GREATER FLEXIBILITY ACCORDED TO SGSY PROGRAMME
GUIDELINES - VENKAIAH NAIDU
PARLIAMENTARY CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT MINISTRY MEETS
The Rural Development Ministry has amended the guidelines
giving greater flexibility to the Swarajayanti Gram Swarojgar
Yojana (SGSY). Under the revised guidelines the number of key
activities at the Block level has been increased to 10 as against
four-five earlier. The size of a Self Help Group (SHG) has been
kept between 5-20 in hill, desert and sparsely populated areas
as against a minimum of 10 earlier. It has now been decided to
include Above Poverty Line (APL) beneficiaries subject to a maximum
of 20 per cent in any SHG. However these APL beneficiaries will
not be entitled to the subsidy. This was disclosed by the Rural
Development Minister Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu while addressing the
Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry
here today. He expressed the hope that these amendments will facilitate
the removal of hurdles in the smooth implementation of the SGSY
programme.
Emphasising the need for sensitizing the field level
bankers, the Minister informed the members that the issues relating
to the bankers attitude was taken up with the RBI and NABARD.
He said, RBI is accordingly going to reiterate its instruction
to the Banks to treat lending under SGSY as priority sector lending
and to extend all cooperation in the implementation of the Programme.
The Minister said, under SGSY bankers will not insist on any collateral
security for funding up to Rs.5 lakh as against Rs.3 lakh earlier.
He said, organising the poor into SHGs and their
capacity building is a difficult task. As such, in the initial
years, the performance of the Programme has not been very satisfactory
across the country. While some states have made a quick change
and started displaying better results, others have taken time
to do so. During the last financial year, a total of 909642 Swarojgaris
were assisted for income generating activities with total investment
of Rs.1908.65 crore which included subsidy of Rs.633.6 crore and
credit of Rs.1275.05 crore. The percentage utilization of funds
against the total available funds was 73.45. The coverage of SC/STs
and women were 44.35 percent and 45.51 percent respectively.
Participating in the discussions members pointed
out that the scheme being dependent upon funding from the banks
have to face apathy from the bank. They suggested that the banks
may be directed by the Central Government to co-operate fully.
Members also pointed out that the state level and district level
monitoring committees should meet at regular intervals and the
local Members of Parliament should be informed before such meetings
are held for better participation. It was also suggested that
the choice of group activity in a Block should be identified after
a proper survey is conducted to determine the need of the area.
Moreover, training of personnel and provision of marketing support
to the Self Help Groups should be adequately provided for.
Members of Parliament who attended today’s meeting
are: Shri Chinmayanand Swami, Shri P.S. Gadhavi, Shri Chintaman
Wanage, Shri G. Mallikarjunappa, Shri Adhi Sankar, Shri T.M. Selvaganpathi,
Shri Raghuraj Singh Shakya, Shri Y.V. Rao, Shri Shivaji Mane,
Shri Bheru Lal Meena, Shri Bhal Chandra Yadav, Shri E. Ponnuswamy,
Shri Dalit Ezhilmalai, Shri Madhusudan Devram Mistry, Shri Raj
Narain Passi and Shri P.R. Kyndiah from the Lok Sabha and Shri
Shyam Lal, Smt. S. Gokula Indira, Shri Kailash Joshi, Shri A.
Sudershan and Shri Rao Man Singh from the Rajya Sabha.
