By IANS
New Delhi : The government is considering a recast of the Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), which provides self-employment opportunities to the rural poor, for the 11th five year plan (2007-12).
Presiding over a meeting to review the implementation of SGSY and Sampoorna Grameen Rojgar Yojana (SGRY), Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh Friday stressed on paying extra attention to below-poverty-line (BPL) rural masses for effective implementation of the SGRY and SGSY.
He said: “The proposal to recast the SGSY programme during the 11th five year plan is under active consideration.”
Under the SGSY, central funds are provided to offer financial assistance to rural BPL families for taking up self-employment. Those taking up self-employment are called ‘swarozgaris’. They can take up the activity either individually or in groups, called self-help groups (SHGs).
To ensure that the targeted group achieves successful self-employment, the administration has devised a mechanism to guide the group on the nature of self-employment to be adopted depending on the needs and demands of that particular area, explained rural development ministry officials.
The local administration, with the help of officials, non-officials and bankers, selects four to five activities in each block for the purpose. These are called Key Activities and are aimed at giving the swarozgaris an income of Rs.2,000 per month, after paying the banks’ loan instalments.
Under SGSY, a total of 588 District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) were considered for budgetary allocations during the fiscal year 2007-08.The government earmarked a total central allocation of Rs.17.02 billion for this year, of which, Rs.11.26 billion has so far been released to 33 states/union territories, the minister was informed.
This amount includes the release of Rs.7.40 billion to 530 DRDAs as first instalment and Rs.3.85 billion to 322 DRDAs as second instalment till Jan 10, 2008.
Singh suggested setting up permanent infrastructure in all major locations in the country to market the products of the SHGs involved in organising self-employment to the BPL rural poor.