Union Cabinet approves Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission to drive economic, social and infrastructure development in rural areas
In
an ambitious bid to transform rural areas to economically, socially and
physically sustainable spaces, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri
Narendra Modi approved the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM)
with an outlay of Rs. 5142.08 crores.
The Mission aims at development of rural growth clusters which have latent
potential for growth, in all States and UTs, which would trigger overall
development in the region. These clusters would be developed by provisioning of
economic activities, developing skills & local entrepreneurship and
providing infrastructure amenities. The Rurban Mission will thus develop a
cluster of Smart Villages.
These
clusters would be well delineated areas with planned layouts prepared following
the planning norms (as laid down in the State Town and Country Planning
Acts/similar Central or State statutes as may be applicable), which would be
duly notified by the State/UTs. These plans would be finally integrated with the
District Plans/Master Plans as the case may be.
The
State Governments would identify the clusters in accordance with the Framework
for Implementation prepared by the Ministry of Rural Development. The clusters
will be geographically contiguous Gram Panchayats with a population of about
25000 to 50000 in plain and coastal areas and a population of 5000 to 15000 in
desert, hilly or tribal areas. There would be a separate approach for selection
of clusters in Tribal and Non-Tribal Districts. As far as practicable, clusters
of village would follow administrative convergence units of Gram
Panchayats.
For
the selection of clusters, the Ministry of Rural Development is adopting a
scientific process of cluster selection which involves an objective analysis at
the District, Sub District and Village level, of the demography, economy,
tourism and pilgrimage significance and transportation corridor
impact. While the Ministry, following this analysis, would provide a
suggestive list of sub districts to the State, the State Governments would then
select the clusters following a set of indicated principles included in the
Framework for Implementation.
The
mission aims to create 300 such Rurban growth clusters over the next 3 years,
across the country. The funding for Rurban Clusters will be through various
schemes of the Government converged into the cluster. The SPMRM will provide an
additional funding support of upto 30 percent of the project cost per cluster as
Critical Gap Funding (CGF) as Central Share to enable development of such Rurban
clusters.
To
ensure an optimum level of development, fourteen components have been suggested
as desirable for the cluster, which would include; Skill development training
linked to economic activities, Agro Processing/Agri Services/Storage and
Warehousing, Digital Literacy, Sanitation, Provision of piped water supply,
Solid and liquid waste management, Village streets and drains, Street lights,
Fully equipped mobile health unit, Upgrading school /higher education
facilities, Inter-village road connectivity, Citizen Service Centres- for
electronic delivery of citizen centric services/e-gram connectivity, Public
transport., LPG gas connections.
The
States would prepare Integrated Cluster Action Plans for Rurban Clusters, which
would be comprehensive plan documents detailing out the strategy for the
cluster, desired outcomes for the cluster under
the mission, along with the resources to be converged under various Central
Sector, Centrally Sponsored and State Sector schemes, and the Critical Gap
Funding (CGF)
required for the cluster.
In
addition to the Critical Gap Funding, proactive steps have been taken to ensure
the success of the mission with adequate budget provisions for supporting the
State Government towards project development, capacity building and other
institutional arrangements at the state level.
The
Mission envisages institutional arrangements both at the State and Center to
ensure smooth implementation of the Mission. The Mission also has an Innovation
budget towards facilitating research, development and capacity building.
The
scheme through development of rurban growth clusters aimed at catalyzing overall
regional growth, would thus simultaneously benefit the rural as well as urban
areas of the country, by achieving twin objectives of strengthening rural areas
and de burdening the urban areas hence leading to balanced regional development
and growth of the country.
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