The Government on Wednesday approved a new ambitious project called ‘Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission’ with an outlay of Rs5,142.08 crore that seeks to bridge the rural-urban divide and develop a cluster of Smart Villages.
This mission aims to create 300 rural clusters to speed up economic, social and infrastructure development in rural areas. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which also approved 50 extra working days in MGNREGA projects in areas hit by drought or natural calamities.
Addressing the media here, Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh said a similar programme by the UPA, Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) was a failure as it had no Government participation and only voluntary organisations were involved in
the scheme.
“PURA was limited to the private sector. There was no Government participation in it. That is why it failed. It was planned at 13 places, out of which it could not take off in four while the results in rest of the nine areas were also not good. Therefore, a need was felt to initiate the scheme in a new format,” said Singh.
Asked about the funding of the scheme, Singh said the expenditure would be met from various existing schemes at the panchayat level and the Centre would pitch in to fill in the “critical gap” of up to 30 per cent in the expenditure wherever there was a deficit. Under the scheme, State Governments would identify the clusters in accordance with the framework for implementation prepared by the Ministry of Rural Development.
The clusters will be geographically contiguous gram panchayats with a population of about 25,000 to 50,000 in the plains and coastal areas and a population of 5,000 to 15,000 in hilly, desert or tribal areas. There would be a separate approach for selection of clusters in tribal and non-tribal districts. As far as practicable, clusters of villages would follow administrative convergence units of Gram Panchayats.
The scheme will function with 14 mandatory components to ensure an optimum level of development of a cluster. This will include skill development training linked to economic activities, digital literacy, fully equipped mobile health units and inter-village road connectivity.
“These clusters would be developed by provisioning of economic activities, developing skills and local entrepreneurship and providing infrastructure amenities. The Rurban Mission will thus develop a cluster of Smart Villages,” an official statement said.
The Cabinet also increased 50 days of work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in areas hit by drought and natural calamities. At present, 100 days of work is provided to rural job card holders under MGNREGA.
“The Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval to provide an additional 50 days of unskilled manual work in the financial year, over and above the 100 days assured to job card holders, in such rural areas where drought or natural calamities have been notified,” said Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The Government has also announced appropriate input support measures to rejuvenate water-stressed horticulture crops in drought-hit areas. It has also decided to provide assistance for additional production of fodder to mitigate the adverse impact of drought on livestock in drought-hit blocks.
That apart, the Centre has made flexible allocation under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and other Centrally-sponsored schemes. It has put in place a crop contingency plan for 600 districts.
The Cabinet also gave permission to EXIM Bank to give concessional loans for overseas projects of Indian companies. The meeting also approved creation of four posts of directors for four new National Institutes of Design (NIDs) at Kurukshetra, Bhopal, Jorhat and Vijayawada. The Cabinet gave ‘ex-post facto’ approval to the Rs 2,600-crore capital infusion that was made in India Infrastructure Finance Company limited (IIFCl) during 2007-08 and 2012-13.
As the amendment on negotiable instruments was not passed in Rajya Sabha, the Cabinet meeting also decided to approve a proposal to promulgate the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015. Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2015 was passed in the lok Sabha in May, seeking to overturn a Supreme Court ruling of 2014 which said that the case has to be initiated where the cheque-issuing branch was located. However, it could not be approved by Rajya Sabha, necessitating an Ordinance.