EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The political map of the world has changed dramatically since independence; the economic
scenario has witnessed tremendous changes in the social set-up. Gandhi-ji the father of
nation once said "If the villages perish, India will perish too. It will be no more India. Her
own mission in the world will get lost." For him rebuilding of the nation could be achieved
only by reconstructing villages.

The Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY), also known as the Model Village programme, is a rural
development initiative launched by the Government of India on October 11 th 2014. Under this
initiative, Members of Parliament (MPs) from both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will adopt a
Gram Panchayat (GP) in their constituency or state and develop it as an Adarsh Gram by ensuring
convergence of available central and state schemes. The objective is to trigger processes, which lead
to holistic development of the identified Gram Panchayats and to substantially improve the standard
of living and quality of life of all sections of the population.

The study describes a Village Adoption Scheme “Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana” as a model
for energising the rural economy in India and to slow down rural - urban migration which
research has shown to be harmful to both; rural and urban people of India and their regions.
This study discusses the multi-faceted impact of this village adoption program .
INTRODUCTION
The Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) has been launched by the Prime Minister Shri
Narendra Modi on 11 October, 2014. The aim of the programme is to develop three Adarsh
Grams per individual Member of Parliament by March 2019. Thereafter at the rate of one
per year, five Adarsh Grams are to be developed by a Member of Parliament till 2024. The
yojana has been inspired by the ideals and values of Mahatma Gandhi and stresses on
values of national pride, patriotism, community service, self-confidence and on developing
infra structure. The SAGY is to keep the soul of rural India alive by providing its people with
quality access to basic amenities and opportunities to enable them to shape their destiny.
The development of the Adarsh village under the scheme will be on areas of agriculture,
health, education, sanitation, environment, livelihoods, etc. People’s participation,
Antyodaya (upliftment of the poor), gender equality, dignity of women, social justice, spirit
of community service, cleanliness, eco-friendliness, maintaining ecological balance, peace
and harmony, mutual cooperation, self-reliance, local self-government, transparency and
accountability in public life, etc. are integrated to the scheme. Under this initiative,
Members of Parliament (MPs) from both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will adopt a
Gram Panchayat (GP) in their constituency or state and develop it as an Adarsh Gram by
ensuring convergence of available central and state schemes. Accordingly, 698 MPs have
identified a GP for development as an Adarsh Gram under Phase I of the SAGY. Most MPs
have expressed their appreciation about the intent of this programme and wish to
undertake it in a proper manner. However, during our interaction with several MPs on the
topic of SAGY, a common refrain from the MPs has been the limited understanding of the
provisions under SAGY, lack of a comprehensive development plan, no dedicated
monitoring or implementation support as well as the fact that there is no specific fund
allocation for the programme. Based on the feedback from MPs through on-ground
engagements, it was felt that SAGY presented an opportunity for MPs to collaborate on the
development of a programme, which not only structures the ‘What’ to approach in
development but also the ‘How’ to execute it aspect. Thus, based on extensive internal
brainstorming sessions and consultations with experts, the SAGY Development Programme
(SDP) was conceptualized. The SAGY Development Programme - Partnering with MPs to
bring about a transformation. The goal would be to support the implementation of this
programme and ensure its success to the best of the team’s ability. After the first year, the
programme would be expanded to cover 20 more GPs over a period of 2 years, thereby
meaning that the SDP would be launched across twenty-five GPs in a span of 3 years. In
terms of the specific deliverables under the SDP, the team will focus on the following items:
a) Undertake a needs assessment of the adopted GP and work with the local stakeholders to
define a village development plan (VDP) for the GP.
b) Prepare a compendium of schemes (both central and state government schemes) which
can be leveraged for carrying out development activities in the adopted GP
c) Create a development strategy focused on implementation through identification of
solutions, credible partners and resources.
d) Design a dashboard to help streamline the process of monitoring the various activities
specified under the VDP.
e) Work with the community and local partners to execute the development strategy
(prepared before) and build the capacity of local community members to ensure
sustainability of programme.
The SAGY Development Programme entails holistic development of an identified village
across multiple socioeconomic parameters in a time bound manner. In the process it aims at
instilling certain human values and social discipline in the village so that the village actually
gets transformed into replicable models for other villages. It therefore requires a strategic
and sustain able action plan to ensure development that is nurtured by active people
participation.
  NEED FOR STUDY
The Government keeps constantly coming up with reforms for the welfare of the
society. One such scheme is the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. This is a comparative study
done to look into all the aspects of the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana and to have a
broader understanding of the reform. Also, the study is done to look into the funding
aspects of the scheme and compare it to all the welfare of the society.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1. To have a glance of scheme “Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana” and see the development
in the scheme
2. To study how it is beneficial to the individual

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research type:
Descriptive

Method of data collection:

Research is based on secondary data.
Data is collected from government websites
PURPOSE OF THE SCHEME
The programme has been developed chronologically and lists out the various processes and pieces
that to be followed through the course of the programme listed as follows :
1. Identification of MPs
2. Signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
3. Preliminary Visit to conduct a grounds assessment
4. Conducting a village level survey including focus group discussion
5. Creating a Plan of Action for the next 12 months
6. Identifying Partners and Resources (state, central and private, voluntary and corporate (PVC)
sector) 7. Designing a dashboard
8. Monitoring the execution of different activities initiated in the GP
9. Preparing the Final Document capturing the changes in the GP as a result of the interventions over
a period of 12 months.

The objective is to understand the geography, weather, culture and the administrative structure of
your district and identify key strengths and weaknesses of the region you are about to step in. Since
SAGY seeks to leverage existing central and state schemes in order to bring about holistic
development in the identified GPs, it is essential for the team members to know about the most
important schemes that are implemented in rural areas prior to their visit. This includes the
objective of the scheme, the funding pattern and flow, the different stakeholders and departments
involved in the process and requirements for availing benefits under the same. This will give an
overall idea of the status of implementation of various schemes in your district vis-à-vis the adjoining
ones and allow you to ask the right questions, once visit the ground.

Main features of SAGY :

Member of Parliament plays a key role in the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. A Lok Sabha MP
will identify a Gram Panchayat within his/her constituency and a Rajya Sabha MP a Gram
Panchayat from the rural area of the district of his/her choice in the State from which
he/she has been elected. Nominated MPs can choose a Gram Panchayat from the rural area
of any district in the country. The primary aim is to develop three such Adarsh Grams by a
Member upto 2019. The MPs will engage with the community, facilitate the Village
Development Plan and mobilise the necessary resources. The Development Plan place a
special emphasis on enabling every poor household to come out of poverty. Prior to the
plan formulation, there will be a systematic environment creation and social mobilisation,
which will be led and guided by the MP himself/herself. The planning process in each village
will be a participatory exercise coordinated by the District Collector. The MP will play an
active facilitating role in this exercise. Since the SAGY has activities cutting across different
spheres, in order to implement the Scheme successfully close coordination and convergence
is required across different Ministries, Departments, Schemes of the Government of India,
MPLADS, State Governments and the private sector. Tied and untied funds, for example,
untied resources of the Gram Panchayats like own revenue, Central and State Finance
Commission grants etc. have to be used to optimise implementation. Ministry of Rural
Development will be the nodal Ministry coordinating and monitoring the Scheme closely to
ensure its efficient implementation. In order to operationalize the strategies, the central
sector and centrally sponsored schemes along with the state schemes will have to be
implemented in a convergent and integrated manner to generate maximum synergy. The
Ministries/Departments concerned will take appropriate action to make suitable changes in
the Guidelines to enable priority to be given to the Adarsh Gram. At the national level, a
separate, real time web based monitoring system is placed for the scheme covering all
aspects and components. At the state level there is an Empowered Committee headed by
the Chief Secretary consisting of the relevant Departments and including experts, as
required with at least two Civil Society representatives. The Secretary of the Rural
Development Department of the state is the member convenor. The district Collector is the
nodal officer for implementing the SAGY.
Activities in an Adarsh Gram

An Adarsh Gram should evolve out of people’s shared vision, using their capacities and
available resources to the best extent possible, duly facilitated by the MP,
the Gram Panchayat, civil society and the government machinery. Naturally, the elements of
an Adarsh Gram would be context specific. However, it is still possible to broadly identify
the important activities. They would include:
Personal development:
● Inculcating hygienic behaviour and practices
● Fostering healthy habits including daily exercise and games
● Reducing risk behaviour- alcoholism, smoking, substance abuse, etc.

Human Development:
● Universal access to basic health facilities consisting of health card, medical
examination
● Total immunization
● Balancing the sex-ratio
● 100% institutional delivery
● Improving nutrition status for all, with special focus on children, adolescent girls,
pregnant women, and lactating mothers
● Strong focus on the special needs of Persons with Disability (PWD), especially
children and women
● Universal access to education facilities up to Class X and retention
● Conversion of schools into ‘smart schools’. Smart schools will have IT enabled
classrooms, e-libraries, web based teaching and will make all students e-literate
required for providing quality education
● Adult literacy
● E-literacy
● Village libraries including e-libraries

Social development:
● Activities for promotion of voluntarism like Bharat Nirman Volunteers
● Building the capacity of the people to fully participate and contribute to local
development
● Activities for honouring village elders, local role models especially women, freedom
fighters and martyrs
● Activities for violence and crime free villages such as:
● Setting up Citizen Committees
● Sensitization, especially of youth
 ● Village sports and folk arts festivals
● Having a village song to instil a sense of pride among the people
● Celebrating ‘Village Day’
● Proactive steps for inclusion and integration of socially excluded groups, especially
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

Economic Development:
● Promoting diversified agricultural and allied livelihoods, including livestock and
horticulture, through-
● Organic farming
● Soil health cards
● Crop intensification such as SRI
● Setting up of seed banks
● Collection and value addition to Non Timber Forest Produce, Livestock development
including Gobar Bank, cattle hostel
● Livestock development including Gobar Bank, cattle hostel
● Micro-irrigation
● Agro-service centres

Rural industrialization like:

● Post-harvest technology applications
● Micro-enterprises
● Dairy development and processing
● Food processing
● Traditional Industries
● Skill Development of all eligible youth for self-employment and placement
● Village Tourism including eco-tourism
● All the above activities should focus particularly on lifting households out of poverty,
for which organising and federating women SHGs, providing employment to all
workers, and bringing about financial inclusion are very important .

Environmental Development:
● Activities for a clean and green village consisting of:
 ● Providing toilets in each household and in all public institutions and ensuring their
proper use
● Appropriate solid and liquid waste management
● Roadside plantations
● Tree plantation in accordance with local preferences in homesteads, schools and
public institutions – including green walkways
● Social forestry
● Watershed management especially renovation and revival of traditional water
bodies
● Rainwater harvesting- rooftop as well as others
● Reducing local pollution of air, water and land
● Basic amenities and services:
● Pucca houses for all houseless poor/poor living in kutcha houses
● Drinking water, preferably treated piped water with household taps
● Internal all weather roads with covered drains
● All weather road connectivity to the main road-network
● Electricity connection to all households and street-lights including from alternative
sources of energy, especially solar
● Pucca infrastructure for public institutions- Anganwadis, schools, health
institutions, Gram Panchayat Office and libraries
● Civic infrastructure including community halls, buildings for SHG federations,
playgrounds and burial grounds/ crematoria
● Village markets
● Infrastructure for PDS outlets
● Micro mini banks /post offices/ATMs
● Broadband connectivity and Common Service Centres
● Telecom connectivity
● CCTVs in public places

Social Security:
● Pensions for all eligible families- old age, disability and widow
● Insurance schemes like Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana
 ● Health insurance- RSBY
● PDS- universal access to all eligible households

Good Governance:
● Strengthening of local democracy through strong and accountable Gram Panchayats
and active Gram Sabhas
● E-Governance resulting in better service delivery
● Provision of UIDAI cards to all
● Ensuring regular and punctual attendance of government and panchayat staff
● Time bound service delivery in line with Department’s Citizens Charter
● Holding of Mahila Gram Sabhas before every Gram Sabha
● Holding of a Gram Sabha at least 4 times a year
● Holding of Bal Sabhas every quarter
● Proactive disclosure of all information pertaining to the implementation of the
programme in the public domain and through wall-writing, notice boards in the local
language. This should necessarily include the list of beneficiaries, item-wise budgets
and expenditure.
● Gram Panchayat acting as an information facilitation centre
● Timely redressal of grievances filed by people, such that:
● Grievances of all nature to be submitted to the Gram Panchayat / Charge Officer and
dated receipt to be given
● Grievances to be redressed within three weeks along with written reply
● Institutionalization of regular open platforms for airing of grievances and their
redressal, coordinated by the Gram Panchayat

IMPLEMENTATION
SAGY was launched in an effort to develop the rural areas of our country at the
same pace as that of the urban areas. “Each member of parliament needs to choose
one village from the constituency that they represent, except their own village or their
in-laws village and fix parameters and make it a model village by 2016,” the
programme states. By SAGY’s guidelines, all the members of the parliament should
work to develop physical and institutional infrastructure in villages and convert them
into ‘Adarsh Grams’ or ‘Model Villages’. This programme has three phases, with
each MP adopting a village and developing it in each phase. The third phase is said
to conclude in the year 2019, by the time the next general elections come.
One of the distinct features of SAGY is the switch of the development strategy from
supply-driven to demand-driven. Rather than banking upon the resources available,
this programme aims at undertaking development procedures depending upon the
demand from the villagers’ side. This shall tend to form a sense of unity among the
villagers and give them the vigour to improve their village. With three Adarsh
gramsto be formed by the conclusion of the third phase, these villages shall become
the nucleus of growth and governance serving as an inspiration to other gram
panchayats. While the MP who has adopted the village makes vital use of
government schemes and designs initiatives with local context, the ultimate motive of
this initiative is to make the villagers both independent and be able enough to make
their own choices to develop their village.

Implementation details so far are as follows:

(i) 703 Gram Panchayats (GP) have been adopted by Members of Parliament in
Phase-I of the scheme.
(ii) 671 GPs have uploaded their Village Development Plan (VDP) on the website
(saanjhi ).
(iii) Further out of total 40811 number of projects undertaken in these 671 GPs,
22162 projects(54%) have either been completed or in progress.
(iv) The Ministry of Rural Development has developed a 35 point impact monitoring
tool named Panchayat Darpan to gauge the impact of SAGY in the GPs.
(v) As per the Panchayat Darpan data uploaded by 541 Gram Panchayats on the
Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana portal. 283 Gram Panchayats under SAGY have
 achieved 100% of Children Immunization(0-6 age group), 252 Gram Panchayats
have reported 100% Institutional delivery, 378 Gram Panchayats have 100% of
Days Mid Day Meal (MDM) coverage in schools.
(vi) Similarly 171 Gram Panchayats reported electricity connection to all households.
(vii) 91 Gram Panchayats have safe and secure housing facility to all households in
the SAGY villages.
(viii) 87 Gram Panchayats have full piped drinking water supply.
(ix) Likewise 131 Gram Panchayats have become ODF(Open Defecation Free).
(x) 160 Gram Panchayats have now ePanchayat Service available at the Gram
Panchayats Office.
(xi) Similarly, many Gram Panchayats have made efforts in the area of ensuring social
and financial security in their respective Gram Panchayats by enrolling every
eligible individual in Government Schemes like Jan Dhan Yojana (101 GPs), Atal
Pension Yojana (25 GPs), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (26 GPs),
Rashtriya Swasthya BimaYojna (37 GPs), Widow Pension (211 GPs), Old Age
Pension (210 GPs).‡

Monitoring of SAGY : This Scheme has achieved its objectives through convergence and
implementation of existing Government Schemes and Programmes without
allocation of additional funds. The MPs are proactively tapping the resource from
various sources for the implementation of the Village Development Plan in
following ways :
(i) 21 Schemes have been amended by various Ministries /Departments of
Government of India to give priority to SAGY Gram Panchayat projects.
(ii) The Ministry of Rural Development has brought out ‘SAMANVAY’ -
Compilation of 223 Central Sector/ Centrally Sponsored and 1806 State
Schemes for convergence under SAGY for the benefit of Members of
Parliament,District and Village level officials about the different schemes
for multitude of purposes at the Gram Panchayat level.
(iii) SAGY is reviewed by the Ministry every quarter in the Performance
Review Committee (PRC) meeting with State Secretaries. The Central
Government has also constituted the District Deve lopment Coordination
 and Monitoring Committee where the performance of programmes are
monitored every quarter under Chairmanship of Hon’ble MP.
(iv) The Central Government sends teams to the SAGY Village Panchayats to
understand the convergence process and to learn from good practices.
Through a review of progress on 35 indicators, efforts have been made to
ascertain the performance of SAGY in a particular Gram Panchayat.
Progress is measured through outcome indica tors broadly covering basic
amenities, education, health, sanitation, livelihood, women
empowerment, financial inclusion, food security, social security and e-
governance etc. The impact is measured on quarterly , half yearly and
yearly basis.
(v) The Ministry of Rural Development is coordinating with other Central
Ministries/ Departments to ensure provision of four key basic services viz.
power, drinking water, roads and education in all SAGY GPs.
(vi) With the intent to tap the resources and the strengths of the Private,
Voluntary and Cooperative sectors (PVC Sectors), the Ministry has
circulated suggestive template to State Governments for preparing
proposals.

Status of implementation of Village Development Plans

(Phase I, II & III)
 Villages adopted by MP under Sansad Adarsh Gram
Yojana:

Summary Report of Gram Panchayats for Saanjhi

S. No. State Members of Gram Gram Mem Gram Gram Panchayats not
Lok Sabha Pancha Panchayats bers Panchaya identified by RS
yats not identified of ts Members
identifie by LS Rajya identified
 d by LS Members Sabh by RS
Member a Members
s

1 Andaman 1 1 0 0 0 0
And Nicobar
Islands
2 Andhra 25 14 11 11 3 8
Pradesh
3 Arunachal 2 0 2 1 1 0
Pradesh
4 Assam 14 12 2 7 4 3
5 Bihar 40 38 2 16 9 7
6 Chandigarh 1 0 1 0 0 0
7 Chhattisgarh 11 10 1 5 3 2
8 Dadra And 1 1 0 0 0 0
Nagar Haveli
9 Daman And 1 1 0 0 0 0
Diu
10 Delhi 7 0 7 3 0 3
11 Goa 2 2 0 1 1 0
12 Gujarat 26 26 0 11 10 1
13 Haryana 10 10 0 4 3 1
14 Himachal 4 4 0 3 1 2
Pradesh
15 Jammu And 6 2 4 4 1 3
Kashmir
16 Jharkhand 14 3 11 5 1 4
17 Karnataka 28 24 4 12 6 6
18 Kerala 20 20 0 9 8 1
19 Lakshadwee 1 1 0 0 0 0
p
20 Madhya 29 28 1 11 5 6
Pradesh
21 Maharashtra 48 47 1 19 19 0
22 Manipur 2 2 0 1 1 0
23 Meghalaya 2 2 0 1 0 1
24 Mizoram 1 0 1 1 0 1
25 Nagaland 1 0 1 1 0 1
26 Odisha 20 14 6 10 7 3
27 Puducherry 1 1 0 1 1 0
28 Punjab 13 11 2 7 6 1
29 Rajasthan 25 25 0 10 6 4
30 Sikkim 1 1 0 1 1 0
31 Tamil Nadu 39 33 6 18 14 4
32 Telangana 16 10 6 7 4 3
33 Tripura 2 0 2 1 0 1
34 Uttar 80 70 10 31 15 16
Pradesh
35 Uttarakhand 5 1 4 2 0 2
36 West Bengal 42 2 40 16 0 16
TOTAL 541 416 125 230 130 100

Achievements by SAGY GPs

Achievements through various indicators:
1) HEALTH

2) INFRASTRUCTURE

3) GOOD GOVERNANCE

4) SOCIAL SECURITY
 5) ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Conclusion
SAGY is one of the very innovative Management Model by Govt. of India. Associating with AICTE will
empower this program under the guideline set up by the extended committee being constituted by
AICTE at national and state level. Volunteers may be identified and trained to align with the
objectives of SAGY as per the declaration to so that we can take forward the entire program of SAGY.
Local Workshops, brainstorming sessions from time to time will be organized to take these joint
moves forward. Using the facilities of existing training, research institutions on the 6 P's model
forlocalized plan making with Panchayats and monitoring them. 36 All training centers for schemes
like Model villages, MPLAD schemes. Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav etc., may adopt area or block and
earnincome on turnkey consultancy. Voluntary Action Cell (VAC) division, Panchayati Raj advisor,
Rural Development adviser from NITI AYOG along with others must join the steering group for
documenting the SOPP models. Non operative schemes or backward areas, tribal areas could be as
weak areas of India are taken up with us for joint planning and action research for replication. All
these will be Localized initiatives with local leaders and resources markets will definitely bring radical
change in the Rural areas which can be an agent for Rural Empowerment which in turn can bring
Socio Economic change.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
▪ https://www.nhp.gov.in/sansadadarshgram1_pg

▪ http://www.sriramsias.com/articles/intensified- sansad-adarsh-gram -imi/

▪ https://www.nhp.gov.in/ sansadadarshgram 1_pg

▪ http://tripuranrhm.gov.in/guidlines/0701201701.pdf

▪ https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-transforming-indias-

health-system/326944