This document provides an overview of rural development in India from the 1950s to the present. It discusses early community development programs, shifts to focus on agriculture and special groups in later decades, and current challenges around poverty, employment, inequality, and climate change impacts. The current strategy under the Ministry of Rural Development addresses these challenges through flagship programs like MGNREGA and DAY-NRLM, which aim to increase livelihood opportunities and social safety nets in rural areas.

1. Sustaining Rural India
through
Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhyan
Prof. Murugesan Ramasamy
Head - CSR, PPP & PA
NIRDPR, Hyderabad - 30
www.nirdpr.org.in

2. Outline of the
Presentation
Step - 1 : Rural Development - Evolution
Step - 2 : Present Strategy: Programs of MoRD & Features
Step - 3 : Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhyan
Step - 4 : Clarification

3. Journey begins for a
Young Nation
• Tryst with Destiny
• Sovereign, Socialist, Secular,
Democratic, Republic with 28 States, 7
Union Territories following more than
122 major Languages.
• Population of 0.36 Billion.
• 83 % Rural; 17 % Urban.
• 47 % Below Poverty Line.
• Political Integration of Country.

4. Early Stages of
Rural Development -1950s
• Grow More Food Campaign (1943)
– Linkages with all aspects of rural life
– Needed Integrated Approach
• Five Year Plans (1951 onwards)
Focus on Irrigation and Energy followed by Community Development
• Community Development Programmes (1952)
– Overall development through Integrated approach, Equity considerations
– People’s Participation
– Building Democratic Village Institutions (Panchayati Raj, Co-operatives,
Village schools)
Aiming to:
 Development of Material and Human Resources, Develop Local Leadership
and Self-governing Institutions.
 Raise Standard of Living through rapid increase in Agricultural production.

5. 1960s: Intensive Development
Programmes
• Community Development and Panchyati Raj
– Balwantray Mehta Report (1959)
– Democratic Decentralisation of Administration with Three-tier
Panchayati Raj System
– Early Adopters: Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan - 1959
• Intensive Agricultural District Programme (IADP)
– Concentration of Resources to enhance Agricultural
Production in well endowed areas (credit, other inputs,
marketing, storage, extension)
– Food Security
• Bank Nationalisation - 1969

6. 1970s: Progress towards
Food Self Sufficiency
• Intensive Agriculture Area programme (IAAP)
• Green Revolution
• Food grain production increased
from 54.9 million tonnes 1949-50 to 123.2 million tonnes
during 1974-75.
• Operation Flood – White Revolution
Average milk procurement increased from 2.56 million kg per
day in 1970 to 5.78 million kg per day during 1985.
• Food Self Sufficiency

7. 1970s : Shift from Intensive Programs
to Special Groups & Area Specific
Programs
• Rural Poverty, Unemployment, and Inequitable Distribution of Benefits in earlier
Programmes.
• Focus on Special group and Area Specific Programmes,
- Small Farmer Development Agency (SFDA)
- Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labourers Programme (MFAL)
- Drought-Prone Area Programme (DPAP)
- Desert Development Programme (DDP)
- Hill Area Development Programme (HADP)
- Tribal Area Development Programme (TADP)
- Crash Scheme for Rural Employment (CSREP)
- Food for Work Programme (FFW)
- Minimum Needs Programme (MNP)
• Benefits to flow to Weaker Sections and Backward Areas.

8. 1980s: Integrated and Holistic
Approach
• Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP)
– Minimum Needs Programme with Employment and Income
Generation Activities,
– Single largest Anti Poverty Programme focusing Poorest of the
Poor,
– Income levels of target households raised marginally,
– IRDP later transformed to a holistic programme covering all aspects
of Self-Employment & existing sub-schemes of TRYSEM, DWCRA,
SITRA and GKY merged into IRDP
– Reduction in Poverty Levels.

9. 1990s: Liberalisation phase
• Economic Liberalisation
• Aimed at High Economic Growth
• Market and Service Oriented Economy
• Role of Private Sector and Foreign Investment
• Higher Economic Growth
• Significant Reduction in Poverty levels
• Diversification of Employment
Opportunities
• Technical Progress
• Increasing Inequality

10. Journey so far…
• 1950-2020
• Reduction in Poverty levels (47 % to 21.9 %).
• Divergence between Urban and Rural Poverty
narrowed.
• India joining the league of fastest growing major
economies in the world.
• Third largest economy after China and US (in
terms of GDP).
• Projected to overtake Germany, France and Japan
in terms of nominal GDP by 2028.
Rural Development Strategy Shift - “from focus
on Basic Needs and Equity Considerations to
Economic Growth and Trickle Down Mechanisms”

11. 2000 - 2015 2015 - 2030
8 Goals, 21 Targets and 63 Indicators 17 Goals, 169 Targets, 230 Indicators
MDGs to SDGs: The Shift

12. Challenges Ahead :
Rising Inequality
• High Economic Growth, but Increasing Inequality
• In 2014, the share of National Income accruing to India’s top 1% of earners was
22%, while the share of the top 10% was around 56%.
• Since 1980s, the top 0.1% earners have captured more growth than all of those in
the bottom 50% combined.

13. Challenges Ahead:
Poverty and Employment
Development Challenges
Poverty levels
– India is home to One-third (about 259.5 million) of the Poor population in
World (FAO, IFAD and WFP 2015, World Bank, 2016)
– In absolute numbers, India stands behind only Sub-Saharan Africa in terms
of number of people Below Global Poverty Line (224 million)
Employment
– Roughly Nine out of 10 workers are informally employed and lack any social
protection,
– less than 30% of the workforce has completed secondary education, and
less than a tenth has had any vocational training.

14. Challenges Ahead:
Disparities in Access to Employment
Access to regular jobs is highly unequal among Social Groups, and Across Regions

15. Challenges Ahead:
Regional Variations
• Regional variations in
Employment Opportunities
• Poorer States lagging behind in
Employment Generation

16. Per capita consumption of water in agriculture
sector ranges from 4,913 kl to 5,800 kl per capita
per year (considering 11.86 crore – 14 crore farm
owners in India)
Sources: FICCI, Grant Thornton, 2016
Challenges Ahead:
Natural Resources - Water
54 % of India faces High to
Extremely High water stress !!!

17. Challenges Ahead:
Nutrition and Hunger
– Malnutrition
India faces great challenges in the front of nutritional status of its population, particularly children
Children under 5 years who are stunted (height-for-age) – 42 %
Children under 5 years who are underweight (weight-for-age) - 38 % (21 % for sub-Saharan Africa)
Children under 5 years who are wasted (weight-for-height) – 21 % - (NFHS-4, 2015-16) (Malnutrition levels higher
than sub-Saharan Africa)
• Annual Economic Losses due to malnutrition levels is estimated to be about 3 per cent of country’s GDP.
– Sanitation and Hygiene
more than half of the rural population (52.1 per cent) of the country still defecates in open (NSSO,2015)
- Bangladesh 4 %; Sub-Saharan Africa 25 %
– Hunger
India has been ranked 100th among 119 developing countries on the Global Hunger Index (GHI), behind Kenya
(70) Nigeria (84), Bangladesh (88) and even Nepal (72).

18. Challenges Ahead:
Housing and Climate Change
• Housing
Shortage of 43.6 million houses in rural areas (MoRD, 2011)
• Climate Change affecting Food Security & Livelihoods
– Temperature variability
(net increase in annual temperatures in the 2030s ranging between 1.7°C and 2.2°C, seasons getting warmer by 2030)
– Precipitation Variability
(A mean increase of 7–20% in annual precipitation, number of rainy days are projected to decrease, in most parts of the country,
extreme precipitation events are likely to increase by 5–10 days)
– Extreme Events – Drought (drop in ground water table), Floods (10-30 % increase in flooding, frequency
of cyclones to increase)
– Rising Sea levels
Sea level along the Indian coast has been rising at the rate of 1.3mm/year.
– Environmental Health Risk
Increased occurrences of environment-related health risks, due to extreme temperatures, flooding and sea level rise
Source: Information derived from INCCA (2010); IIED (2009); Parry et al (2007) cited in Ravindranath, D.,
Chaturvedi, R.K., Kattumuri, R (2012) Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change in Indian Policy
Planning , London School of Economics and Political Science

19. Challenges Ahead:
Social Stratification
– Social Stratification (Class, Caste),
• Social Regional disparities in development achievements,
• Marginalised sections Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes,
• 104 million belonging to 700 ethnic groups

20. Present Strategy and
MoRD Programs
• Sustainable and Inclusive growth of Rural India through a
Multipronged strategy for eradication of poverty by increasing
livelihoods opportunities,
• Providing Social Safety Net and Developing Infrastructure for
growth.
– Improve quality of life in rural India
– Correct the developmental imbalances
– Reach out to most disadvantaged sections of the society.
 The Ministry of Rural Development operates several
Flagship Programmes to achieve this objective.

21. Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (MGNREGA)
• Aim to enhancing the livelihood security of the household in rural areas
of the country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage
employment in a financial year.
• Through this scheme Irrigation potential creation, focusing on Natural
Resource Management, Water conservation etc., has been taking place.
• Women participation is high compared to men in this scheme.
• GeoMGNREGA for effective planning and monitoring - Geo tagged and
placed in public domain.
• NeFMS (National electronic Fund Management System) to accounts
through DBT system, Aadhaar based payment with the beneficiary
concern.
• Budget (Release & Exp.)
Year Release Spent %
2016-17 47,411.72 58,062.92 122.47
2017-18 55,659.93 63,649.48 114.35
2018-19 62,125.09 69,618.59 112.06
2019-20 71,926.25 68,053.92 94.62
2020-21 (Aug 31) 61,522.29 57,308.71 93.15

22. Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-
National Rural Livelihoods Mission(DAY-NRLM)
• Aimed at reaching out 9 crore rural poor households and link
them to sustainable livelihood opportunities.
• To ensure social, economic and political upliftment of rural poor
women and gives them a better social status and role in
decision making.
• Since 2011 Rs.39.12 lakh SHGs promoted and 2.2 lakh village
organisations formed. SHGs of women have been provided
bank credit of Rs.1.14 lakh crore since 2011.
• Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Program SVEP has been
rolled out in 17 states, covering 47 blocks with an outlay of 208
crore, for promotion of 84,000 rural enterprises.
• Budget for 2017-18 was Rs.4500 crore; (2020-21- Rs.9,210 Cr.)

23. Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin
(PMAY-G)
• To address the gaps in the rural housing infrastructure and achieve the
commitment to providing “Housing for All’’ by 2022. (earlier Indira Awaas
Yojana).
• 2.41 crore Households were identified for eligibility assistance under PMAY,
and targeted to be provided for construction of 1 crore houses in rural areas in
Three years (2016-19).
• Using of AWAAS app to computerise Geo-referenced, time and date stamped
photographs of construction.
• Provide optional loan up to 70,000/- for construction of house.
• Interest subsidy of 3% under Rural housing Interest Subsidy Scheme-RHISS
to other than PMAY beneficiaries.
• Rs.12000/- for construction of Toilets under Swaachh bharth Mission-Gramin/
MGNREGA.
• From 2016 to till now 60,53,833 Houses were sanctioned, 17,02,183 Houses
were completed.
• Budget for 2017-18 is Rs 23000 crore. (2020-21 - 19,500 Cr.)

24. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak
Yojana (PMGSY)
• Aim to provide connectivity by way of all weather roads, to all
habitats.
• Using “Green Technology” for road construction, to reduce
carbon footprint.
• “Meri Sadak” app for citizen grievance on quality and safety
of roads.
• Satellite imagery is being used to verifying the status and
completion of roads.
• 5,04,726 KM of roads were laid by March 2017.
• Budget for 2017-18 is Rs 19,000 crore; 2020-21 – 19,500 Cr.

25. Deen Dayal Upadhayaya-
Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY)
• Placement linked Skilled Development Scheme being
implemented in PPP mode.
• It targets rural youth from poor families in the age group of 15-35
years.
• Preferring minimum 1/3 women participation in each project. In
2016-17 1,62,586 candidates were trained out of them 39% were
women.
• 654 training centres providing training in 329 job roles.
• FY 2012-17: 9.38 lakh were trained and 5.79 lakh were placed.
• Training though RSETIs, over India 585 centres in 552 districts.
23.08 lakh youth were trained since inception.

26. Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana
(SAGY)
• To create Model Gram Panchayats in all parts of the country.
• It has been taken by the honourable parliament members through
convergence and implementation of existing government schemes
and programmes without allocation of additional funds.
• Grama Panchayats adopted by MPs in Phase I - 703, Phase II - 446,
Phase III - 112.
• 653 dedicated officers for SAGY GPs have been trained by the
Ministry.
• SAGY developed Village Development Plan VDP for online
monitoring of the program.
• 40,627 projects have been proposed in 671 GPs, out of these
17,262(42.7%) completed, 6,380(15.7%) in process.

27. National Social Assistance Program
(NSAP)
• Social security/social welfare programme to support
Old aged, Widows, Disabled persons, and Bereaved
families on death of primary breadwinner, belonging
to below poverty line households.
• In 2016-17 Rs.8854 crore was distributed.
• Digitization, Aadhar based Authentication, Direct
Benefit Transition DBT
• Budget for 2017-18 is Rs 9500Cr.; 2020-21– 9197 Cr.

28. Mission Antyodaya
• "With a clear focus on Improving Accountability, Outcomes and
Convergence, Government of India undertake a Mission Antyodaya to bring
One crore households out of poverty and to make 50,000 Gram Panchayats
poverty free by 2019 (1000 days), the 150th birth anniversary of (Mahatma)
Gandhiji,"
• It is an accountability and convergence frame work for transforming lives and
livelihoods in rural areas.
• Commoditization' through Women SHGs improves education, health, nutrition
indicators
• Leveraging Bank loans promotes an enterprise model.
• Many initiatives provide for universal coverage of the eligible beneficiaries -
Ujwala, SBM, PMAY, Skills, Power, Roads, internet, and Bank accounts.
• Integral positive co-relation among infrastructure, human development and
sustainable economic well-being.

29. Shyama Prasad Mukherji
Rurban Mission (NRuM)
• To create 300 Rurban clusters and plugging the gaps in basic,
social, economic and digital amenities at a fast pace.
• 189 clusters are approved under Phase I & II, out of that 50 are
tribal clusters.
• Bridging the rural urban divide-viz; economic, technological and
those related to facilities and services.
• Stimulating local economic development with emphasis on
reduction of poverty and unemployment in rural areas.
• Spreading development in the region and attracting investment
in rural India.
• Budget for 2017-18 is Rs 1000 crore; 2020-21 – 600 Cr.

30. Role of PRIs GPDP
• PRIs to act as pillars of democratic decentralisation
– To build inclusive and sustainable institutions for achieving SDGs
– Backbone of bottom – up approach in development planning
– Platform for convergence of various development programmes at different levels
• Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP )
Based on 14th Finance Commission Recommendation (2015-2020)
– An annual plan of each Panchayat, where the villagers would decide where the money should be spent
– Every Panchayat knows how much money it has under different schemes and how it should plan
– Resources from various centrally and state sponsored schemes can be leveraged and converged at the
GP level.
– Opportunity for the GPs to synchronize their plans with SDGs
– Facilitating inclusive and sustainable development

31. Volunteerism and Philanthropy
We have made significant progress in poverty reduction,
strategies for addressing malnutrition and improving standard
of living of rural masses
However…
• The magnitude of the development challenges is enormous
• Still 276 million people are below poverty line, 190.7 million
stay hungry, 194.6 million are undernourished.

32. •We must contribute to the State
efforts to achieve SDGs..
From each according to his ability,
to each according to his needs.
•Voluntary contribution of skills and
resources.
•Corporate Social Responsibility
Initiatives.
Volunteerism and Philanthropy

33. Bold Reform for a Vibrant Bharat
Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhyan:
New Horizon of Growth
• Economy
• Infrastructure
• Technology-driven Systems
• Demographics
• Demand
 Land
 Labour
 Liquidity
 Law
• Improve Ease of
doing Business
• Integrate Global
Value Chain
• Spur Growth
• Build Self-
reliant India
KEY
PILLARS
Focus
Areas
Possible
Impact
Desired
Outcome

34. Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhyan:
Major Components
Press Confrenz Part Focus Sectors & Posts Amount
13/05/2020 Part – I MSME, EPF, Gareeb Kalyan Yojana, RERA, Credit 5,94,550
14/05/2020 Part – II Farmers, Migrants, Labours & their Credit Supply 3,10,000
15/05/2020 Part – III Agriculture and Allied Sectors 1,50,000
16/05/2020 Part – IV Coal, Minerals, Aviation, Defence, Space, Atomic Energy,
Electricity Tariffs
48,100
17/05/2020 Part –V Ease of doing business, Health, Education, Support to State
Governments
Included above
Sub Total 11,02,650
Earlier Measures incl. PMGKP 1,92,800
RBI Measures (Mr. Shaktikanta Das) 8,01,603
Sub Total 9,94,403
Grand Total 20,97,053
SNo. Stimulus Measures Amount
1 Revenue Loss due to Tax
Concessions
7,800
2 Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan
Package (PMGKP)
1,70,000
3 PM’s Announcement for Health
Sector
15,000
Total 1,92,800

35. Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhyan:
Stimulus
Sl Item Amount
1 Emergency W/C facility for
Businesses including MSMEs
3,00,000
2 Subordinate Debt for Stressed
MSMEs
20,000
3 Fund of Funds for MSMEs 50,000
4 EPF support for Business and
Workers
2,800
5 Reduction in EPF Rates 6,750
6 Special Liquidity Scheme for
NBFC/HFC/MFIs
30,000
7 Partial Credit Guarantee
Scheme 2.0 for liabilities of
NBFCs/ MFIs
45,000
8 Liquid Injection for DISCOMs 90,000
9 Reduction in TDS/TCS Rates 50,000
Sub Total 5,94,550
Sl Item Amount
1 Free Food grain Supply to
Migrant Workers for 2 months
3,500
2 Interest Subvention for MUDRA
Shishu Loans
1,500
3 Special Credit facility to Street
Vendors
5,000
4 Housing CLSS/MIG 70,000
5 Additional Emergency Working
Capital through NABARD
30,000
6 Additional Credit through KCC 2,00,000
Sub Total 3,10,000
Sl Item Amount
1 Food Micro Enterprises 10,000
2 Pradhan Mantri Matsya
Sampada Yojana
20,000
3 TOP to TOTAL: Operation
Greens
500
4 Agri Infrastructure Fund 1,00,000
5 Animal Husbandry
Infrastructure Fund
15,000
6 Promotion of Herbal Cultivation 4,000
7 Bee-keeping Initiative 500
Sub Total 1,50,000
Sl Item Amount
1 Viability Gap Funding 8,100
2 Additional MGNREGA 40,000
Sub Total 48,100
1 2 3
4, 5

36. Communitisation
&
Rural Management
The Model

37. The
Mantra
By the People
For the People
Of the People
Grama
Sabha
Adopt the Village….

38. • People in the Village
• Youth, Women, Volunteers
• Company’s Own CSR Team
• Involving NGOs / INGOs / CBOS
• Other Methods (PPP):
- Outsourcing,
- Business to Business
INVOLVE, IMPLEMENT and
IMPROVE

39. The Paradigm Shift
- must be Choice of Works
• Shelf of Projects for Every Village
thru Gram Sabha
• Production Related
• Service Related
• Conservation
• Pro-Poor Infrastructure

40. Overall …
Inclusive Rural
Management
Responsive
Governance
Public
Accountability
Planning
Process
Choice of Work
Capacity
Building
Communication
Monitoring &
Evaluation

41. Let’ us join hands in the
Business of Building India!
murugesan.nird@gov.in
040-24008-445
murugesanomics@gmail.com