Chapter 3

The Tenth Five-Year Plan lays emphasis on alleviation of poverty, generation of adequate employment and provision of basic minimum services such as drinking water, shelter and connectivity to all in a time bound manner. Programmes for providing self employment, generating income, imparting technology and skill upgradation training (SGSY) and wage employment (SGRY), Special Area development programmes (MLACDS, WGDP,DPAP), programme for people’s participation to accelerate the effort of the development process and to provide for community maintenance of public assets (Self-sufficiency Scheme) and programmes pertaining to institutional reforms for people’s partcipation in decentralized governance, planning and development constitute the core of the Rural Development Programmes.

The outlay approved for Implementation of various Rural Development programmes during Tenth Plan is Rs.350000 lakhs. An outlay of Rs.68766.55 lakhs has been provided for Special Programme for Rural Development and Community Development during 2003-04. Details of schemes/ programmes with allocations are as follows:

Generation of self-employment for the poor in the rural areas is one of the important components of anti-poverty and rural development strategy adopted by the Government. SGSY is a major ongoing programme of Self-employment generation for the marginalized sections of rural communities. The SGSY is conceived as a holistic programme encompassing all aspects of self-employment such as organization of the rural poor into self help groups (SHGs), training, capacity building, planning of activity clusters, infrastructure build up, technology, credit and marketing infrastructure. The main objective of the programme is to bring the assisted poor families above the poverty line in 3 years. The scheme is funded by Central and State Governments in the ratio of 75:25. The fund allocation is apportioned into various components - 10% for revolving fund, 10% for training, 20% for infrastructure, and 60% for subsidy. Subsidy under this scheme is at the rate of 30% of the project cost with a ceiling of Rs.7500/- per individual for non- AD & Tribal and Rs.10,000/- per individual for AD & Tribal beneficiary or 50% of the project cost with no monetory ceiling for irrigation projects. Under this scheme 50% of allocation is made for AD & Tribals, 40% for women and 3% for physically handicapped persons. During 2002-03, a total outlay of Rs.2390.10 lakhs was provided, as State share of the outlay. An outlay of Rs.2289.54 lakhs has been provided for the year 2003-04. During current year cluster approach linked with key economic activities will be promoted in the field of handlooms and textiles, medicinal herbs horticulture, waste land development , handicrafts, fishery, food processing and natural fibre products. A special project focussing on 25000 weavers spread over 13 districts to produce commercially viable handloom textiles will be implemented. A production cum marketing centre will be set up to market the products produced by the Self Help Groups. Regional exhibitions of SHG products will be organised at Salem, Coimbatore, Thanjavur, Madurai and Tirunelveli districts.

To strengthen the infrastructure at the village level, the erstwhile wage employment programmes viz., JGSY and EAS were merged and a new scheme namely SGRY was launched from 1-4-2002. The main objective of this programme is to provide additional wage employment and thereby food security by creation of durable community, social and economic assets and infrastructure development in rural areas. The workers under this scheme will receive food grains @ 5 kg per manday as part of the wages. While the cash component will be shared by the Centre and States in the ratio of 75:25, the Central Government will supply the foodgrains free of cost to the States. The scheme will be implemented in two streams. The first stream will be implemented at the District and panchayat union levels. 50% of the funds and food grains available under the programme will be distributed between the District Panchyat and the Panchyat Union in the ratio of 40:60. The second stream will be implemented at the Village Panchyat level. The entire allocation under this stream will be distributed among the Village Panchayats through the DRDAs / District Panchayats. In 2002–03, a total of 79,111 works were taken up under this programme with an outlay of Rs.5857.73 lakhs. An amount of Rs.8018.58 lakhs has been provided for 2003-04. During the current year drought relief works will be taken up on a large scale. Over one lakh works including renovation of Village tanks, threshing floors and buildings for SHGs will be taken up.

With a view to meeting the housing needs of the rural poor, Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) was launched in May 1985 as a sub-scheme of Jawahar Rozgar Yojana. It is being implemented as an independent scheme since 1 January 1996. It aims at helping below poverty line rural households belonging to SCs/STs, free bonded labourers, widows of next-of kin of defence personnel, ex-servicemen and retired members of the paramilitary forces and also non SC/ST rural poor below the poverty line by providing them with grant-in-aid for construction of new dwelling units and upgradation of existing unserviceable kutcha houses. 3% of funds are reserved for the benefit of disabled poor below the poverty line in rural areas. The unit cost has been fixed at Rs.20,000/- for ordinary soil and Rs.22,000/- for hill/ difficult areas. The State Government additionally provides a sum of Rs.12,000 per house for laying fire proof RCC roof. The expenditure towards provision of RCC roofing is met under Adi-dravida Welfare head. Therefore, the unit cost including sanitary latrine under this scheme is Rs.32,000/- in ordinary soil and Rs.34,000 in hill / difficult areas. 80% of the IAY funds is earmarked for construction of new houses and 20% towards upgradation of unserviceable kutcha houses at the rate of Rs.10,000/- per unit. The funds under IAY are shared between Centre and States in the ratio of 75:25. During 2003-04, it is planned to take up 31,453 new houses and to improve 16,164 kutcha houses under the scheme.

This scheme has been introduced by the Government of India under additional Central assistance for providing shelter in the rural areas to supplement the efforts in the sphere of rural housing considering the magnitude of the task. Entire amount is funded by Government of India. The guidelines of Indira Awaas Yojana are applied for this scheme also. 60% of the total allocation is earmarked for SC/ ST beneficiaries. During 2003-04, it is planned to take up 5868 houses under the scheme with an outlay of 1877.76 lakhs

5. An amount of Rs.250.00 lakhs has been provided towards assistance to Primary Education under PMGY and the works under the scheme will be executed through School Education Department.

The Government of India introduced this scheme in 1993. Each MP (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) was allotted Rs.2 crore per annum to take up developmental works in his constituency. The District Collectors and, in respect of Chennai, the Commissioner of Chennai Corporation implement the scheme. In Tamil Nadu, there are 39 Lok Sabha MPs and 18 Rajya Sabha MPs and hence Rs.114 crores is received annually from Government of India under this scheme. A Member of Rajya Sabha may select any district of the State for exercising the choice of works under the scheme. The executive authorities concerned after studying the feasibility of the proposals of members will execute the works by following open tender system. The list of works that can be taken up under this scheme includes school buildings, village roads/approach roads, and irrigation canals, bus shelters, desilting of village ponds etc. The same amount of Rs.114 crores would be expected from Government of India during 2003-04.

The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is a Government of India Scheme introduced in the year 2000-2001 with the objective of providing road connectivity to all unconnected rural habitations. Under this programme the approved works are grouped into packages costing more than Rs.1 crore but less than Rs.5 crores and executed through tender system. The guidelines stipulate that district master plans would be prepared. A District Rural Road Plan will be prepared for each district indicating the habitations in each block with the existing status of road connectivity.

During Tenth Plan a new scheme viz, Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana (RSVY)-Development and Reform Facility will be launched by Government of India for implementation in Tiruvannamalai District. The prime objective of RSVY is to address the problems of pockets of high poverty, low growth, low agricultural productivity, unemployment and poor governance by putting in place programmes and policies, which would remove barriers to growth and accelerate the development process. An amount of Rs.45 crores per year would be provided over a period of three years at the rate of Rs.15 crores per year for implementation of various developmental programmes such as drought proofing (soil conservation, afforesation, social forestry, wasteland development and minor irrigation), agriculture, horticulture etc. infrastructure (road and power), social sector (health and education) and livelihood support (income generating activities such as handloom, information technology, agricultural processing etc.). Under the scheme 15% of the funds will be earmarked for maintenance of assets in health, education and veterinary sectors. The main focus and strategy of the scheme will be on infrastructure development and income generation for under-privileged. The NGOs and Self Help Groups will also be involved at every stage including plan formulation, implementation and monitoring. An amount of Rs.15.00 crores would be made available by Government of India for 2003-04.

This grant is provided to Village Panchayats and Panchayat Unions for maintenance of civic services. Under Eleventh Finance Commission grant an amount of Rs.4195.01 lakhs and Rs.5127.25 lakhs has been provided to Panchayat Unions and Village Panchayats respectively towards effective maintenance of Civil Services for the year 2003-04.

The Agro-based industries play a vital role in the development of rural economy. It is essential that the farmers should have remunerative returns and the agricultural labourers should have high wages. To enhance the livelihood security of the farmers and agricultural labourers, the Village Fair Development Scheme was launched. Presently the agriculture produces are marketed in shandies maintained by village panchayats and panchayat unions. These shandies are being maintained without adequate infrastructure facilities. It is proposed to provide facilities such as stalls, drinking water to cattle/people, public convenience, lighting facilities, improvement to inner roads between the stalls etc., These will also facilitate the rural masses to have an access to agriculture produce besides improved income to the local bodies. The above scheme will be implemented in the year 2003-04 for which an outlay of Rs.100.00 lakhs has been provided.

This scheme is being implemented as a participatory and demand driven innovative programme. The main objective of the Scheme is to promote self-reliance and self help attitude among the rural people. This scheme attempts to reverse growing dependency syndrome in the rural areas on Govt. and bring back to the mainstream of development process by inculcating community involvement and participatory approach in development. Community needs are articulated by the public through Grama Sabha and after thorough deliberations, their needs are prioritized and converted as implementable projects where the public themselves actively contribute in cash, kind or through labour to supplement the government funds and execute the works. The Government provides necessary technical support to execute the works. This scheme maximizes the utility value of the funds allocated by the Government. Apart from expediting the execution and improving the quality of work, it also promotes the concept of community maintenance of public assets. Estimate cost of every work taken up under the programme is shared between the State Government and beneficiaries in the ratio of 75 : 25. During 2002-03, 1172 works at an estimated cost of Rs.26.69 crores were taken up. For 2003-04 an amount of Rs.2000 lakhs has been provided.

The Member of Legislative Assembly Constituency Development Scheme is fully funded by the State Government. The main objective of the scheme is to bridge the critical infrastructural gap in the Assembly Constituencies. Under this scheme, each Member of Legislative Assembly shall identify the works that should be executed in his constituency. The allocation for each Assembly Constituency is Rs.82 lakhs. During 2002-03, totally 11809 works including priority works such as Integrated Sanitary Complexes for Women, Hostels for SCs/STs, BCs/MBCs students, Office buildings for VAOs and provision of drinking water in drought-affected areas were taken up. The remaining works would be taken up in accordance with the guidelines issued in this regard. The amount provided for the year 2003-04 is Rs.24087.50 lakhs.

The State's coverage in rural sanitation is presently at 11% which is lower than the national average of 15%. To protect dignity and privacy of women the Government have launched a new scheme called the Integrated Rural Sanitary Complex for women to provide toilets and facilities for bathing and washing of clothes under one roof. So far 6309 sanitary complexes have been completed. It has been proposed to construct the balance 6309 sanitary complexes with an outlay of Rs.10442.25 lakhs during 2003-04. It has also been proposed to construct night soil / animal waste based bio-gas plants in the Integrated Sanitary Complexes for women.

A Clean Village Campaign addressing various issues related to environmental hygiene will be implemented during 2003-04. The campaign would involve management of solid and liquid waste including human and animal excreta and waste, effective implementation of ban on plastics along with water conservation and rain water harvesting. The Clean Village Rural Sanitation Campaign will be linked with the Unicef Sanitation Programme and funds will be accessed for the IEC and sanitation / health awareness campaign. A State level Rural Sanitation society will be formed to co-ordinate and direct the Clean Village Campaign programme

The villages have to be developed in phased manner by way of providing with basic minimum services through local bodies and additional funds are required for the above purpose. Outside the State budget there is a need to mobilise an amount of Rs.1000.00 lakhs every year towards infrastructure development in local body areas. An amount of Rs.1000.00 lakhs has been provided during the year 2003-04.

In order to achieve the objective of bringing the administration to the door steps of the people, office buildings for the Village Administrative Officers are being constructed in a phased manner. So far 7684 VAO office buildings have been taken up for construction. During 2003-04, 1902 buildings will be taken up under the MLA Constituency Development Scheme. An amount of Rs. 999.20 lakhs has been provided towards construction of 2856 VAO buildings under this programme.

8. An amount of Rs.500.00 lakhs has been provided towards comprehensive development of Dharmapuri District, during 2003-04.

It has been stressed that Rain Water Harvesting for recharging the ground water and collection and storage of surface flood run off is the only answer to arrest the recurrent drought . In the State, there are 89,746 tanks under the maintenance of Panchayat Unions and Panchayats. A Special Programme for scientific rejuvenation of water bodies in Panchayats will be taken up under water security mesures. Tanks with an ayacut of less than 100 acres will be rejuvenated in a phased manner with an outlay of Rs.50 crores for which the NABARD will be approached for funding.

In order to strengthen and supplement the efforts of the Rural Development Department in effective implementation of poverty alleviation, employment generation programmes and providing basic services in rural areas, the following works have been approved for taking up as Part II schemes for the year 2003-04.

Sl. No.	Name of the scheme	Amount (Rs. in lakhs)
1	Construction of office building to the Panchayat Unions of RS Mangalam and Kamudi in Ramanathapuram district and Jolarpet in Vellore district	47.20
2	Repair of Panchayat Union offices in Vadipatti, Usilampatti in Madurai district, Periyakulam in Theni district, Thenkasi in Tirunelvel district and Killiyur in Kanniyakumar district	10.00
3	Construction of meeting hall in Panchayat Union office at Usilampatti in Madurai district	2.80
4	Construction of Residential quarters cum Camp Office to the Project Officers of Kancheepuram and Coimbatore districts	25.00
5	Provision of Local area net work in the office of the DRD	1.51
	Total	86.51

Provision of infrastructure facilities like drinking water, street lights, formation of link roads, construction of school buildings, health sub-centres and awareness creation and training on watershed management have been proposed to be taken up in the Western Ghats taluks under WGDP. These works will be planned and executed by the concerned local bodies.

Under HADP, an amount of Rs.188.02 lakhs has been provided towards construction of buildings in Panchayat Union Schools, in Nilgiri District.

The Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) is an integrated watershed development programme with the prime objective of promoting the over all economic development of watershed community by optimally utilizing natural resources. Works in 299 watersheds taken up during 1999-2000 are in progress. The State share outlay under "Assistance to DRDA under DPAP" will be in the order of Rs.1100.00 lakhs during 2003-04. An amount of Rs.369.78 lakhs has been provided under the head Community Waste Land Development Programme for the year 2003-04.

The State has targeted to improve the rural roads with bituminous surface and construction of bridges and drainage structures by availing of financial assistance from NABARD under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund. An amount of Rs.74.33 lakhs under capital works has been provided during 2003-04.

The Total Sanitation Campaign scheme under the Central Sanitation Programme envisages a demand driven approach with greater public participation and more emphasis given for IEC activities to create awareness among the rural masses. The project now in operation in 16 districts will be extended to the remaining 12 districts in the State and the programme will be implemented in 24 months spread over 3 years with the ultimate objective of covering 80% rural population under sanitation. The expenditure on this scheme is shared by the Central and State Government on 80:20 basis. An amount of Rs.264.37 lakhs being the State Government share has been provided during the year 2003-04.

3. Integrated Rural Sanitation and Water Supply Project with DANIDA Assistance

This scheme aims to improve the health and sanitary conditions in the project area villages through integrated approach to provide safe drinking water and sanitation through participatory and demand driven approach. This programme is being implemented with DANIDA assistance. Water supply works, individual household latrines and institutional latrines are taken up in the project area. An amount of Rs.36.19 lakhs has been provided during the year 2003-04.

The objectives of the scheme is (i) to assist the ST families to cross the poverty line with special emphasis on improving agriculture, irrigation and education in tribal areas and (ii) to provide basic infrastructure facilities for better living conditions. An amount of Rs.51.23 lakhs has been provided under the above head towards staff cost during 2003-04.

An outlay of Rs.1500.00 lakhs has been provided as local body incentive scheme during the year 2003-04.

The rural local bodies are entrusted with a number of responsibilities with a view to strengthen the democratic decentralisation and make these institutions function as local self-Government. Most of the elected representatives are first timers. They need to be aware and familiar with the constitutional provisions, Government Acts, rules, executive orders and instructions relating to rural local bodies, administrative, financial, management and accounting procedures etc. They have to be trained on importance of leadership qualities, better communication skills and inter personnel relations to shoulder the responsibilities on the administration of rural local bodies. Hence it has been proposed to organise training programmes to the chairpersons of the rural / local bodies covering the administrative, financial management and accounting procedures. These training programmes will be organised in a phased manner through SIRD, RETCs. Experts from the Department of Rural Development and line departments, NGOs, local leaders will act as the resource persons in imparting training to Chairpersons of the local bodies. An amount of Rs.65.73 lakhs including central share Rs.15.73 lakhs has been provided during 2003-04.