September 05, 2001

   To meet various challenges before the country the Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced a composite centrally -sponsored scheme , Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) , involving annual expenditure of about Rs. 10,000 crores to ensure food security, employment generation and creation of durable community assets and rural infrastructure development. This was stated by Shri Yashwant Sinha, Finance Minister while addressing the second meeting of Union Ministers and Chief Ministers on Food Management and Agricultural exports. He urged the States to rejuvenate water resources taking it as a national programme by disilting ponds, wells and other measures which would assist drought proofing such as soil and moisture conservation works, development of watershed and traditional water resources, afforestation and construction of village infrastructure.

    Shri Sinha said that all States must first choose most distressed districts, areas and concentrate on them under this scheme. It must be ensured that not a single person is allowed to sleep hungry in their state and last persons in rural areas must have access to employment.

    Shri Ajit Singh, Agriculture Minister who is also the convener of the Standing Committee emphasised on the importance of introducing comprehensive and targeted wage employment scheme which would ensure food security to household across the country and also serve to create rural infrastructure and durable assets.

    Speaking on the occasion Rural Development Minister Shri Venkaiah Naidu said that existing rural development schemes will continue for the current year including SGRY. From the next year schemes and programmes of various ministries having a wage component and relevant for employment generation in rural areas would be part of the new SGRY. The scheme will be applicable to BPL and APL families. Programmes under the schemes can be planned and executed by the Gram Panchayats but the details of the programmes will have to be placed before the Gram Sabhas. He said that discretion would be given to State Government in the selection of work and in operational details. He urged the States to pass legislation regarding employment generation schemes.

    The SGRY is proposed to be implemented from the current year with a corpus of Rs. 10,000 crores including Rs. 5,000 crore in the form of foodgrains and the balance as cash. The ongoing Employment Assurance Scheme and other employment generation schemes will be merged in the proposed scheme. The State will be expected to meet 25 percent of the cash components of the wages, while the Government of India would meet the balance portion of the cash components as well as the entire cost of foodgrains. The efforts will be to give a minimum of 100 days employment to one member of every needy family. Under the scheme, 5 kg. of foodgrains (in kind) will be ensured per manday to all unemployed, rural workers. The remaining part of the wages will be paid in cash.

    The representatives of State Governments welcomed the proposal for launching of the SGRY and said that it would go a long way towards ensuring food security for the entire population. They, however, urged the Central Government to consider meeting the entire cost of the scheme, as the States would find it difficult to raise the required resources. They also suggested building a substantial degree of flexibility into the scheme, so as to meet local necessities and contingencies. Shri Digvijay Singh, Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh, emphasized that the scheme must be targeted in such a manner as to ensure that the possibility of starvation death may never arise. In order to ensure food security on a sustainable basis, he suggested that a Grain Bank scheme may also be initiated.

    The Standing Committee decided that the SGRY would be launched as soon as possible, possibly within the current month, after the necessary official clearances. The Committee also approved in principle the launching of the Grain Bank Scheme for which modalities would be separately worked out.

    The meeting was attended by Chief Ministers and other representatives from State Governments as well as by the Finance Minister, Rural Development Minister, Agriculture Minister, Member Planning Commission and senior officials of various Ministries.