Parliament Question: Review of Livelihood Mission

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2817 ANSWERED ON 10/03/2026 REVIEW OF LIVELIHOOD MISSION 2817. Shri Zia Ur Rehman: Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has conducted any recent review of livelihood missions, self-help groups and rural employment programmes, if so, the details thereof; (b) the steps taken to improve transparency, timely payments and quality of rural infrastructure; and (c) whether the Government proposes additional measures to promote digital services and skill development in rural regions, if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. CHANDRA SEKHAR PEMMASANI) (a): Yes. The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has commissioned various impact evaluation studies to understand the overall impact of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) which is being implemented since 2011 in a mission mode with the objective of organizing the rural poor women into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and continuously nurturing and supporting them to take economic activities till they attain appreciable increase in income over a period of time to improve their quality of life and come out of abject poverty. The details of recent studies are given below 1. To evaluate the impact of NRLM, an evaluation study was conducted in 2024, which covered 9 states with around 23,000 respondents and 5000 SHGs across 9 states namely Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. This was the first large- scale impact evaluation study commissioned by MoRD. Key findings from the impact evaluation (2024) indicate: Page 1 of 6i. Expansion of SHG–Village Organisation (VO)–Cluster Level federations(CLF) increased household expenditure by 10.5%. ii. Programme interventions raised household income by 27%, along with higher non-food spending, asset ownership, and enterprise investment. iii. Model CLF clusters showed stronger outcomes, with 12–32% income growth and 10–17% consumption growth. iv. Women’s empowerment improved through better gender norms, wider social networks, and greater participation in decisions. v. Integrated Farming Cluster (IFC) approach enhanced income gains and strengthened market linkages. 2. The Government commissioned thematic evaluations in 2024 to assess the impact of Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) and the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), which are sub-schemes under DAY-NRLM, with the objective of examining their effectiveness in improving livelihoods and promoting rural entrepreneurship. Key findings of the evaluation includes: i. MKSP impact on sustainable agriculture reports that a majority of Mahila Kisans (79%) sustained adoption of climate-resilient practices, with collectivization emerging as a key driver (64% linked to producer collectives). The programme enhanced confidence (48%), agricultural knowledge (40%), and crop yields (52%), Kitchen gardens (63% adoption) emerged as the most preferred practice. ii. SVEP Impact on Rural Entrepreneurship: The evaluation covered 1,159 enterprises across 17 states, highlighting SVEP’s role in promoting decentralised entrepreneurship, strengthening enterprise support through CRPs-EP, and enabling income diversification and self-employment among rural households, particularly women and SHG members. (b): As per the provisions of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, beneficiaries are entitled to receive wage payments within 15 days of work completion. In order to ensure timely payment, the Government of India has issued a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to all States/UTs, which defines fixed timelines for each stage of the wage payment process from muster roll uploading to FTO approval. The Ministry, along with the States/UTs, has been making concerted efforts to improve the timely payment of wages. States/UTs have been advised to generate pay orders in time. The Ministry has taken various steps to ensure timely Page 2 of 6payment of wages to workers under (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS). These include: i. Improvement of National Electronic Fund Management System (Ne-FMS) ii. Intensive consultation with State Governments and other stakeholders for ensuring timely payment of wages, verification of pending and delay compensation claims etc. iii. Formulation of Standard Operating Procedure for monitoring of timely payment and payment of delay compensation. iv. Reviewing the status of timely payment and payment of delay compensation with the States/ UTs during periodic meetings, Performance Review Committee meetings, Mid-term Reviews etc. Further, continued efforts have been undertaken by the MoRD through various technological interventions to ensure timely payments of wages. Some of the key interventions include: i. Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT): Wages are transferred directly from the central account to workers’ bank accounts, minimising the role of intermediaries and reducing fund misappropriation. This has proven to be effective in enhancing transparency and preventing leakages. Almost 100% of the funds are managed electronically, with the wage payment made entirely through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) protocol. ii. Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS): APBS conversion is a major reform process where benefits are credited directly into the bank accounts based on the Aadhaar of the workers under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, preferably Aadhaar Based Payments, cutting several layers in the delivery process. APBS helps in better targeting, increasing the efficiency of the system and reducing the delays in payments, ensuring greater inclusion by curbing leakages thereby promoting greater accountability and transparency. iii. National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS): Real-time attendance capture through geo-tagged photographs at the worksite ensures accurate and timely recording of attendance, which helps in timely payment of wages. To strengthen rural infrastructure, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is a one-time special intervention of the Government of India to provide rural connectivity by way of a single all-weather road to eligible unconnected habitations in the core network. It was Page 3 of 6launched in the year 2000 as a measure towards alleviation of poverty in rural areas by providing access to basic services to the rural population by providing them good quality roads. PMGSY follows the established monitoring and quality protocols, which include: i. Digital Monitoring: Implementation is tracked via the Online Management, Monitoring, and Accounting System (OMMAS) for real-time data sync, supplemented by the Project Management Information System (PMIS) for PMGSY-III. ii. Operational Transparency: Mandatory GPS-enabled Vehicle Tracking Systems (VTS) are required on machinery to monitor deployment during construction. iii. Maintenance: Routine maintenance during the Defect Liability Period is processed through eMARG. Payments are regulated by Performance-Based Maintenance Contracts (PBMC), where disbursements are contingent upon the road meeting defined service levels. iv. Quality Control: A three-tier Quality Assurance Mechanism is in place for quality control, comprising PIU-level in-house quality control as the first tier, Independent State Quality Monitors (SQMs) as the second tier, and Independent National Quality Monitors (NQMs) empanelled by National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency(NRIDA) as the third tier. The MoRD is also taking the following initiatives to ensure timely completion of the houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Gramin(PMAY-G): i. Regular review of progress at the level of the Ministry. ii. Launch of PMAY-G Dashboard for monitoring and supervision of the scheme. iii. Timely allocation of targets to the States/UTs and release of adequate funds. iv. Regular follow-ups with the State to ensure release of the central and state share of funds and provision of land to landless beneficiaries in rural areas. v. Awards to the best performing States/UTs, Districts based on performance index dashboard, thereby creating healthy competition and motivation among the States/UTs for achieving the set targets. The PMAY-G guidelines provide that the States/UTs shall sensitise the selected beneficiaries, preferably at the block level, at the earliest possible date fixed by the State Government on different aspects of housing. This includes the quantum of assistance, stage-wise instalments thereof, Page 4 of 6different options of the available house type designs suitable to their area, the disaster resilient features, green housing designs, materials, technologies and elements (e.g. rainwater harvesting), cooking area, sanitation, water storage, etc. that need to be incorporated for houses in their locality. The beneficiaries are also sensitised on the need to take up construction of the core house initially, the approximate requirement of material for construction of each stage, the availability of the skilled mason / trained rural mason along with their contact details, source for procurement of the material at reasonable rates, sanitation of surrounding areas, etc. (c): For skill development in rural regions, the project “UNNATI” intends to upgrade the skill base of the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA workers, and thereby improve their livelihoods, so that they can move from partial employment to full employment. This project was launched in December 2019 and rolled out in April 2020, but its progress was impacted by COVID-19. The total achievement till 31st March 2025 is 90,894 candidates. The project has been further extended till 31st March 2026 with changes in the Guidelines framework. Under PMAY-G, Rural Mason Training (RMT) is a key initiative aimed at ensuring quality construction and supporting sustainable livelihoods in rural areas. The programme focuses on developing a pool of skilled and certified masons capable of constructing disaster- resilient, durable, and cost-effective pucca houses using locally available materials and appropriate technologies. These trained masons contribute significantly to improved construction quality, faster completion, and adherence to design and safety standards. So far, 3.81 lakh candidates have been enrolled, 3.48 lakh have been assessed, and 3.08 lakh individuals have been certified as trained rural masons under PMAY-G. These trainees have undergone structured on-site training modules, with certification conducted by the Construction Skill Development Council of India (CSDCI). This systematic and practical training approach ensures that masons develop the hands-on skills required for high-quality, safe, and durable housing construction in rural areas Also, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has taken several measures to promote digital services and skill development in rural areas which are as follows: i. DigiLocker: DigiLocker has provided anytime access to authentic digital documents from original issuer for the common citizen. More than 67.17+ crore users are registered Page 5 of 6with DigiLocker to avail its services, and more than 967.01+ crore documents have been issued from 2456 issuers onboarded on the platform. ii. Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG), one mobile application for all government services. is operational and offers 2446+ services for individuals. iii. National Scholarship Portal (NSP): The platform enables scheme-owning Ministries/Departments and States/UTs to process applications and disburse Scholarships/funds directly into the beneficiary's bank account through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. The National Scholarship Portal (NSP) serves over 7.47 Crore beneficiaries, with a total disbursement exceeding Rs. 44,181+ Crore. So far, 153 schemes belonging to 13 Ministries/Departments and 21 States/UTs are onboarded on NSP. iv. MyGov: MyGov is a Government of India's Citizen Engagement Platform which collaborates with multiple Government bodies/ Ministries to engage people in policy formulation and seeks the opinion of people on issues/ topics of public interest and welfare. Presently, over 6.11+ crore citizens are registered with MyGov. participating in various activities hosted on MyGov platform. v. Common Services Centres (CSCs): CSCs are offering government and business services in digital mode enhancing last mile connectivity in rural areas through Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs). Over 800 services are being delivered through CSCs. As of January 2026, 5.54 lakh CSCs are functional across the country (in rural and urban areas), out of which 4.32 lakh CSCs are functional at the Gram Panchayat level (rural). vi. The Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA): PMGDISHA was initiated to reach digital literacy in 6 crore rural households (one person per household) nationwide. As against 6 crore, 6.39 crore individuals were trained across the country. The Scheme was implemented by CSC e- Governance Services India Limited through 4.39 Lakh Common Service Centres spread across 2.52 Lakh Gram Panchayats in the country. ***** Page 6 of 6