Flagship Programmes of Government of India

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005

First proposed by in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 was passed on 23 August 2005 under the UPA government led by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. This was later renamed as the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act” (MGNREGA).  After being passed in Indian parliament, the implementation of MGNREGA was initiated in 625 districts of India.

Main features

• MGNREGA is a social securitymeasure and it is a labour law that aims to guarantee the ‘right to work’.
• It aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to at least one member of every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
• Women were guaranteed one third of the jobs made available under the MGNREGA.
• Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
• If work is not provided within 15 days of applying, applicants are entitled to an unemployment allowance.
• Based on this pilot experience, NREGA was scoped up to cover all the districts of India from 1 April 2008.
• MGNREGA also aims to create durable assets (such as roads, canals, ponds and wells).

MGNREGA is appreciated as “the largest and most ambitious social security and public works programme in the world”. In its World Development Report 2014, the World Bank termed it as a “stellar example of rural development”.

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana (PMRHS) or ’Prime Minister’s Rural Housing Scheme’) is a social welfare programme of the Indian Government aiming to provide housing for the rural poor in India. The PMRHS is renamed after Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), which had been launched in 1985 by the then PM Rajiv Gandhi as one of the major flagship programs of the Ministry of Rural Development to construct houses for BPL population in the villages. Later the IAY was restructured as “Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana” (PMGAY) in 2015.

Main Features:

• The broad purpose of the scheme is to provide financial assistance to the weakest sections of society to upgrade or construct the house for quality personal living with respect and dignity.
• The vision of the government is to replace all temporary (kutcha ) houses from Indian villages by 2017 (house in which 0, 1, 2 wall are kutcha with kutcha roof.
• Under the PMGAY scheme, financial assistance worth ₹120,000(US$1,600) in plain areas and ₹130,000 (US$1,700) in difficult areas (high land area) is provided for construction of houses.
• Under the scheme, the houses are to be equipped with facilities such as toilet, LPG connection, electricity connection, and drinking water.
• This programme would be sort of convergence with other schemes e.g. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan toilets, Ujjwala Yojana LPG gas connection, Saubhagya Yojana electricity connection, etc.
• The houses are allotted in the name of the woman or jointly between husband and wife.
• The construction of the houses is the sole responsibility of the beneficiary and engagement of contractors is strictly prohibited.
• In cases where beneficiary is physically disabled, it is the responsibility of block level officer to provide full assistance in construction of house under PMAY gramin.
• Sanitary latrine and smokeless Chullah are required to be constructed along with each IAY house for which additional financial assistance is provided from “Total Sanitation Campaign” and “Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana” ( Which is now subsumed by Deen Dayal Upadhaya Gram Jyoti Yojana ) respectively.
• The funds are allocated to the states based on 75% weightage of rural housing shortage and 25% weightage of poverty ratio.
• The housing shortage is as per the official published figures of Registrar General of Indiabased on the 2001 Census. A software called “AWAAS Soft” was launched in July 2010 to assist in improved administration of this scheme.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban)-PMAY (U)

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban)-PMAY (U) is a scheme for urban poor. This is part government’s  programme as Housing for All by 2022.

Main features:

• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) Mission launched on 25th June 2015 which intends to provide housing for all in urban areas by year 2022.
• The Mission provides Central Assistance to the implementing agencies through States/Union Territories (UTs) and Central Nodal Agencies (CNAs) for providing houses to all eligible families/ beneficiaries against the validated demand for houses for about 1.12 cr.
• As per PMAY(U) guidelines, the size of a house for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) could be upto 30 sq. mt. carpet area, however States/UTs have the flexibility to enhance the size of houses in consultation and approval of the Ministry.
• In continuation to this Government’s efforts towards empowerment of women from EWS and LIG unlike earlier schemes, PMAY (U) has made a mandatory provision for the female head of the family to be the owner or co-owner of the house under this Mission.
• A basket of options is adopted to ensure inclusion of a greater number of people depending on their income, finance and availability of land through following four options.

National Social Assistance Programme

The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Government of India that provides financial assistance to the elderly, widows and persons with disabilities and bereaved families on death of primary bread winner, belonging to below poverty line households in the form of social pensions. The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) was launched on 15th August, 1995.

Features:

• The NSAP aims to provide social assistance to destitutes “defined as any person who has little or no regular means of subsistence from his/her own source of income or through financial support from family members or other sources”.
• The NSAP includes three components: National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS), National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS), and National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS).
• In 2007, he NSAP was extended to cover all individuals living below the poverty line while the NOAPS was renamed Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS).
• As part of NSAP the Annapurna Scheme was launched on 1st April, 2000 a new Scheme. This scheme aimed at providing food security to meet the requirement of those senior citizens who, though eligible, have remained uncovered under the NOAPS.
• In February 2009, two new Schemes known as Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS) and Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS) were also introduced under the NSAP.
• NSAP represents a significant step towards the fulfillment of the Directive Principles in Article 41 and 42 of the Constitution recognizing the concurrent responsibility of the Central and the State Governments in the matter.
• In particular, Article 41 of the Constitution of India directs the State 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.

Presently NSAP comprises of five schemes, namely –

• Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS),
• Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS),
• Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS),
• National Family Benefit Scheme NFBS) and
• Annapurna.

Eligibility and scale of assistance

For getting benefits under NSAP the applicant must belong to a Below Poverty Line (BPL) family according to the criteria prescribed by the Govt. of India. The other eligibility criteria and the scale of central assistance under the sub – schemes of NSAP are as follows. Besides the central assistance, states / UT contribute an equal amount as their share:

• Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) : The eligible age for IGNOAPS is 60 years. The pension is Rs.200 p.m. for persons between 60 years and 79 years. For persons who are 80 years and above the pension is Rs.500/ – per month.
• Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS) : The eligible age is 40 years and the pension is Rs.300 per month. After attaining the age of 80 years, the beneficiary will get Rs.500/ – per month.
• Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS) : The eligible age for the pension er is 18 years and above and the disability level has to be 80%. The amount is Rs.300 per month and after attaining the age of 80 years, the beneficiary will get Rs 500/ – per month . Dwarfs will also be a n eligible category for this pension.
• National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) : Rs. 20000/ – will be given as a lumpsum assistance to the bereaved household in the event of death of the bread – winner. It is clarified that any event of death (natural or otherwise) would make the family eligible for assistance. A woman in the family, who is a home maker, is also considered as a ‘bread – winner’ for this purpose. The family benefit will be paid to such surviving member of the household of the deceased poor , who after local inquiry, is found to be the head of the household. For the purpose of the scheme, the term “household’ would include spouse, minor children, unmarried daughters and dependent parents. In case of death of an unmarried adult, the term household would include minor brothers/ sisters and dependent parents. The death of such a bread – winner should have occurred whilst he/ she is more than 18 years of age and less than 60 years of age. The assistance would be given to every case of death of breadwinner in a family.
• Annapurna Scheme : 10 kgs of food grains (wheat or rice) is given per month per beneficiary. The scheme aims at providing food security to meet the requirements of those eligible old aged persons who have remained uncovered under the IGNOAPS.
• NMBS is transferred to the Department of Family Welfare.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All Movement)) is an Indian Government programme aimed at the universalisation of Elementary education “in a time bound manner”. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is a programme for Universal Elementary Education. This programme is also an attempt to provide an opportunity for improving human capabilities to all children through provision of community -owned quality education in a mission mode.

Main Features

• The programme was pioneered by former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• It aims to educate all children between the ages 6 to 14 by 2010. However, the time limit has been pushed forward indefinitely.

• It is a response to the demand for quality basic education all over the country.
• “School Chalen Hum” Poem was written by Mehboob to promote the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) program. This movement was started after the 86th Amendment to the Constitution of India making free and compulsory education to children between the ages of 6 to 14 (estimated to be 206 million children in 2001) a fundamental right (Article- 21A).
• As an intervention programme, it started in 2002 and SSA has been operational since 2000-2001. However, its roots go back to 1993-1994, when the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) was launched, with an aim of achieving the objective of universal primary education. DPEP, over several phases, covered 272 districts in 18 states of the country.
• The expenditure on the programme was shared by the Central Government (85%) and the State Governments (15%).
• The Central share was funded by a number of external agencies, including the World Bank, Department for International Development (DFID) and UNICEF.
• In an impact assessment of Phase I of DPEP, the authors concluded that its net impact on minority children was impressive, while there was little evidence of any impact on the enrolment of girls. Nevertheless, they concluded that the investment in DPEP was not a waste, because it introduced a new approach to primary school interventions in India.

The Right to Education Act (RTE) came into force on 1 April 2010. Some educationists and policy makers believe that, with the passing of this act, SSA has acquired the necessary legal force for its implementation. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child when the Act came into force on 1 April 2010. The Act makes education a fundamental right of every child between the ages of 6 and 14 and specifies minimum norms in elementary schools. The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21-A in the Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine.

Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat

Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat is a nationwide sub-programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Children who fail to read in early education lag behind in other subjects. The programme is designed to improve comprehensive early reading, writing and early mathematics programme for children in Classes I and II. The programme will not only provide print rich environment, timely distribution of books but will also include new teacher mentoring and appraisal system. Under this programme, ₹762 crore (US$100 million) was approved to States.

Mid –Day Meal Scheme

The Midday Meal Scheme is a school meal programme in India designed to better the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide.

Main Features:

• The programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in primary and upper primary classes in government, government aided, local body, Education Guarantee Scheme, and alternate innovative education centres, Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and National Child Labour Project schools run by the ministry of labour.
• The name of the scheme was changed to PM-POSHAN (Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman) Scheme, in September 2021, by MoE (Ministry of Education), which is nodal ministry for the scheme.
• The programme has undergone many changes since its launch in 1995. The Midday Meal Scheme is covered by the National Food Security Act, 2013. The legal backing to the Indian school meal programme is akin to the legal backing provided in the US through the National School Lunch Act.
• Serving 120 million children in over 1.27 million schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres, the Midday Meal Scheme is the largest of its kind in the world.
• Under article 24, paragraph 2c of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India is a party, India has committed to yielding “adequate nutritious food” for children.
• The Central Government also announced that an additional 24 lakh students receiving pre-primary education at government & government-aided schools would also be included under the scheme by 2022.
• Historical Facts about mid-day-meal -The Midday Meal Scheme has being implemented in the Union Territory of Puducherry under the French Administration since 1930. In the post-independent India, Midday meal Scheme was first launched in Tamil Nadu, pioneered by the former Chief minister K. Kamaraj in the early 60s. By 2002, the scheme was implemented in all of the states under the orders of the Supreme Court of India.

Integrated Child Development Services

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is a government program in India, which provides nutritional meals, pre-school education, primary healthcare, immunization, health check-up and referral services to children under 6 years of age and their mothers.

Main Features:

• The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme is one of the flagship programmes of the Government of India and represents one of the world’s largest and unique programmes for early childhood care and development.
• The scheme was launched on 2nd October, 1975 discontinued in 1978 by the government of Morarji Desai, and then re-launched by the Tenth Five Year Plan.
• ICDS was also linked in the Tenth five-year plan to Anganwadi centres established mainly in rural areas and staffed with frontline workers.
• The programme also intends to improve child nutrition and immunization, the programme is also intended to combat gender inequality by providing girls the same resources as boys.
• A 2005 study found that the ICDS programme was not particularly effective in reducing malnutrition, largely because of implementation problems and because the poorest states had received the least coverage and funding.
• During the 2018–19 fiscal year, the Indian federal government allocated ₹16,335 crore (US$2.2 billion) to the programme, which is 60% of the funding for the programme while the states allocated the remaining 40%.

The beneficiaries under the Scheme are children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Objectives of the Scheme are:

• to improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group 0-6 years;
• to lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child;
• to reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropout;
• to achieve effective co-ordination of policy and implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development; and
• to enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education.

National Rural Health Mission

The National Health Mission (NHM) which was launched by the government of India in 2013 subsuming the National Rural Health Mission and National Urban Health Mission. It was further extended in March 2018, to continue until March 2020.

Main Features

• The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) had been launched on 12th April 2005, to provide accessible, affordable and quality health care to the rural population, especially the vulnerable groups.
• The Union Cabinet vide its decision dated 1st May 2013, approved the launch of National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) as a Sub-mission of an over-arching National Health Mission (NHM), with National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) being the other Sub-mission of National Health Mission.
• NHM envisages achievement of universal access to equitable, affordable and quality health care services that are accountable and responsive to the needs of the people.
• The thrust of the mission is on establishing a fully functional, community-owned, decentralized health delivery system with inter-sectoral convergence at all levels, to ensure simultaneous action on a wide range of determinants of health such as water, sanitation, education, nutrition, social and gender equality.
• Institutional integration within the fragmented health sector was expected to provide a focus on outcomes, measured against Indian Public Health Standards for all health facilities.
• Main program components include Health System Strengthening (RMNCH+A) in rural and urban areas- Reproductive-Maternal- Neonatal-Child and Adolescent Health, and Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases.

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was a massive city-modernization scheme launched by the Government of India under the Ministry of Urban Development.  The scheme was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 3 December 2005 as a programme meant to improve the quality of life and infrastructure in the cities.

• JNNURM was launched in 2005 for a seven-year period (up to March 2011) to encourage cities to initiate steps for bringing phased improvements in their civic service levels. It envisaged a total investment of over $20 billion over seven years.
• The government had extended the tenure of the mission for another two years, i.e, from April 2012 to March 31, 2014.
• JNNURM aimed at creating ‘economically productive, efficient, equitable and responsive Cities’ by a strategy of upgrading the social and economic infrastructure in cities, provision of Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP) and wide-ranging urban sector reforms to strengthen municipal governance in accordance with the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992.
• JNNURM aimed at planned development of identified cities including peri-urban areas, outgrowths and urban corridors leading to dispersed urbanization.
• It also aimed at scaling-up delivery of civic amenities and provision of utilities with emphasis on universal access to the urban poor.
• The programme was closed in 2014 and replaced by a new programme AMRUT in 2015.

Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)

• Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission was renamed as Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and relaunched by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in June 2015.
• The scheme Housing for All by 2022 and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) were launched on the same day.
• The focus of the programme is to establish infrastructure ensuring adequate robust sewage networks and water supply for urban transformation by implementing urban revival projects.
• The purpose of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) is to (i) ensure that every household has access to a tap with assured supply of water and a sewerage connection; (ii) increase the amenity value of cities by developing greenery and well maintained open spaces (e.g. parks); and (iii) reduce pollution by switching to public transport or constructing facilities for non-motorized transport (e.g.walking and cycling).
• Rajasthan was the first state in the country to submit State Annual Action Plan under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).
• The scheme is dependent with public–private partnership (PPP) model.
• If required, various other schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission, Housing for All 2022, along with the local state schemes like that related to water supply and sewerage and other infrastructure related schemes can be linked to AMRUT.
• About ₹1 lakh crore (US$13 billion) investment on urban development under Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation of 500 cities has already been approved by the government.
• States need to submit SAAP(State Annual Action Plans) to avail support under the AMRUT programme. SAAP is a consolidated plan of all the city level SLIPs (Service Level Improvement Plan) of all proposed AMRUT cities in the respective states.
• A formulation on City level SLIP is done based on diligent estimation of ambiguities in the availability of infrastructure like water supply, sewerage network, draining system, transportation facilities, available digital and internet facilities, industrial facilities etc. and 135litres per capita per day.
• Under the first phase of the mission 90 cities in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan were allocated funds under the first phase of the mission. In later stage the rest of the cities out of 500 were to be finalized and implemented for the next phase.

Swatchh Bharat Mission (SBM)

Swatchh Bharat Mission (SBM) also known as Swatchh Bharat Abhiyan or Clean India Mission is a country-wide campaign initiated by the BJP Government of India in 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management. It is a restructured version of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan launched by the previous Congress government in 2009 that failed to achieve its intended targets. The campaign was officially launched on  October 2, 2014 at Rajghat, New Delhi by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is India’s largest cleanliness drive to date with three million government employees and students from all parts of India participating in 4,043 cities, towns, and rural communities. Subsequently, at a rally in Champaran, the Prime minister called the campaign Satyagrah se Swatchhagrah in reference to Gandhi’s Champaran Satyagraha launched on 10 April 1916.

Main Features:

• The mission was split into two: rural and urban. In rural areas “SBM – Gramin” was financed and monitored through the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (since converted to the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti; whereas “SBM – urban” was overseen by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• As part of the campaign, volunteers, known as Swatchhagrahis, or “Ambassadors of cleanliness”, promoted the construction of toilets using a popular method called Community-Led Total Sanitation at the village level. Other activities included national real-time monitoring and updates from non-governmental organizations such as The Ugly Indian, Waste Warriors, and SWACH Pune (Solid Waste Collection and Handling).
• The government provided subsidy for construction of nearly 90 million toilets between 2014 and 2019, although some Indians especially in rural areas choose to not use them. The campaign was criticized for using coercive approaches to force people to use toilets. Some people were stopped from defecating in open and threatened with withdrawal from government benefits.
• The campaign was financed by the Government of India and state governments. The former released $5.8 billion (Rs 40,700 crore) funds for toilet construction 700,000 villages. The total budget for the rural and urban components was estimated at $28 billion, 93 per cent for construction and the rest for behaviour change campaigns and administration.
• Phase 1 of the Swatchh Bharat Mission lasted till October 2019.
• Phase 2 is being implemented between 2020–21 and 2024–25 to help cement the work of Phase 1.
• The mission aimed to achieve an “open-defecation free” (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi through construction of toilets. An estimated 89.9 million toilets were built in the period.
• The objectives of the first phase of the mission also included eradication of manual scavenging, generating awareness and bringing about a behavior change regarding sanitation practices, and augmentation of capacity at the local level.
• The second phase of the mission aims to sustain the open defecation free status and improve the management of solid and liquid waste, while also working to improve the lives of sanitation workers.The mission is aimed at progressing towards target 6.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals Number 6 established by the United Nations in 2015.