PM launches village adoption scheme for MPs

• Taking forward his announcement during his address to the nation on August 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a blueprint for the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) on Jayaprakash Narayan’s birth anniversary.
• The scheme encourages Members of Parliament from both Houses to identify and develop one village from their constituency as a model village by 2016, and two more by 2019, covering over 2,500 villages of the 6 lakh villages country-wide.
• “This is not a rupiya-paisa yojana but a demand-driven, people’s participatory scheme. There are 800 parliamentarians and in three years, 2,500-odd villages could get covered. If States were to initiate their own similar schemes with MLAs, 6,000 to 7,000 villages could get covered. One good village can affect an entire area, and a viral effect could begin,” Mr. Modi said while unveiling SAGY for which no new funds have been allocated.
• The 65-page outline for the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the presence of Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari, requires MPs to identify one village with a population of 3,000-5,000 in the plains and 1,000-3,000 in the hills within a month for convergence of existing schemes for socio-economic development of the area.
• MPs can choose any village except their own or their spouse’s. There is no other criterion. MPs are expected to facilitate a village development plan, motivate villagers to take up activities and use the Rs.5-crore MPLAD fund to fill gaps for funds besides mobilising “additional resources especially from Corporate Social Responsibility” in sewage and water supply schemes.