Year End Review 2024: Achievement of the Department of Rural Development

During the financial year 2024-2025, 196.30 cr person-days generated with a total central release of Rs. 7,491.29 crore

National Mobile Monitoring Service, GIS based plan– use of Space Technology, Aadhaar Payment Bridge System, GeoMGNREGA, JALDOOT App etc. are major initiatives/key interventions in MGNREGA

Additional 2 crore rural houses to be constructed under PMAY-G

3, 47,424 houses have been sanctioned under the PM-JANMAN as on date and 70,905 houses have been completed across the States and UTs under PMAY-G

Under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) a total of 1, 62,742 habitations as per census 2001 have been provided connectivity since inception, out of which, 242 habitations have been provided all-weather road connectivity in the year 2024

Under PMGSY-IV, to identify the eligible unconnected habitations and alignment thereto, surveys are underway using a mobile application called the “Gram Sadak Survey App”

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA) is an Act to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

Objectives

The objectives of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) are:

1. Providing at least one hundred days of unskilled manual work in a financial year to every household in rural areas as per demand resulting in creation of productive assets of prescribed quality and durability;
2. Strengthening the livelihood resource base of the poor;
3. Proactively ensuring social inclusion; and
4. Strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)

Achievements under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA:

Sl. No.	Indicators	FY 2024-25 (from 1st April till 11.12.2024)
1	Person-days Generated (in Cr)	196.30
2	Total central release (in Rs. crore)	77,491.29
3	% FTOs generated within 8 days	97.18
4	Number of Completed Works (in lakhs)	61.29
5	% Women Person days out of Total	57.86
6	% ST/SC person days as of total person days	36.91
7	% of Category B Works	54.72

Major initiatives/key interventions in MGNREGA:

1. National Mobile Monitoring Service (NMMS): enables capturing of attendance of workers at Mahatma Gandhi NREGA worksites (except for individual beneficiary works) along with geo-tagged and two time-stamped photographs twice a day. In the month of November 96% (1st fortnight) & 93% (2nd fortnight) of attendance have been captured through use of NMMS App.
2. Area Officer Monitoring Visit Application: This App facilitates the officials of the State/UT to record their field visit findings online and facilitates the officials to record time stamped and geo tagged photograph for all the worksites visited. A total of 8.83 lakhs worksites have been inspected in FY 2024-25 till November’24, across all the States by officials of State, district and block level through use of the Area Officer Inspection App.
3. GIS based plan– Use of Space Technology: GIS based GP level plan (ridge to valley approach) preparation using Remote Sensing technology in a saturation mode for all the GPs of the country. GIS based plans have been prepared for 2.65 lakhs Gram Panchayat against the total of 2.68 lakhs Gram Panchayats.
4. Yuktdhara:  GIS based planning tool – To simplify the GIS based planning at GP level, Yuktdhara, a Geospatial planning portal is developed in collaboration with ISRO-NRSC.
5. SECURE – Software for Estimate Calculation for using Rural Rates for Employment: Application is being used for estimate calculation of works to be undertaken under the scheme.
6. GeoMGNREGA: the app has been developed by using Space Technology to track the creation of assets by geo tagging it, at “Before”, “During” and “After” stages of the asset creation. So far, a total of 6.13 crore assets have been geo tagged.
7. JALDOOT App: enables Gram Rojgar Sahayak (GRS) to measure the water level of selected wells twice a year (pre-monsoon and post-monsoon). So far, water level data of around 5.84 lakhs wells has been captured in the Pre-monsoon covering 2.57 lakh villages and 1.32 lakh Gram Panchayats in current financial year.
8. JANMANREGA app: aids in proactive disclosure of information to its citizens as well as a feedback mechanism about the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS.
9. Mission Amrit Sarovar: Mission Amrit Sarovar was launched by the Prime Minister on April 24th, 2022, to construct or rejuvenate 75 Amrit Sarovars in every rural district (except Delhi, Chandigarh, and Lakshadweep) with a total of 50,000 sarovars across the country by 15th August 2023 in a concerted effort to conserve water for future generations. As of October, 2024, the construction/rejuvenation of over 68,000 Amrit Sarovar has been completed. Under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, over 46,000 Amrit Sarovars were constructed /rejuvenated.

As we progress with our expanded vision for the Mission, the construction and rejuvenation of more Sarovars shall be undertaken with the focus on community engagement to ensure that these Sarovars, not only serve as sustainable water resources but also become vibrant community hubs in Phase II of Mission Amrit Sarovar. Further, letter to all the participating departments/ ministries and States/UTs along with revised guidelines for the furtherance of Mission is already shared.

1. Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT): To bring in more transparency in the system and minimize leakages, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system in wage payment has been adopted. Under the programme, more than 99% of payments of wages are electronically credited into the accounts of the workers through DBT system.
2. Aadhaar Payment Bridge System: Wage payments are made through Aadhaar Payment Bridge System into the accounts of the beneficiaries following the DBT protocol. Against the total of 13.24 crore active workers, Aadhaar of 99.49% active workers have been seeded.

Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G)

Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) is one of the flagship Programmes of the Govt of India which aims to achieve the objective “Housing for All” by providing 2.95 Crore pucca houses with basic amenities by convergence with other Schemes to all houseless households and households living in kutcha and dilapidated house in rural areas by 2024. The Union Cabinet approved the extension to the scheme on 9th August, 2024 to construct additional 2 crore rural houses during FY 2024-25 to FY 2028-29 to meet the arising need of housing due to increase in number of families.

As on 30.12.2024, the cumulative target of 3.33 crore houses have been allotted to the States/UTs, out of which 3.22 crore houses have been sanctioned and 2.68 crore houses have been completed.

Cumulative Physical progress of the Scheme is as below:

Total Number of houses sanctioned	3,22,61,497
Number of 1 instalment released	3,04,67,591
Total Houses completed	2,68,38,343

Physical achievement under the Scheme for the year 2024 i.e. starting from 1 April, 2024 is as below:

Total Number of houses sanctioned in 2024	28,17,022
Total no of 1 instalment released	22,97,880
Total Houses completed	54,582

Completion under 100 days action plan: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has released 1st Instalment to more than 10 lakhs PMAY-G beneficiaries on 17th September 2024 through single click in a National Event. Further, The Awaas + 2024 App was also launched by the Prime Minister at an event in Bhubaneshwar on this day.

Regional Rural workshops: The Ministry organized Regional Rural workshops in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Assam (wherein Officials from 19 States had participated) to inform stakeholders about new PMAY-G provisions.

Initiatives:

The Scheme is being implemented and monitored through end to end e-governance solution, AwaasSoft and AwaasApp. AwaasSoft provides functionalities for data entry and monitoring of multiple statistics related to implementation aspects of the scheme. These statistics include, physical progress (registrations, sanctions, house completion and release of instalments etc.), financial progress, status of convergence etc. Since launch of the scheme in 2016, efforts are being taken to make the scheme more beneficiary-oriented through introduction of new initiatives. Major initiative taken by the Ministry is as in current FY is as below:

1. As per the Union Cabinet approval, the provisions with regard to mechanised two wheelers, mechanised fishing boat, landline phone and refrigerator have been deleted. Further, the income criteria has also been enhanced from Rs 10000 per month to Rs 15000 and the land related criteria have been simplified.
2. PM-JANMAN Initiatives and Achievements

The PM-JANMAN as approved by the Union Cabinet involves 11 critical interventions covering 9 Ministries of the GoI including the Ministry of Rural Development. The aim is to achieve saturation of PVTG families and habitations with basic facilities viz safe housing, road connectivity, clean drinking water & sanitation, education, health, nutrition, telecom connectivity, electricity, and sustainable livelihood opportunities. Housing intervention under the scheme is covered through PMAY-G. As on 30th December 2024, 3,47,424 houses have been sanctioned and 70,905 houses have been completed across the States and UTs.

iii. Technological Interventions

The PMAY-G has always been pioneer is introducing technology-based solutions for effective and transparent management of the scheme. With new phase being implemented the PMAY-G has introduced multiple features to maximise transparency and ensure sanctity in the process right from the identification to completion of the houses. The new features are:

1. Awaas+ 2024 app- a unique app specially designed under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), having features of assisted survey through pre-registered surveyors, housing technology selection, face authentication, Aadhar based e-KYC, data capture of household, conditions of existing house, time stamped, and geo tagged photo capture of existing house proposed site of construction. The app works in online as well as offline mode. “Self-Survey” facility is available for eligible household in Awaas+2024 app Survey for next phase of PMAYG (2024-29).
2. Awaas Sakhi(Support Application for Knowledge, Help and Innovation)is an innovative mobile application developed to enhance access to PMAY-G by bringing essential information and resources in one place. Through the application, beneficiaries can gain awareness about the scheme, obtain answers to their queries and determine their eligibility for the scheme, equipping them with knowledge to make informed decisions.
3. Usage of AI/ML model to curb fraudulent activity and provide information of possible malpractices.
4. Recommendation System – This module identifies various house attributes such as pucca wall, pucca roof, kutcha wall, kutcha roof, logo, window, door, and person in the uploaded photos of a completed house and recommends a final photograph for approval.
5. Anomaly Detection and Fraud Prevention – This module calculates similarity score between the photograph of house that is being inspected and other houses in the vicinity to prevent any kind of fraudulent activity in this regard.
6. e- KYC App – The app is integrated with Aadhaar and uses AI-enabled face authentication technology to conduct verification of PMAY-G beneficiaries.
7. Liveliness Detection: Eye Blink/ Motion detection feature in Awaas App for identification of the beneficiaries.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)

1. A total of 1,62,742 habitations (more than 99.6% of eligible habitations as per census 2001) have been provided connectivity since inception of the PMGSY, out of which, 242 habitations have been provided all-weather road connectivity in the year 2024.
2. Total size of projects sanctioned under all verticals/ interventions of PMGSY increased to 8,28,791 km road length and 11,955 Bridges. During year 2024, road length of 21,854 km and 427 bridges have been sanctioned under all verticals/ interventions of PMGSY.
3. Total Road length of 7,70,228 km and 9,257 bridges have been constructed under various interventions/verticals of the scheme, out of which, road length of 19,606 Km and 3,489 bridges have been constructed in year 2024, which helped rural population in easy access to social facilities and livelihood opportunities.
4. Overall expenditure of Rs. 3,30,891 crore, including State Share, has been incurred under various verticals/ interventions of PMGSY. In year 2024, funds of Rs. 12,757 Crore released to States and expenditure of Rs. 17,415 crore, including State Share, has been incurred during 2024.
5. Government of India has approved Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana – IV (PMGSY-IV) on 11.09.2024 to provide all-weather connectivity to eligible unconnected habitations of designated population size, as per 2011 census. Under PMGSY-IV, 25,000 unconnected eligible habitations are targeted for providing connectivity by constructing 62,500 km all-weather roads. The scheme will be implemented from financial year 2024-25 to 2028-29 with a total outlay of Rs. 70,125 crore.
6. The guidelines for PMGSY-IV have been finalized by the Ministry on 24.12.2024 and have been shared with State/UT Governments for compliance during planning, execution and monitoring of the scheme.
7. Under PMGSY-IV, to identify the eligible unconnected habitations and alignment thereto, surveys are underway using a mobile application called the “Gram Sadak Survey App”, specifically designed for digital mapping of PMGSY-IV unconnected habitations. The app will provide evidence-based verification of unconnected habitations reported by States/UTs. The app was launched on 08.10.2024 by Minister (Rural Development).
8. With aim to make considerable energy and resource saving, various new/green technologies such as Waste Plastic, Cold Mix, Full Depth Reclamation (FDR), Panelled CC/ white topping, Cell filled concrete/ Cell filled concrete with ICBP, Cement Treated Sub-base/ base (CTB), Nano Technology, Terrazyme, Jute, Coir, geo-textile are being used in rural road construction. In year 2024, road length of 15,783 km has been constructed under various new/green technologies.
9. Under PMGSY-III, road length of 1,21,896 km has been sanctioned against the target of 1,25,000 km road length under PMGSY-III, out of which, road length of 15,922 Km and 422 bridges have been sanctioned in year 2024 to various States/UTs including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, West Bengal etc.
10. Under PM-JANMAN Road length of 4,781 Km and 5 bridges sanctioned in 2024. Total size of projects sanctioned under PM-JANMAN increased to 4,781 km road length and 5 Bridges.
11. Under RCPLWEA, road length of 12,228 km and 705 Brides have been sanctioned. Road length of 9,328 km and 441 Bridges have been constructed under RCPLWEA, out of which, 328 km road length and 55 bridges have been constructed in the year 2024.
12. Considering the delay in completion of projects owing to short working seasons, forest/wildlife clearances, land dispute, delay in permission for tree cutting, flood, LWE situation in some districts, etc., the sunset date for completion of PMGSY-I, II & RCPLWEA works has been extended till March 2025.
13. Under the PMGSY Scheme, GIS mapping of approximately 24 lakh km+ DRRP roads, 7 lakh+ rural facilities (schools, hospitals, markets, forests, water resources, etc.), and 10 lakh+ habitations with population data from the 2011 Census are available on the GatiShakti platform and on Open Data. As of now, a total of 7,43,797 km of road length and 6,696 bridges sanctioned across all verticals of PMGSY and RCPLWEA have been shared with PM GatiShakti. The mapping process of remaining road length on the PM GatiShakti portal is undergoing.
14. The eMARG Post 5 DLP Module is currently operational in 15 States:  Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu And Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh & West Bengal. Presently, a total of 4619 packages have been successfully onboarded. Furthermore, these states are seamlessly integrated with the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) to ensure efficient and streamlined payment processes. Payment has already commenced for a total of 3245 packages across these states.

National Level Monitoring (NLM)

A comprehensive system of National Level Monitoring   was   introduced during the year 2003-04 with a view to achieve the purpose of unbiased and objective monitoring of the schemes of the Ministry in a systematic and regular manner. The scheme was revised in 2014 and 2016 by inclusion of monitoring of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) of Department of Rural Development, Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP) of Department of Land Resources. Also the work of overall assessment of Gram Panchayats in implementation of various programmes, as requested by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, was brought under the ambit of National Monitoring System from the year 2015-16.

NLM Monitoring System

At present, seventy-two (72) institutions are empaneled for monitoring of Programmes/Schemes of Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Panchayati Raj.  However, around 52 NLMs have actively taken up these assignments. The National Level Monitors (NLMs) are deputed by the Ministry for following three types of monitoring assignments:

1. Regular Monitoring:

NLMs are deputed to monitor and report on various aspects of implementation of MoRD & MoPR Schemes in the districts, intwo phases in a year.  About  half  of the  districts  are  covered in each phase so  that  all the districts  of the  country  can be  covered  in a year.  NLMs  are  required   to visit  the districts,  ascertain  the  implementation  of the programmes  viz-a- viz  the guidelines,  interact  with officials, verify the assets created  and  interview  the beneficiaries   and submit   report   within  a given time frame. The NLMs deputed to a State are also required to interact with the Secretary or Senior Officers-in-charge of RD Schemes in the State.

Regular Monitoring, Phase-I, 2024-25was conducted during Sep-Nov., 2024 in 337Districts, covering various programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Panchayati Raj as under:

Regular Monitoring Phase-I, 2024-25
No. of States	No. of Districts	No. of Blocks	No. of GPs
32	337	1170	3354

1. Special Monitoring of Schemes

NLMs  are  deputed   to cover  a  particular   scheme  or  some  specific  aspects of  a particular  scheme only and  report  on the issues/processes   in detail  based   on  the requirement   suggested   by the  programme  divisions  as  approved  by  the Secretary (RD).  Limited number of special monitoring   rounds   may be undertaken every year for in depth coverage or certain specific features of a programme.

1. Complaints/ Enquiries

In case of complaints of serious nature from People’s representatives, NGOs etc.  Regarding mis-utilization of funds, irregularities etc., NLMs are deputed to verify the facts or for preliminary enquiry, and reports/ findings sent to concernedProgramme Divisions for taking necessary action.

10 enquiries on complaints of irregularities in PMAY-G house in 10 districts of Odisha have been conducted by the NLMs in February, 2024.

Revamping of National Level Monitoring Scheme:

The National Level Monitoring System was functioning since last 20 years. The  initial  version  of  the  system was  a  quick  review   mechanism manned   by a   pool  of  experienced  professional  institutions   in  rural development   and  Monitoring  &  Evaluation   activities.  In National Level Monitoring System, certain quality issues such as lack of objectivity, understanding and individual biases in the reports have been observed in the recent past. Many institutions of repute and large organizations are not much keen to take up NLM Monitoring assignments due to insufficient remuneration/rates.

In order to capture more detailed information and in-depth analysis of various programmes, data collection tools and methodology need to be suitably modified. It was, therefore, decided to revamp the existing NLM framework with the objective to make it more robust, responsive, qualitative and useful monitoring & evaluation tool. As per direction of Secretary (RD), the Districts to be monitored, for Regular Monitoring, have been increased from 600 to all Districts in a Financial Year.

Under the revamp of the NLM Schemes, the remuneration rates for NLMs have been appropriately increased and data base maintenance have been assigned to National Informatics Centre (NIC).Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi has been selected as new Support Agency for NLM for a period of one year, up to 31^st March, 2025. Additionally, the request for Expression of Interest (REOI) for the empanelment of new NLMs (120 Institutional and 40 Individual NLMs) through open advertisement is expected to be completed by December, 2024.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM)

The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), launched in June 2011, is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). DAY-NRLM is implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development {Rural Livelihoods (RL) Division} in collaboration with the State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs). The Mission’s objective is “To reduce poverty by enabling the poor households to access gainful self- employment and skilled wage employment opportunities, resulting in appreciable improvement in their livelihoods on a sustainable basis, through building strong grassroots institutions of the poor.” The Mission seeks to achieve its objective through investing in four core components viz., (a) social mobilization and promotion and strengthening of self-managed and financially sustainable community institutions of the rural poor; (b) financial inclusion of the rural poor; (c) sustainable livelihoods; and (d) social inclusion, social development and convergence.

2. Key Program Components
3. Institution Building and Capacity Building: The program focuses on developing community institutions like Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Village Organizations (VOs), and Cluster Level Federations (CLFs), providing the rural poor with a platform for mutual support, savings, and credit access. These groups offer collective resources to overcome poverty.
4. Social Inclusion and Social Development: DAY-NRLM drives Social Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) to encourage rural communities to adopt healthier practices and utilize government services such as Swachh Bharat Mission, Poshan Abhiyan, and more. It focuses on Food, Nutrition, Health, and WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), Gender, and PRI-CBO convergence.

iii. Financial Inclusion: Aiming for universal access to financial services, DAY-NRLM provides critical support in remote areas by deploying women as BC Sakhis, enabling the delivery of banking services, loans, and social security schemes like pensions and insurance.

1. Livelihoods:

• • Farm Livelihoods: The program empowers women farmers through agro-ecological practices, livestock management, and better market access. It promotes training and capacity building to enhance productivity and reduce costs.
  • Non-Farm Livelihoods: Beyond agriculture, DAY-NRLM supports women in establishing micro-enterprises in sectors like handicrafts, food processing, and small-scale manufacturing. The program helps landless rural women take up income-generating activities, with a focus on micro-enterprises that utilize local resources.

3. Innovative Features Contributing to Success
4. Capacity Building & Human Resources: DAY-NRLM emphasizes capacity building through well-trained human resources to ensure successful implementation. State and departmental support enables better execution and management of the program.
5. Community-Led Approach: The program places women at the core of development by forming SHGs and federating them into VOs and CLFs. It fosters social capital by involving women in decision-making, strengthening trust, and cooperation within rural communities. More than 6 lakh trained Community Resource Persons (CRPs) are involved in thematic areas such as livestock, agriculture, and financial services.
6. Federations: SHGs form the backbone of DAY-NRLM, with approx. 5 lakh VOs and 32,000 CLFs enabling collective empowerment. These federations provide a platform for collective action, decision-making, and access to resources.
7. Participatory Planning: DAY-NRLM incorporates a bottom-up approach, involving rural communities in the planning and execution of development activities through village-level meetings, consultations, and participatory rural appraisals.
8. Business Correspondent Agents (BCAs): Over 1.35 lakh SHG members are deployed as BCAs (also known as BC Sakhis), improving access to banking services, including deposits, credit, remittances, pensions, and insurance.
9. Women Enterprise Acceleration Fund (WEAF): This initiative supports women entrepreneurs in SHGs by providing debt financing and credit guarantees. Women can access loans up to Rs 5 lakh with a 2% interest subvention for prompt repayment, boosting women-led businesses and stimulating economic growth.
10. Lakhpati Didi Initiative: The focus of this initiative is to empower women to become financially self-sufficient. The goal is to create 3 crore “LakhpatiDidis” (women earning Rs 1 lakh or more annually) by helping women scale up businesses and contribute to sustainable development across rural India. So far, 1.15 crore SHG women are LakhpatiDidis in country.
11. Results and Impact

A 2019 study by the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), supported by the World Bank, highlighted the significant impact of the DAY-NRLM program:

• Increase in Income: An increase of 19% in income over the base amount.
• Decline in Informal Loans: A 20% reduction in reliance on informal loans.
• Increased Savings: A 28% increase in savings among beneficiaries.
• Improved Labor Force Participation: A 4% higher proportion of women engaging in secondary occupations.
• Enhanced Access to Government Schemes: A 6.5% higher access to social welfare schemes in treatment areas compared to baseline figures.

5. Conclusion

DAY-NRLM has been transformative in improving the socio-economic status of rural women and communities. By focusing on social mobilization, financial inclusion, livelihood promotion, and social development, it has empowered millions of rural women, reduced poverty, and contributed to inclusive growth across India. The program’s success lies in its community-driven approach, capacity building, and women-centric initiatives that aim to create a sustainable and resilient rural economy.

Table: Snapshot of the progress under DAY-NRLM:

S.No.	Indicator	Progress from FY 2011-12 to FY 2013-14	Progress from FY 2014-15 to 2024-25 up to Nov. 2024,	Cumulative Achievement as on Nov. 2024
	No. of women mobilized into SHGs (in Crore)	2.37	7.68	10.05
	No. of SHGs promoted (in lakh)	21.31	69.56	90.87
	Amount of Loan Disbursed* (Rs. Crore)	22,944.16	9,48,055.84	9,71,000
	Amount of Capitalization Support (Revolving Fund + Community Investment Fund) provided (Rs. Crore)	1,501.58	46,788.38	48,289.96
	Non-Performing Assets (NPA)	9.58 % (As on 31st March, 2014)	1.66% (As on date)
	No. of Banking Correspondents Sakhi/DigipaySakhi deployed (NRLM+NRETP)	–	1,35,127
	No. of MahilaKisans covered under Agro Ecological Practices (AEP) interventions (in Lakhs)	24.27	376.73	401
	No. of MahilaKisan having Agri-Nutri Garden (in Lakhs)	0	250
	No. of Enterprises supported under SVEP (in lakhs)	–	3.13
	No. of Lakhpatididis	–	1,15,00,274

National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP)

  Article 41 of the Constitution of India directs the State to provide public assistance to its citizens in case of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and in other cases of undeserved want within the limit of its economic capacity and development. National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) came into effect on 15^th August, 1995 in the direction of fulfilling this Directive Principles of the State Policy. The objective of NSAP is to provide basic level of financial assistance to old age, widow and disabled persons as well as to the bereaved households in the event of death of the bread-winner belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL), identified by the States/ UTs as per NSAP Guidelines.

2. The programme has undergone many changes over the years in terms of the composition, eligibility criterion and funding pattern. Currently, it comprises of five distinct schemes. Details of the eligibility criteria and amount of financial assistance provided under each of these schemes are as follows:

Scheme	Amount of Assistance	Eligibility criteria
Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme	Rs.200	BPL senior citizens in age group of 60-79 years
	Rs. 500	BPL Senior citizens of 80 years and above
Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme	Rs.300	BPL widows in age group of 40-79 years
	Rs.500	BPL widows of 80 years and above
Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme	Rs.300	BPL persons with 80% disability in age group of 18-79 years
	Rs.500	BPL disability pensioners in age group 80 years and above
National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS)*	Rs. 20,000/-	To survivor head of BPL families on the death of primary breadwinner aged 18-59 years
Annapurna*	10 kg of food grains p.m.	To BPL senior citizens not receiving old age pension

*NFBS and Annapurna are demand based schemes.

1. The States/ UTs have been requested to contribute at least an equal contribution under the three pension schemes. Presently, States/ UTs are making contributions ranging from ₹50 to ₹3,716 per month. Presently, NSAP caters to 3.09 crore BPL beneficiaries with a scheme-wise ceiling/ cap for each State/ UT on the number of beneficiaries. The scheme-wise assistance under NSAP is sanctioned up to the number of digitized beneficiaries or the State/ UT cap, whichever is lower. During 2023-24, an amount of Rs.9491.11Crore was released to States/UTs for implementation of NSAP schemes. An amount of Rs.9652.00Crore has been allocated for NSAP Scheme for FY 2024-25,out of which Rs. 6443.08crore has been released to States/ UTs upto 19.12.2024.

 Key initiatives and Achievements of the Programme

• To make NSAP more effective, transparent and result oriented, many efforts (policy reforms, increase in budgetary allocation, effective use of Information Technology, etc.) have been done. A brief description of the achievements of this program  from January 2024 to December, 2024 ( as on 19.12.2024)is given below:-

1. The physical and financial achievements in terms of number of beneficiaries covered and funds released from January to December 2024 (as on 19.12.2024) under schemes of NSAP are given below.

Year	2024-25  (January 2024 to December 2024)
Beneficiaries Covered  (In lakh)	306
Funds Released      (Rs in crore)	9266.87

• NIC, DoRD has developed a central MIS – National Social Assistance Programme- Pension Payment System (NSAP-PPS) which facilitates end to end transaction from originating point to disbursement point. It also provides the details of old age, widow and disabled beneficiaries.
• Data of beneficiaries are digitized by States/UT. Funds are released to the states on the basis of the number of digitized beneficiaries available on the NSAP portal. Over the years, with sustained efforts digitization reached to 96-97% of the total State ceiling/cap. Presently, almost 100% of the data of all potential beneficiaries has been digitized. To achieve 100% saturation under the pension schemes of the Programme, the present Govt. took the following two decisions:
  • In November 2021, States/ UTs were given flexibility to re-allocate beneficiaries under the three pension schemes within the overall ceiling/cap of the respective States/UTs. As a result 2.82 lakh more beneficiaries got the benefit of pension scheme.
    • • In September, 2022, State ceiling cap was revised up to the actual number of digitized beneficiaries in respect of the States/UTs which have digitization equal to or less than their ceiling in all the three pension schemes and the excess number of beneficiaries of these States/ UTs consequent to this revision has been re-allocated to States/ UTs that have digitization equal to or higher than their ceiling/ cap in all the three pension schemes on a pro-rata basis.
• • At present, 18 States/ UTs are using NSAP-PPS for end-to-end disbursement and 14 other States are reporting the transactional data on NSAP-PPS through web service.
  • Efforts are going on to on-board 4 more States/ UTs, namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and UTs of Chandigarh, Dadra Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu.
  • NSAP-PPS also facilitates States/UTs to capture Aadhaar and SECC TIN numbers of NSAP beneficiaries. At present, status of seeding of Aadhaar and SECC TIN of registered pensioners of NSAP is about 86.94%and 28.83%respectively.
  • To foster transparency and swiftness in transactions, NSAP pension schemes were included under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes in December 2014. At present, almost all States/UTs are DBT compliant except Andhra Pradesh and Nagaland. All States/UTs have already been advised to adopt monthly system of pension payment. 9.87 crore digital transactions have been recorded till 24.12.2024.
  • To promote the use of technology, a citizen centric mobile app ‘Sambal’ has been developed to provide information to beneficiaries about (i) NSAP schemes along with state top-ups (ii) enrollment of new applicants, tracking of applications and status of sanctions and disbursements.
  • Guidelines of Social Audit 2023 has been released in 2024 for conducting Social Audit for the schemes of NSAP and States/ UTs have been advised to use the 1/6th part of the administrative funds allocated under NSAP schemes for conducting social audits for NSAP.
  • States/ UTs were informed that the NIC Headquarters has developed an Aadhaar based Digital Life Certificate (DLC) mobile application for the purpose of life certification of NSAP beneficiaries. Pilot field testing of the application was successfully held in Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand during July-August, 2024.

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