Government Flagship Programs

Government Flagship Programs

Introduction :

The Flagship programs were launched by Government of India to  bridge the education, health, employment and infrastructure divides.  These have been complemented by specific policies for inclusion of SCs, STs, minorities and women. The ultimate objective behind the Flagship programs is to achieve broad-based improvement in the living standards of all our people and to ensure that growth is widely spread so that its benefits, in terms of income and employment, are adequately shared by the poor and weaker sections of the society, especially the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Minorities.

1. MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT (MGNREGA)

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was launched in 2005. Initially, called National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, it guarantees to provide 100 days of employment to the rural population, belonging to the legally defined working population. It was launched in Anantpur District of Andhra Pradesh covering 200 poorest districts of the country; however it currently covers 625 districts across the country. This flagship program of the UPA government aims at increasing the purchasing power of the rural poor and reduces distress migration. It also aims to strengthen women and other backward classes which is evident from its provision of reservation for women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

MGNREGA began with an initial Financial Outlay of Rs 11300 crores in 2006-07. The allocation for MGNREGA has decreased from 40,000 crores in 2011 to 31,000 crores in 2012 budget.

Salient Features

i) Adult members of a rural household, willing to do unskilled manual work, may apply for registration to the local Gram Panchayat.

ii) The Gram Panchayat will issue a Job Card after verification, which will bear the photograph of all adult members of the household willing to work under NREGA.

iii) The Job Card should be issued within 15 days of application.

iv) The Gram Panchayat will issue a dated receipt of the written application for employment, against which the guarantee of providing employment within 15 days operates.

v) If employment is not provided within 15 days, daily unemployment allowance as per the Act, has to be paid by the State Government.

vi) Work should ordinarily be provided within 5 km radius of the village. In case work is provided beyond 5 km, extra wages of 10% are payable to meet additional transportation and living expenses.

vii) At least one-third of the beneficiaries should be women who have registered and requested work under the scheme.

viii) Work site facilities such as crèche, drinking water, shade have to be provided.

ix) At least 50% of works will be allotted to Gram Panchayats for execution.

x) Permissible works predominantly include water and soil conservation, afforestation and land development works.

xi) The Central Government bears the 100 percent wage cost of unskilled manual labour and 75 percent of the material cost including the wages of skilled and semi skilled workers.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India audit the program and the auditing is one of the most effective in case of MGNREGA as compared to other programs. There are issues of ineffective implementation of the program in all the states, where cases of corruption, misappropriation of funds are common and in a lot of cases no employment has been provided to numerous people registered under the act.

2. INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SCHEME (ICDS)

According to 2001 Census, approximately 15.76% of India’s population (2001 Census) consists of children of six years and below. With a young population of this size, plans for child development have been within the mainframe of India’s planning process from the First Year Plan itself.

ICDS had its inception on 2^nd October 1975 in accordance to the National Policy for Children. It was launched with the objective to ensure holistic development of children. The major concern was breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, reduced learning capacity and mortality on one hand and faces the challenge of Pre-school education on the other. In 1975, it was started with the following objectives:

1. to improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group 0-6 years;
2. to lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child;
3. to reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropout;
4. to achieve effective co-ordination of policy and implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development; and
5. 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.

The above objectives were believed to be achieved through the following services:

1. supplementary nutrition,
2. immunization,
3. health check-up,
4. referral services,
5. pre-school non-formal education and
6. nutrition & health education.

Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has the overall responsibility of monitoring the ICDS scheme. Immunisation, Health Check-up and Referral Services delivered through Public Health Infrastructure under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

ICDS is a centrally sponsored scheme implemented through the State Governments/UT Administrations. From the financial year 2009-10, the funding pattern of ICDS between Centre and States is as follows:

• The sharing pattern for inputs except supplementary nutrition between Centre and all States and UTs is in the ratio 90:10.
• The sharing pattern of supplementary nutrition in respect of North-eastern States between Centre and States is 90:10 and for all other states  and UTs is 50:50

The ICDS team comprises the Anganwadi Workers, Anganwadi Helpers, Supervisors, Child Development Project Officers (CDPOs) and District Programme Officers (DPOs).

The Government of India partners with the following international agencies to supplement interventions under the ICDS:

• United Nations International Children’ Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
• Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE)
• World Food Programme (WFP)

Over the years, the concept of child development has evolved from welfare to development to a right based approach. The emerging issues like prevention and management of malnutrition, poor maternal and adolescent nutrition, gender discrimination, lack of nutrition and health education, and inadequate community participation in the programme, continues to be a major challenge during the Eleventh Plan.

In the Budget 2012, there has been a 57%hike in the funds allocated to ICDS. It is an attempt has been made to re-structure the ICDS programme implementation framework to meet the current nutritional needs of the women & children and to strengthen the existing service delivery mechanism.

3.  INDIRA AWAS YOJANA

Living a shelter less life is  one of the hardest misfortunes. In India, a huge proprtion of the population is strck by this misfortune for many years. In order to meet the housing needs of the rural poor, Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) was launched during 1985-86 as a sub-scheme of Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP) and continued as a sub-scheme of Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY) since its launching from April, 1989. It has been delinked from the JRY and has been made an independent scheme with effect from January 1, 1996.

The IAY aims at helping  rural people below the poverty line belonging to SCs/STs, freed bonded labourers and non-SC/ST categories in construction of dwelling units and upgradation of existing unserviceable kutcha houses by providing assistance in the form of full grant. From 1995-96, the IAY benefits have been extended to widows or next-of-kin of defence personnel killed in action. Benefits have also been extended to ex-servicemen and retired members of the paramilitary forces as long as they fulfil the normal eligibility conditions of IAY. Three per cent of funds are reserved for the disabled persons living below the poverty-line in rural areas. Since 2006-07, IAY funds are also being earmarked for minorities.

The funding pattern of IAY is shared between the Centre & State Government in the ratio of 75:25 and for North Eastern States this ratio is 90:10. In the case of UTs, entire funds of IAY are provided by the Centre.

 The financial assistance provided for new construction in the form of grant is Rs.45,000/- per unit for the plain areas & Rs.48,500/- for the hilly/difficult areas. The assistance for up-gradation of unserviceable kutcha house to pucca/semi pucca house is Rs.15,000/- The assistance for credit-cum-subsidy scheme is Rs.12,500/- per unit. Maximum of 20% of IAY allocation can be utilized for up-gradation or/& credit-cum-subsidy scheme. Further, an IAY beneficiary can avail top up loan upto Rs 20,000/- under the Differential Rate of Interest (DRI Scheme) from any Nationalized Bank at an interest rate of 4% per annum.

While determining the number of IAY houses to a particular State/UTs, reduction of homelessness is the primary objective. As a result, 75% weightage is given to housing shortage and 25% to the poverty ratios prescribed by Planning Commission for State level allocation. For district level allocation, 75% weightage is given again to housing shortage and 25% to SC/ST population of the concerned districts. On the basis of allocations made & targets fixed, District Panchayat/Zilla Panchayat/District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) decides the number of houses to be constructed/upgraded Panchayat-wise under IAY, during a particular financial year.

The 3 states where IAY has been successfully implemented are Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. In order to strengthen the functioning of IAY the Union Budget 2012 allocated for IAY, Rs 11,075 crore in the budget.

4. PRADHAN MANTRI GRAM SADAK YOJANA(PMGSY)

Rural road connectivity is one of the significant aspects of rural development. Connectivity plays a major role in eradicating poverty by providing access to improved employment opportunities and increased agricultural incomes. About 40% of the habitations in the country are still not connected by All-weather roads. It is well known that even where connectivity has been provided, the roads constructed are of extremely poor quality due to lack of maintenance. In the light of such conditions,  Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana was launched on 15^th August 2000 to connect every village with a population of over 1000 through a good All weather-road in the next 3 years and similarly connect every village with a population of over 500 by the year 2007.

Although construction of new roads was the primary focus, but upgradation of existing roads was equally important too. States distribute the State’s Allocation among the Districts giving 80% on the basis of road length required for providing connectivity to Unconnected Habitations and 20% on the basis of road length requiring upgradation under the PMGSY. The District-wise allocation of funds would also be communicated to the Ministry /National Rural Road Development Agency NRRDA)/ and State Technical Agency (STA) every year by the State Government.

In the Union Budget 2012, Rs 24000 Crores have been allotted to PMGSY, an increase of 20% as compared to the last budget.

5. JAWAHARLAL NEHRU NATIONAL URBAN RENEWAL MISSION(JNNURM)

In order to meet the challenges of growing urbanization and to enable Indian cities to develop to global standards, a comprehensive programme, namely Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was launched in December, 2005 to last for a period of 7 years. This project is run by the central government of India in order to develop urban infrastructure and services in the urban conglomerates. As a result these cities have to follow the mandate reforms. The emphasis is on making Indian cities more livable and inclusive. The aim is to improve the urban infrastructure and provide basic services for the poor in urban areas. Large projects like the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), water supply projects, drainage systems and desalination plants, etc. are some of the programmes being undertaken. The total central government funding has been Rs. 50,000 crores. Adding to this, the contribution of states and municipalities, the amount has gone up to Rs. 1, 25,000 crores over the period of seven years. It is a project which works for the redevelopment of the cities. This scheme is currently being implemented in 63 cities.

The five-year JNNURM-2 is expected to begin in 2012 and will specially address states that have done well under the current scheme. Other than this the central government has also planned to include 28 more cities under this scheme.

6. SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAAN(SSA)

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is one of the Government of India's flagship programmes for achievement of universalization of Elementary Education (UEE) in a time bound manner, as mandated by 86th amendment to the Constitution of India making free and compulsory Education to the Children of 6-14 years age group, a Fundamental Right.

SSA is being implemented in partnership with State Governments to cover the entire country and address the needs of 192 million children in 1.1 million habitations. The objective of the programmed is to set up schools in areas which don’t have schooling facilities and to strengthen the existing school infrastructure through provision of additional classrooms, drinking water facilities, toilets etc. Under the 11^th five year plan this scheme lays special emphasis on the education of girl child and children with special needs. The aim was to increase the adult literacy rate to 85% and reduce the dropout rate by the end of this five year period.

The fund sharing pattern between the Centre and States, originally approved for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for the duration of the 11th Plan, was on a sliding scale viz. 65:35 during the first two years of 11th Five Year Plan, 60:40 in third year, 55:45 in the fourth year and 50:50 thereafter (90:10 for NE States). This has been replaced with a new funding pattern of 65:35 applicable from the financial year 2010-11 (90:10 for NE States) for a period of five years with effect from 2010-11.

7.   MID DAY MEAL PROGRAMME(MDM)

Mid day meal Programme is a school meal programme, which started in 1960s in Tamil Nadu by then Chief Minister K. Kamraj and later expanded by M.G Ramachandram Government of India. This programme includes free lunch to school children on all working days. They have a target of feeding around 1.3 million children, covering around 8000 schools in 8 states across India.

The main objectives of Mid day Meal programme are to save the school children from hunger, increase their attendance and participation, improve socialization among the children of different caste, reduce malnutrition and improve social empowerment by employing more and more women.

All children studying in Government/Local Body, Government Aided Schools and Centres run under the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative Innovative Education (AIE) are eligible to participate in the Mid Day Meal Programme.

For children in classes I – V, a meal with a nutritional value of 450 calories and 12 gms. of protein is provided. For children in upper primary classes, a meal containing 700 calories and 20 gms of protein is provided. In addition to rice/chapattis, the meal includes pulses, vegetables depending upon local availability. Some States are also providing eggs, fruit etc.  The weekly menu is decided by the local authorities i.e. village Panchayat, Self-Help Groups etc. The Central Government provides free food grain at 100 gms per child per school day for primary classes and 150 gms for upper primary classes.

Mid Day meals have huge effects on school participation, not just in terms of getting more children enrolled in the registers but also in terms of regular pupil attendance on a daily basis.

    8.  NATIONAL RURAL HEALTH MISSION (NRHM)

National Rural Health Mission is an Indian health programme for improving health care delivery across rural India (2005-2012). The programme was launched on 12^th April, 2005. The programme tries to improve the health, hygiene and sanitation infrastructure of rural population throughout the country with particular focus on 18 states, which have weak public health indicators and/or weak infrastructure including 8 Empowered Action Group (EAG), the North eastern states, Jammu Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

The mission of NRHM is to establish functional health facilities through renewal and renovation of the existing infrastructure or replace the existing one if required.

Due to poor financial condition, the Central Government could not contribute in the construction and renovation of heath centres. The National Commission on Microeconomics and Health (NCMH) provide Rs. 33811/- crores of non recurring expenditures and Rs. 41006/- crores of recurring expenditure per annum to NRHM for delivering functional health care in the public domain. Out of NRHM’s total expenditure 33% is spent on high focused States and 25% in case of low focused States for the construction of health centres. 

NRHM has been able to achieve a lot in context of health centre, in partnership with states.

    9. TOTAL SANITATION CAMPAIGN (TSC)

Total Sanitation Campaign was started by the Government of India in 1999 as a part of restructuring of Central Rural sanitation Program (CRSP), which was launched in 1986. Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) is majorly focussed on providing better drinking water and sanitation facilities in rural areas and is run by Ministry of Rural Development. It gives strong emphasis on Information, Education and Communication (IEC) and social marketing for demand generation for sanitation facilities, to set up a delivery system through Rural Sanitary Marts (RSMs) and Production Centres (PC) and a thrust on school sanitation. District is considered as the basic unit of operational coverage where the basic goal is to get rid of open defecation practices, deeply rooted in the villagers. The focus is on Individual Household Latrines (IHHL), School Sanitation and Hygiene Education (SSHE), Community Toilet Complexes and Anganwadi Toilets. The allocation for Total Sanitation Campaign has seen a rise from Rs 2350 crores to Rs 3500 crores in the 2012 budget.

The funding pattern of various sub-programs under TSC is as shown below:    

Category	Government of India Share	State Government Share	Beneficiary contribution
IHHL	60%	28%	12%
SSHE	70%	30%	0
Anganwadi Toilet	70%	30%	0
Community Sanitary Complex	60%	20%	20%

Nirmal Gram Puraskaar is given under this program to those Gram Panchayats, Blocks or Districts which

(a) Have achieved 100% sanitation coverage of individual households,

(b) Have achieved 100% school sanitation coverage

(c) Are free from open defecation and

(d) Have achieved clean environment maintenance.

Manipur and Rajasthan are reported to have the poorest implementation of the programs due to problems reported on Liquid and Solid Waste Management while Haryana has shown good results over the years.

    10.   NATIONAL SOCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME (NSAP)

The scheme was launched, with a purpose to provide minimum social security assistance to the citizens is based on the directive principles of state policy in article 41 of the constitution. Its aim is to ensure minimum standards of social security to the citizens by the state. The scheme covers the following five plans under it:

• Indira Gandhi National Old age Pension Scheme (IGNOAS): Under this scheme the centre provides a beneficiary ( a male or female who is 65 years of age or above) a pension rupees 200 as pension per month. The states are advised to add an amount of around 200 to this, so that the beneficiary can receive a minimum amount of 400 per month.
• Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS): Under this a BPL widow falling in the age group of 40-64 is entitled to receive an amount of 200 from the central government. The state is recommended to contribute another 200 from its resources.
• Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme: This scheme entitles a person with multiple or severe disabilities, falling into an age group of 18-64, to receive an amount of 200 as central assistance.
• National Family Benefit Scheme: this scheme provides a grant of 10000 to a BPL family, in case of death of the primary breadwinner of the family.
• Annapurna : This scheme provides 10 kg of grain to a senior citizen who is entitled to receive benefit under the old age pension scheme but remains uncovered.

In the current budget the finance minister raised the allocation under the National Social Assistance Program by 37% making it Rs. 8447 crores this year. The monthly pension amount was raised from Rs 200 to Rs 300 under schemes like the Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme and Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme. Also grant under the National Family Benefit scheme was raised from Rs. 10000 to Rs. 20000 cr.

Problems with the scheme:

• The NSAP has been passed to the state plan in 2002-03, which has led to an increase in the state responsibility like identification of beneficiaries, disbursement etc. the centre has to provide financial resources to be utilised by the state for proper implementation. There have been issues related to disbursement of assistance by the state government
• The scheme provides monthly assistance through the post office, which is another problem which the beneficiaries in the remote parts face.

Also the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme has an eligibility norm which provides assistance only to those beneficiaries who have around 80% disability.

• Major setback to the beneficiaries is the condition that entitles only those individuals to the benefits of the scheme, which have a bank account with a balance of Rs 2000-5000.

   11. NATIONAL RURAL WATER SUPPLY PROGRAMME (ARWSP)

The national rural drinking water supply scheme is the revised version of the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) launched in 1972–73.

The goal of the scheme is to provide every rural person with adequate safe water for drinking, cooking and other domestic basic needs on a sustainable basis.

The objectives are

• To provide permanent drinking water security in rural areas
• Measures to improve and increase existing water resources through sustainable methods planned by community/local governments.
• To encourage communities, Panchayati raj institutions to manage and monitor their own resources.
• Ensure access to safe drinking water to schools and Anganwadis

The following are the main components which are covered for allocation under the scheme: Coverage, sustainability, water quality, desert development programme, natural calamity, support activities, operation and maintenance. The centre- state sharing of funds on different components is different. The department of drinking water supply allocates 10% of the total central outlay for the programme for north-east states.

Rural drinking water supply is a state subject according to the eleventh schedule of the constitution and thus the following activities are entrusted to the states:

1. The support component: This component of the scheme includes support activities like communication, information, education, water quality surveillance, setting up water testing laboratories etc. for which the government needs funds from time to time.
2. Provisions for SCs / STs: Atleast 25% of the funds by NRDWP are earmarked to be utilized for supply to SC-ST dominated habitations
3. Sustainability: 20% of the allocation is made available to states for working out sustainable ways like rain water harvesting etc.
4. Education and communication activities: states are also supposed to undertake educational activities to make communities understand the health hazards related to unsafe drinking water etc.

   12. NATIONAL RURAL LIVLIHOOD MISSION (NRLM)

An inclusive economic growth is a challenge policy makers have been constantly faced with ever since the 1^st Five Year Plan.  Several efforts have been made by the Government to reduce poverty through various programs. Despite significant efforts of Government rural poverty continues to be a major challenge. Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana(SGSY) was restructured and redesigned into National Rural Livelihood Mission in the year 2001. It is one of the largest initiative of Government of India with an objective to reduce poverty among rural BPL by promoting diversified and gainful self-employment and wage employment opportunities which would lead to an appreciable increase in income on sustainable basis.

NRLM aims to benefit around 350 million people in 12 states which constitute about 85% of India’s rural poor.  Women are given special consideration by creation of Women SHGs to build their skills. The mission is expected to bring about transformational impact in the socio economic conditions of the rural poor keeping in mind the Millennium Development Goals.

There is an independent 3-tiered structure. At the apex of the structure, NRLM is under the Ministry of Rural Development; at the state level there will be an umbrella organization under the State Department of Rural Development/Department which is responsible for implementing self-employment/rural livelihoods promotion programs.

NRLM is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and the financing of the programme  is shared between the Centre and the States in the ratio of 75:25 (90:10 in case of North Eastern States including Sikkim). The Central allocation earmarked for the States is distributed in relation to the incidence of poverty in the States.