Meeting of the Central Advisory Committee (CAC) for the PM-AJAY was held recently under the Chairmanship of Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment and Chairperson of the CAC. The meeting focused on reviewing the progress of the scheme and formulating strategies aimed at the socio-economic upliftment of Scheduled Castes (SC) communities across India.
About PM-AJAY
Objectives:
- Reduce poverty of SC communities by generation of additional employment opportunities through Skill development, income generating schemes and other initiatives
- Improve socio-economic developmental indicators in SC dominated villages by ensuring adequate infrastructure and requisite services in the SC dominated villages.
- Increase literacy and encourage enrolment of SCs in schools and higher educational institutions.
PM- AJAY is a merged scheme of 03 Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely
- Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY)
- Special Central Assistance to Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCA to SCSP)
- Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana (BJRCY)
Lauch Year: It is being implemented since 2021-22
Ministry: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
Three components:
Development of SC dominated villages into an “Adarsh Gram”
- Objective: To ensure integrated development of SC majority villages with adequate infrastructure, all requisite infrastructure necessary for socio-economic development needs.
‘Grants-in-aid’ for District/State-level Projects for socio-economic betterment of SCs
Objective: To bring socio-economic development of SCs through grants for following types of projects:
- Skill Development
- Grants for creation/acquisition of assets for beneficiaries/households
- Infrastructure development
It includes creation of infrastructure in SC dominated villages including those selected under Adarsh Gram component
- Construction of Hostels/Residential schools
- Comprehensive Livelihood Projects: It includes components such as Skill development, related infrastructure development, financial assistance towards loans taken by beneficiaries for acquisition/creation of assets required for livelihood generation etc.
Special Provisions:
- Upto 15% of the total Grants exclusively on viable income generating economic development schemes/programme for SC Women.
- Upto 30% of the total Grants utilized for infrastructure development
- Atleast 10% of the total funds for skill development
- Promote SC Women Cooperatives engaged in production and marketing of consumer goods and services.
Construction of Hostels in higher educational institutions which are top-ranked as per the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)
- Funded by the Centre/State/UT Governments either fully or partially and recommended by the Ministry of Education