Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana

Ever since the inception of India as a free country, the government has aimed to bridge the gap that exists between the villages of India and the cities of India. The employment sector is one of the main frontiers where the India Government has stressed its work to bridge this gap. The drastically varied employment rates in the cities compared to the villages is a shocking statement of the discrepancies between the two tiers of the country.

Therefore, the government has undertaken various schemes to provide more employment to those who do not have many resources in the rural side of the country. The rural side faces various issues and a lack of resources, like hidden unemployment, hindered education, crime rates, etc. All these issues can couple together to form a formidable wall that a youngster has to conquer in order to secure a future for themselves. One scheme that is helping the rural population get proper employment is the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana or SGRY.

What is SGRY?

Before the Indian government introduced the SGRY, the rural population depended on two employment schemes, the Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) and the Jawahar Samridhi Yojana (JGSY). But in September 2001, the government decided to merge these two schemes into one, thus forming the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana or SGRY.

SGRY was developed keeping in mind the monetary needs of rural India and the nutritional needs of rural India. It is an accepted theory that with reduced employment, the living standards also decrease. Hence, the SGRY is a two-pronged approach that provides individuals with both monetary and nutritional values. Under the SGRY scheme, the government is involved in providing wages and food grains to all the individuals below the poverty line.

The SGRY came into being with one primary objective: to provide a supplement to the existing wage earners in rural sectors and provide additional employment to individuals who are not regular wage workers. SGRY also focuses on improving food security in the rural sectors as well as the nutritional values of the sector.

The SGRY scheme currently operates under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and has been merged with it since 2006.

Features of SGRY

When implemented across the country, any scheme has to incorporate both the central and state government plans. The SGRY is a central government scheme that works as a centrally sponsored scheme with a cost splitting model with the state government.

The central government sponsors 75 percent of the cost of implementing the scheme, while the state government sponsors 25 percent of the implementation cost. In certain special cases like Union Territories, the central government sponsors the entire implementation cost of the scheme.

In order to implement the SGRY, the state government appoints Panchayat raj institutions. These institutions are created in every village in the rural sector to promote employment and provide a path for central and state aid to reach the individuals that require it. All three tiers of the Panchayat Raj, the district panchayat, the intermediate panchayat, and the village panchayat have food grains and funds available to distribute to the needy individuals.

Wages and Safeguards

Wages under the SGRY are paid in two parts. The SGRY focuses on not just monetary funds but also on providing nutritional growth to the rural sector. Hence, all the workers under the SGRY are paid partly in cash and partly in food grains. This ensures that the rural sector’s fiscal and living conditions increase.

25 percent of all the worker’s wages will be paid in cash, and the remaining is usually paid in food grains. A minimum of 5 kgs of food grains is always provided to a worker along with the remainder of their wages. The central government provides the food grains to the different state governments at no cost for distribution under the scheme.

There are certain safeguards also in place with regards to the SGRY scheme. These provide ample opportunities to the below poverty line households that fall in the SC/ST groups and other weaker sections of the society. 30 percent of all the work provided under the SGRY is also reserved for women workers. The total allotment for special groups in cash and food grains is 22.5 percent of the annual allocation given to the states by the central government.

Conclusion

The SGRY has been introduced to help alleviate the below-par living conditions in the rural sectors of India. It also focuses on bridging the gap between societies by providing ample employment opportunities to all suitable individuals. With the safeguards, the SGRY also ensures that no society or group is left bereft of the benefits of the SGRY. 

The central government sponsors the scheme to allow more citizens to benefit from it since a state government scheme would not be able to scale itself properly. The SGRY also ensures that the women in the rural sector are also provided chances to change their lives for the better.

In order to implement the SGRY, the state government appoints Panchayat raj institutions. These institutions are created in every village in the rural sector to promote employment and provide a path for central and state aid to reach the individuals that require it.