Modi govt's Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana loses steam in second phase

The Narendra Modi government's flagship scheme 'Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana' (SAGY ) meant to develop model villages across the country has started losing steam. Majority of Parliamentarians have not shown interest in identifying and adopting villages after the scheme entered phase II.

About 2,200 villages have to be developed in the first three phases of SAGY by 2019. The deadline for every MP to nominate a village for phase II has already lapsed on January 31. Earlier, the union rural development ministry had also written a letter to parliamentarians to identify villages so that the process of developing them could begin on time.

However, officials claimed only a few MPs have shown interest towards the scheme in the second phase. According to official data, only 23 out of 543 Lok Sabha members have come forward and identified villages to carry out development projects. The situation is no better with Rajya Sabha MPs, as only 6 out of 252 MPs have shown interest in the initiative.

The Modi government had launched the ambitious scheme in October 2014 with the aim to translate Gandhi's vision of an ideal Indian village into reality. Under SAGY, every MP adopts a gram panchayat and develops it on set parameters, mostly using various schemes of the Centre and the state.

Scarcity of funds

However, a senior rural development ministry official said parliamentarians have complained about scarcity of funds to carry out these development schemes. "They have raised the issue in Parliament and have also written letters to the ministry. Thereafter, the ministry wrote a letter for provision of funds from corporate, voluntary and private sectors," added the official.

The official said there is no separate fund for this scheme by the government. "MPs have to carry out the work on various existing schemes of the Centre and state governments. On an average, most of the parliamentarians have complained about lack of funds to the tune of Rs 2 crore in one gram panchayat. This is also termed as critical gap funding, but it can be resolved," he said.

The official said there are 233 government schemes that could be used to develop villages, but, surprisingly, many lawmakers are not aware about most of these. And that might be the reason for them not warming up to the village development project. "We have conducted many orientation programmes to inform MPs about the government schemes and how to carry them forward, but many of them are not aware it seems," added the official.

In order to resolve the issue of fund crunch, the government has decided to tap corporate resources for the scheme. A letter dated December 22, 2015 by the Rural Development Ministry clearly said gram panchayats should tap the resources of the private sector for development works. "Each gram panchayat should proactively tap the resources and strengths of the private, voluntary and cooperative sectors which could help in making available relevant technologies for local adoptions as well as making investments for local economic development, either independently or to supplement government efforts," said the letter which has been written to principal secretaries.

"The basic idea is to develop villages as 'islands of excellence' and the focus is to develop them on economic model. If the main activity in a village is production of milk then work should be on bolstering the system so that more people could get employment in the milk business or to flourish that business in that village," added the official.

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