala Barara
(NSAP) i
625 Uday Veer Executive Engineer District PMGSY Haryana Rohtak NA NA
IDI with Beneficiaries Maha
626 Herera Khatun GP WPS Assam Nagaon Juria
(NSAP) ripur
627 Dinesh Bharti Tragery Officer District NSAP Rajasthan Barmer NA NA
Poom
628 Mrs. Jeeva Santhi Beneficiary GP NSAP-Family Benefit Tamil Nadu Theni Theni alaiku
ndu
District Mission
629 Kamal Kanto Goala District DAY-NRLM ASSAM Tinsukia NA NA
Manager
District Program
630 Sanjay Barik District DAY-NRLM Odisha Bhadrak NA NA
manager
NAGA
631 Ganga Ram Baspota Beneficiary GP IGNOAPS Assam Tinsukia SADIA
ON
District Finance
632 Mr. Parveen District DAY-NRLM Haryana Rohtak NA NA
manager
Barka
Hazariba Barkat n
633 Kusuma Mosriat Beneficiary GP WPS Jharkhand
gh ha Gang
o
Murtiram Hazariba
634 Beneficiary GP IGNOAPS Jharkhand Barhi Karso
Chandravanshi gh
Chand Kona
Vulavalapudi Andhra
635 Beneficiary GP IGNOAPS Krishna ralapa yapal
Devasahayam Pradesh
du em
Boda
Patapanchula Andhra Agirip
636 Beneficiary GP WPS Krishna nnap
Veeramma Pradesh alle
alli
Himachal Hamirpu Bhora
637 Mansha Ram Beneficiary GP IGNOAPS Aghar
Pradesh r nj
Himachal Hamirpu Kalw
638 Sushma Devi Beneficiary GP WPS Bhijri
Pradesh r al
RD Executive
639 Bijay Kumar Das District PMGSY Odisha Bhadrak NA NA
Engineer
Project Director DAY-NRLM, PMAY-G, Uttarakhan Dehradu
640 Vikram Singh District NA NA
DRDA SPMRM d n
174
 Sector Report: Rural Development

District Program
641 Sankar Challan District NRLM Odisha Bargarh NA NA
manager
ATTA Jange
642 NEENA DASH Beneficiary GP NSAP-Family Benefit Odisha Bargarh
BIRA d
IDI with Beneficiaries Ajeets
643 Sita Ram GP IGNOAPS Rajasthan Churu Churu
(NSAP) ar
Himachal
644 Jeet Singh Thakur Executive Engineer District PMGSY Chamba NA NA
Pradesh
Bhesr
Sampl
645 Babita Beneficiary GP WPS Haryana Rohtak i
a
Kurd
Assistance Executive Hazariba
646 Sarwan Kumar Block PMGSY Jharkhand Barhi NA
Engineer gh
Assistance Executive Hazariba Barkat
647 Sarwan Kumar Block PMGSY Jharkhand NA
Engineer gh ha
Assistant project Uttar CHITRAK
648 DAYA RAM YADAV District MGNREGS NA NA
director Pradesh OOT
649 Saurav Mathey District Manager District DAY-NRLM Rajasthan Churu NA NA
Himachal Saloon
650 Saliesh Rana SDO Block PMGSY Chamba NA
Pradesh i
651 Navid Anjumul Haque District MIS Manager District MGNREGS ASSAM Goalpara NA NA
District Program Andhra
652 Mr Vijay Kumar P District DAY-NRLM Krishna NA NA
Officer Pradesh
Assistance Executive Andhra Anantapu Nalla
653 Mr Gururajagupta Block PMGSY NA
Engineer Pradesh r mada
654 Naveen Kumar Senapati DPM-OLM District DAY-NRLM ODISHA Ganjam NA NA
Himachal
655 Vinod Kumar Project Eng District SPMRM Chamba NA NA
Pradesh
APO+Nodal officer of Himachal Hamirpu
656 Rajesh Kumar District MGNREGS NA NA
MGNREGS Pradesh r
Khalik
657 Naba Krushna Jena BDO Block All 6 Odisha Ganjam NA
ote
DADRA &
Rand
658 Devli Chagan Radiya Beneficiary GP WPS NAGAR DNH DNH
ha
HAVELI
Chand Bhata
659 Alekh Nayak Beneficiary GP DPS ODISHA Bhadrak
abali pada
175
 Sector Report: Rural Development

SHELL
EAST
MEGHALA A MAW
660 Belinda Sohkhlet Beneficiary GP WPS KHASI
YA BHOL SMAI
HILLS
AGANJ
DADRA &
Kikubhai Beliyabhai
661 Beneficiary GP IGNOAPS NAGAR DNH NA Dadra
Patel
HAVELI
Uttar
662 ANNPURNA GARG JOINT MAGISTRATE District DAY-NRLM Ballia NA NA
Pradesh
Assistance Executive Uttar CHITRAK KARW
663 SHALIGRAM JOSHI Block PMGSY NA
Engineer Pradesh OOT I
Assistance Executive Uttar CHITRAK MANI
664 K P BIND Block PMGSY NA
Engineer Pradesh OOT KPUR
665 [Link] Special Secretary State All 6 Rajasthan NA NA NA
EAST
Miss Lajied Lang District Mission MEGHALA
666 District DAY-NRLM KHASI NA NA
Basaiawmoit Manager YA
HILLS
Himachal Bhatti
667 Narinder Choudhary SDO Block PMGSY Chamba NA
Pradesh yat
EAST
District Program MEGHALA
668 Smt. Sandalin Sutnga District MGNREGS JAYANTI NA NA
Manager YA
A HIILS
669 Thilagavathy Project Director District MGNREGS Tamil Nadu Theni NA NA
670 Sivakumar Project Director District DAY-NRLM Tamil Nadu Theni NA NA
Chhatr Aryap
671 M. PUSPA Beneficiary GP NSAP-Family Benefit Odisha Ganjam
apur alli
672 Arun Kumar Project Economist State All 6 Haryana NA NA NA
Uttar CHITRAK KARW
673 SUNIL KR SINGH BDO Block All 6 NA
Pradesh OOT I
Uttar CHITRAK KARW Agarh
674 LACHMANIYA Beneficiary GP WPS
Pradesh OOT I unda
Uttar CHITRAK KARW Bank
675 RUKI DEVI Beneficiary GP WPS
Pradesh OOT I at
Chhatr
676 Sachikanta Das JEE, RD Block PMGSY ODISHA Ganjam NA
apur
Himachal Hamirpu
677 Khushi Ram Sood Technical Assistant District DAY-NRLM NA NA
Pradesh r
176
 Sector Report: Rural Development

District Program Himachal Hamirpu

678 Sujeev Kumar Juglani District MGNREGS NA NA
Officer Pradesh r
Himachal
679 Dalbir Singh Rana Executive Engineer Block PMGSY Sirmaur Nahan NA
Pradesh
Padma Jamar
680 Dolamani Biswal Beneficiary GP IGNOAPS ODISHA Bargarh
pur tala
Hanu
Assistant Executive Uttar
681 Pardeep Sharma Block PMGSY BALIA manga NA
Engineer Pradesh
nj
ASWANI KUMAR Project Director Uttar Mahamay
682 District MGNREGS NA NA
MISHRA DRDA Pradesh a Nagar
EAST
Shri Federick M Dopth , MEGHALA
683 District Magistrate District All 6 JAYANTI NA NA
IAS YA
A HIILS
District program Andhra
684 Mr Chinnatathaiah District MGNREGS Krishna NA NA
officer Pradesh
EAST
District Program MEGHALA
685 Phoida Paul Syiemiong District MGNREGS KHASI NA NA
Manager YA
HILLS
Uttar Mahamay Hathra
686 VIMLA/W/O TEJPAL Beneficiary GP WPS Koka
Pradesh a Nagar s
Uttar Sikand Khijar
687 PATWARI/PUNNE Beneficiary GP IGNOAPS Hathras
Pradesh rarao Pur
Uttar Hathra
688 KIRAN / TOTA RAM Beneficiary GP WPS Hathras Koka
Pradesh s
Uttarakhan Dehradu Doiwal Gado
689 PURAN SINGH Beneficiary GP IGNOAPS
d n a ol
Uttarakhan CHAMOL
690 SHRI PRAKASH RAWAT PD- DRDA District PMAY-G NA NA
d I
Finance and Admin MEGHALA
691 Bah Lanong State DAY-NRLM NA NA NA
officer YA
Uttar
692 KAMESHWAR SINGH ADO-DRDA District MGNREGS BALIA NA NA
Pradesh
EAST Shella
MEGHALA
693 Mr Mukhim BDO Block DAY-NRLM KHASI Bholag NA
YA
HILLS anj

177
 Sector Report: Rural Development

EAST
MEGHALA Saipun
694 Kir Dkhar Beneficiary GP IGNOAPS JAYANTI Pala
YA g
A HIILS
Uttar
695 JAI RAM ADD. DIRECTOR State NSAP NA NA NA
Pradesh
Andhra
696 Mrs E G S Syamala CFO STATE MGNREGS NA NA NA
Pradesh
Uttarakhan US SITAR GOTH
697 SUMITRA DEVI Beneficiary GP DPS
d NAGAR GANJ A
Uttarakhan US KHATI FULA
698 NARAINI DEVI Beneficiary GP IGNOAPS
d NAGAR MA IYA
EAST
MEGHALA Khleri Bata
699 Winsan Phawa Beneficiary GP DPS JAYANTI
YA at w
A HIILS
700 Smita Deka Finance officer State MGNREGS ASSAM NA NA NA
Panch
JHARKHAN Hazariba
701 Harendra GOP Cluster head Block SPMRM Barhi madh
D gh
aw
702 Ritu Gupta Financial Advisor State MGNREGS Rajasthan NA NA NA
Superintend Himachal Hamirpu
703 Surinder Sharma District PMGSY NA NA
Engineer PMGSY Pradesh r
Chairman, ZP- Himachal Hamirpu
704 Rakesh Thakur District All 6 NA NA
Hamirpur Pradesh r
UDHAM
MANGAL CHANDRA District Program Uttarakhan
705 District MGNREGS SINGH NA NA
JOSHI Officer d
NAGAR
UDHAM
Uttarakhan
706 PRAMOND KANDPAL DMMO District DAY-NRLM SINGH NA NA
d
NAGAR
UDHAM
Uttarakhan
707 Himanshu Joshi Project Director District All 6 SINGH NA NA
d
NAGAR
Himachal Saloon
708 Rajneesh Sharma BDO Block All 6 Chamba NA
Pradesh i
Assistant Executive Uttar Nagar
709 Pradeep Baranwal Block PMGSY BALIA NA
Engineer Pradesh a

178
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Deputy Director Cum Himachal

710 Yogender Kumar District All 6 Chamba NA NA
project officer Pradesh
711 Manas Debata Additional Secretary State MGNREGS Odisha NA NA NA
712 Sudarsan Parida Director State PMGSY Odisha NA NA NA
Computer oprator
Himachal
713 Sanjay Kumar refer by Superintend District MGNREGS Sirmuar NA NA
Pradesh
DARDA
State Program
714 Saravanan Manager ( Operations State DAY-NRLM Tamil Nadu NA NA NA
& Procurement)
715 Krutibas Rout project director District All 6 Odisha Baragarh NA NA
Executive Engineer Uttarakhan Dehradu
716 Mr Sanjay District PMGSY NA NA
PMGSY d n
Executive Engineer Uttarakhan Dehradu Doiwal
717 Mr Sanjay Block PMGSY NA
PMGSY d n a
Executive Engineer Uttarakhan Dehradu Chakr
718 Mr BC Pant Block PMGSY NA
PMGSY d n ata
Head of department Himachal
719 Deepak Chauhan State DAY-NRLM NA NA NA
SRLM Pradesh
ADDITIONAL Uttar
720 AKHILESH SINGH State PMAY-G NA NA NA
DIRECTOR - PMAYG Pradesh
Ladies Social Himachal
721 Rama District DAY-NRLM Sirmuar NA NA
Education officer Pradesh
Environment and
Himachal
722 DK Nag Social development State PMGSY NA NA NA
Pradesh
officer, HPPWD
Andhra Agirip
723 Mr Srinivas Rao Mandal In-charge Block PMAY-G Krishna NA
Pradesh alle
ADDITIONAL Uttar
724 Janmjay Shukla State All 6 NA NA NA
COMMISSIONER Pradesh
Project Director- Uttarakhan Dehradu
725 Vikram Singh District DAY-NRLM NA NA
Rural devolepment d n
Deputy Uttar
726 NEERAJA GUPT State SPMRM NA NA NA
Commissioner Pradesh
Deputy Andhra
727 Dr Siva Shankar Prasad State MGNREGS NA NA NA
Commissioner Pradesh

179
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Ganja
728 Jyoyi Snkar Ray BDO Block All 6 Odisha Ganjam NA
m
Additional project
729 Soumya Ranjan Hota District All 6 Odisha Ganjam NA NA
director
Senior Audit Officer JHARKHAN
730 Rashmi Singh State MGNREGS NA NA NA
Finance) D
JEFFREY MEGHALA
731 Programme Manager State MGNREGS NA NA NA
KHARSYNTIEW YA
Deputy Director Himachal
732 Kalyani Gupta District All 6 Sirmaur NA NA
Sirmaur (DRDA) Pradesh
Himachal
733 Isha Thakur Joint director State State Nodal Officer NA NA NA
Pradesh
State Consultant Uttarakhan
734 MOHD ASLAM State MGNREGS NA NA NA
MGNAREGA d
State Consultant Uttarakhan
735 MOHD ASLAM State MGNREGS NA NA NA
MGNAREGA d
CEO (TNVRC - Tamil
Nadu State on
Governmental
736 Deepa Rajkamal State DAY-NRLM Tamil Nadu NA NA NA
Organizations and
Volunteers Resource
Centre)
Deputy Uttar CHITRKO
737 RAM UDRAJ YADAV District DAY NRLM NA NA
commissioner-SE Pradesh OT
Uttar CHITRAK KARW
738 RANDHEER SINGH young professional Block SPMRM NA
Pradesh OOT I
Uttarakhan US KHATI
739 AMLAN AHMAD young professional Block SPMRM NA
d NAGAR MA
Uttarakhan
740 PRABHAKER BEBNI Deputy Director State SPMRM NA NA NA
d
District Mission Uttar Mahamay Hatras
741 Awadesh Singh District DAY-NRLM NA
Manager Pradesh a Nagar h
EAST
Smt Matsiewdor War MEGHALA
742 District Magistrate District All 6 KHASI NA NA
Nongbri YA
HILLS
Musaraf Hussain
743 Dist Project Manager District DAY-NRLM ASSAM Goalpara NA NA
Choudhury
180
 Sector Report: Rural Development

744 Madan Mohan Behera Under Secretary State NSAP Odisha NA NA NA

Smt. Suprabha Roy , Assistant Deputy
745 District All 6 ASSAM Goalpara NA NA
ACS Commissioner
Uttar Saharanp
746 Mr Pranay Singh CDO District All 6 NA NA
Pradesh ur
Uttar
747 Dev Nandan Dubey PD- RD District All 6 Ballia NA NA
Pradesh
PRAVEEN KUMAR Uttar Mahamay
748 DM District All 6 NA NA
LAKSHKAR Pradesh a Nagar
749 Debi Prsad Nayak CEO, MIS, MLE State DAY-NRLM ODISHA NA NA NA
Project Manager,
750 Sthitaprajna Swain State DAY-NRLM ODISHA NA NA NA
Communication
JD- State Rural
Himachal
751 Anil Sharma Development State All 6 NA NA NA
Pradesh
Department
Superintendent
S E Kuttalingam
Engineer
Abdul Razik
Additional Director
752 Rajesh State All 6 Tamil Nadu NA NA NA
Executive Engineer
Raghuram
Consultant TNSRLM
Radha
Senior Consultant
Swaimad
753 Nanumal Paharia DM District All 6 Rajasthan NA NA
hopur
Superintendent
754 Arvind Saxena State MGNREGS Rajasthan Jaipur Jaipur Jaipur
Engineer
IDI NSAP Uttarakhan US SITAR GOTH
755 Balwant Singh GP NSAP-Old Age
beneficiaries d NAGAR GANJ A
DADRA & DADRA &
756 Kiran Valand MGNREGS - Incharge District MGNREGS NAGAR NAGAR NA NA
HAVELI HAVELI
DADRA & DADRA &
757 Kiran Valand MGNREGS - Incharge District MGNREGS NAGAR NAGAR NA NA
HAVELI HAVELI
758 Sushil Kumar Swain Deputy CEO, Finance State MGNREGS ODISHA NA NA NA
DADRA & DADRA &
759 Ms. Sharmishtha Desai NRLM - Incharge District DAY-NRLM NAGAR NAGAR NA NA
HAVELI HAVELI
181
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Nilesh Patel, Kiran

DADRA & DADRA &
Valand, Ms.
760 District Incharges District All 6 NAGAR NAGAR NA NA
Sharmishtha Desai, Ms.
HAVELI HAVELI
Vaishali Solanki
Training Programe Uttar
761 Murad Ali State DAY-NRLM NA NA NA
officer Pradesh
Uttarakhan Pauri
762 RK singh Executive Engineer District PMGSY NA NA
d garhwal
DADRA &
763 Ms. Sarmishtha Desai KMU Incharge State NSAP NAGAR NA NA NA
HAVELI
DADRA &
764 Ms. Sarmishtha Desai FMU Incharge State DAY-NRLM NAGAR NA NA NA
HAVELI
Uttarakhan Almor
765 KC Arya Executive engineer Block PMGSY Almora NA
d a
DADRA &
CEO, Project Director,
766 Mr. HM Chavda District All 6 NAGAR NA NA NA
District Panchayat
HAVELI
State Project
Manager- Social
Mobilisation,
767 Dr. Rousy K. Baruah State DAY-NRLM ASSAM NA NA NA
Institution Building
and Capacity
Building, ASRLMS
Deputy Uttar
768 YOGESH KUMAR State MGNREGS NA NA NA
Commissioner Pradesh
State project
Uttar
769 Prem Kumar management officer - State DAY-NRLM NA NA NA
Pradesh
finanace
770 Tarandeep Training Coordinator State MGNREGS Haryana NA NA NA
Finance Manager-
771 Mr. Parveen State MGNREGS Haryana NA NA NA
State
772 Mr Upesh Ch Das DM District All 6 ASSAM Nagaon NA NA
773 Rita Gogoi CEO, Zila Parishad District All 6 ASSAM Tinsukia NA NA
Bharatpu
774 Nathumal Didel DM District All 6 Rajasthan NA NA
r
182
 Sector Report: Rural Development

775 Sri Jonash Basumatary Liaison Officer, DRDA District All 6 ASSAM Udalguri NA NA
Mau
Uttar Chitrako
776 Neelam singh Chauhan Young professional Block SPMRM Musta NA
Pradesh ot
qil
DC-State Rural
Uttarakhan
777 Hargobind Bhatt Development State All 6 NA NA NA
d
Department
Himachal
778 Sanjeev Kumar Finance officer State MGNREGS NA NA NA
Pradesh
Rural Development
779 Ashish Singha State SPMRM Odisha NA NA NA
Specialist
Uttarakhan Pauri
780 Sunil Kumar DMM District DAY-NRLM NA NA
d garhwal
Executive Engineer Himachal
781 Kishan Lal District PMGSY Sirmaur NA NA
PMGSY Pradesh
Project Director Thanjavu
782 Mr Plani District All 6 Tamil Nadu NA NA
DRDA r
Chairman Zila Himachal
783 Dileep Chouhan District All 6 Sirmaur NA NA
Parishad Pradesh
Chairman Zila Himachal
784 DS Pathania District All 6 Chamba NA NA
Parishad Pradesh
Joint Director RURAL
785 Smti D. Pegu , ACS DEVELOPMENT State MGNREGS ASSAM NA NA NA
DEPERTMENT
786 Madhusudan Dash PD-DRDA District All 6 ODISHA Bhadrak NA NA
Uttarakhan
787 HD Pandey CDO District All 6 Chamoli NA NA
d
Uttarakhan
788 Atul Saxena IT coordinator State PMGSY NA NA NA
d
Commissioner of
Panchayat and Rural
789 Hemen Das, IAS State All 6 Assam NA NA NA
Development,
Guwahati
Sudhanshu Mohan
790 DM District All 6 ODISHA Deograh NA NA
Samal
791 Kulveer Singh CEO District All 6 Haryana Gurgaon NA NA

183
 Sector Report: Rural Development

Project Director
792 Siddharth Sankar Swain District All 6 ODISHA Ganjam NA NA
DRDA
Uttarakhan Dehradu
793 Vikram Singh PD-DRDA District All 6 NA NA
d n
State Rural Housing
794 Pranati State PMAY-G ODISHA NA NA NA
Dept.
Director-Rural Himachal
795 Mr Lalit Jain State MGNREGS NA NA NA
Development Dept Pradesh
796 Pankaj Rana State MIS officer State MGNREGS Jharkhand NA NA NA
Ashish Singha, Srimant
RD Specialist/State
Kumar Samal, Madan
Prog Officer/Under
797 Mohan Behera, State All 6 Odisha NA NA NA
Secretary/Director/C
Sudarsan Parida, Debi
EO, MIS-MLS
Prasad Nayak
Rural Skills Division
798 MoRD National DAY-NRLM National NA NA NA
Team
Vice President,
799 Zinat Niazi Development National PMAY-G National
Alternatives(DA)
Additional Secretary,
800 Smt Alka Upadhyaya National Sector National
MoRD
Director-General,
801 Sh. Gaya Prasad National PMAY-G National
PMAY-G
802 Ms Roop Avtar Kaur Director, SPMRM National SPMRM National
Joint Secretary,
Policy, Planning &
803 Dr. Biswajeet Banerjee National SPMRM &Sector National
Management (PPM),
MoRD
Mr. Raminder Singh Resource Person,
804 National DAY-NRLM National
Rekhi NRLM
805 Prof. K. Raju Ex Professor, IRMA National Sector + NRLM National
Executive Director,
806 Mr. Liby Johnson National Sector + NRLM National
Gram Vikas, Odisha
Joint Secretary, Rural
807 Ms. Leena Johri National Sector National
Livelihoods
808 Dr. N. Srinivas Rao Economic Advisor National Sector National
809 Mr. Naresh Saxena Ex Bureaucrat National Sector National
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 Sector Report: Rural Development

810 Mr. Vijay Mahajan Founder, BASIX National DAY-NRLM National

Joint Secretary,
811 Sh. Rohit Kumar National MGNREGS National
MGNREGS
Founder Srijan,
812 Mr. Ved Arya Buddha Fellow National Sector National
Programme
Department for
813 Ms Mamta Kohli International National Sector National
Development (DRID)
Transforming Rural
814 Anish India Foundation National Sector National
(TRIF)
Operations Director,
CEPT Research &
815 Mr. Darshan Parikh National SPMRM National
Development
Foundation
816 Mr. Vijay Mahajan Founder, BASIX National DAY-NRLM National
Director – School of
817 Dr. Sridharan Planning and National SPMRM National
Architecture, Bhopal
818 Mr. Nagesh Singh Ex- Officer, PMGSY National PMGSY National
Head, Centre for
819 Prof. Jyothis Satyapalan Wage Employment, National MGNREGS National
NIRD & PR
Joint Secretary - DAY-
820 Mrs. Nita Kejriwal, National DAY-NRLM National
NRLM
Divisional
Dr. Ashok Kumar
821 Chairperson, National PMGSY National
Sarkar
Engineering
Director(Projects),
National Rural
Infrastructure
822 Mr. I. K. Pateriya National PMGSY National
Development
Agency(NRIDA), New
Delhi

185
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