Rural Development Schemes and Programmes
Rural Development Schemes and Programmes tests flagship central and state schemes implemented through Gram Panchayats, their eligibility rules, benefits, funding patterns, and social-audit mechanisms. For a PDO, the key is to distinguish demand-driven wage employment from asset-building and housing schemes.
Core schemes
- MGNREGA, 2005: legal guarantee of at least 100 days of unskilled wage employment per rural household per financial year; demand-driven; at least one-third of beneficiaries must be women; unemployment allowance if work is not provided within 15 days; social audit mandatory.
- PMAY-Gramin: pucca house assistance to eligible rural homeless and kutcha-house households; beneficiaries identified through SECC-type deprivation criteria and verified lists.
- DAY-NRLM: promotes women’s Self-Help Groups, bank linkage, livelihood diversification and community cadres.
- PMGSY: all-weather road connectivity to eligible rural habitations.
- Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin): sanitation, open-defecation-free villages, solid and liquid waste management.
- Jal Jeevan Mission: household tap water connections in rural areas.
Worked example
A family of five rural adults asks whether it can claim 500 days of MGNREGA work in a year. Reasoning: the entitlement is 100 days per household per financial year, not 100 days per adult. The family can seek work as a household, and the Gram Panchayat must issue a job card and provide work within 15 days; otherwise, unemployment allowance is payable as per rules.
Traps
Do not multiply 100 days by the number of adults. MGNREGA is not a supply-driven contractor programme; work is provided on demand. Do not mix PMAY-Gramin with PMAY-Urban. Check whether a scheme is centrally sponsored, central sector, or state-funded before answering funding-share questions.