(October 13, 1999 - January 20, 2000)

POLICIES PROGRAMMES & INITIATIVES

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

The need for greater monitoring of rural development programmes has been emphasized by the Government. The Ministry of Rural Development has also laid stress on construction of rural roads for better connectivity.

A new Department of Drinking Water supply was created in the Ministry. The President, Shri K.R. Narayanan in his address to the first session of both Houses of Parliament after the 13^th Lok Sabha elections had mentioned that the newly created Department of Drinking Water Supply in the Ministry of Rural Development will implement a programme to provide clean drinking water to all villages in the next five years.

The Ministry is implementing rehabilitation programme for the Orissa cyclone victims. It has been decided to release a sum of Rs. 200 crore for various programmes. A sum of Rs. 112.04 crore was released on November 4, 1999. This includes a sum of Rs. 12.93 crore under Swarna-jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana; Rs. 17.76 crore under Jawahar Gram Samriddhi Yojana; Rs. 24.02 crore under Employment Assurance Scheme.

The Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), an arm of the Ministry, granted Rs. 45 lakh for providing immediate relief to super cyclone affected people in Orissa.

In another package cleared by the Union Cabinet on January 12, 2000; construction of an additional 2.5 lakh houses under the Indira Awaas Yojana and 50,000 houses under the credit-cum-subsidy housing system is envisaged.

A Centrally sponsored scheme to help States on consolidation of Land Holding is on the anvil. The Ministry has constituted a National level Committee to advise on the features that would form this new scheme. The Finance Minister in his Budget Speech for 1999-2000 spelt out that the Central Government shall provide special financial assistance to States for undertaking the task of prevention of fragmentation of land holdings. It is with this primary function that the National Level Committee has been constituted.

For the first time in the history of the India International Trade Fair (IITF), the rural poor had an opportunity to display and sell their products in the national and international markets. SARAS - an exhibition-cum-sale stall in IITF 99, in addition to the Rural Development Ministry Pavilion, drew artisans, rural manufacturers and retailers from 450 districts representing 22 States and Union Territories. SARAS was the Ministry's effort in ensuring better marketing and distribution conditions for products manufactured in the rural self-employment sector. This was also the first step in standardising and ensuring high quality products in this sector.

All the self-employment programmes - Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM), Development of Women & Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), Supply of Improved Tool Kits to Rural Artisans (SITRA), Ganga Kalyan Yojana (GKY) and Million Wells Scheme (MWS) were merged into one self-employment programme - Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SSGSY). The programme aims at establishing a large number of micro-enterprises in the rural areas to provide sustainable income to the rural poor.

The Jawahar Rojgar Yojana has been restructured and renamed Jawahar Gram Samriddhi Yojana (JGSY). Designed to improve the quality of life of the rural poor, JGSY was launched on April 1, 1999, with the objective of creation of demand driven community village infrastructure including durable assets at the village level to increase the opportunities for sustained employment for the rural poor.

The Government has set the goal of providing 'Housing for All' and towards this end, the Government proposes to facilitate construction of 20 lakh additional housing annually. Out of this, 13 lakh additional houses need to be constructed in rural areas.

Under Indira Awaas Yojana, a centrally sponsored scheme funded on cost-sharing basis between the Government of India and the States in the ratio of 75:25, grant is given for construction as well as conversion of a kutcha house into pucca/semi-pucca house.

A new scheme - Credit-cum-Subsidy Scheme has come into operation w.e.f. April 1,1999 to facilitate construction of houses for rural families with income upto Rs. 32,000 annually and who have some repayment capacity.

Moreover, to encourage the use of cost-effective, environment friendly and scientifically tested and proven indigenous and modern designs, a scheme called Innovative Stream for Rural Housing and Habitat Development has been launched w.e.f. April 1, 1999.

Samagra Awaas Yojana, Rural Building Centres, National Mission for Rural Housing and Habitat have also been launched by the Ministry.

The following are some of the revised schemes of the Ministry of Rural Development in addition to the ongoing earlier schemes. The performance appraisal of some of the schemes as provided by the Monitoring Division of the Ministry as on January 10, 2000 is as under:

JGSY Jawahar Gram Samriddhi Yojana

IAY Indira Awaas Yojana

EAS Employment Assurance Scheme

SGSY Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana

DPAP Drought Prone Areas Programme

DDP Desert Development Programme

RWS Rural Water Supply

ARWSP Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme

RSP Rural Sanitation Programme