Know about Rurban Mission

 

 

Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has urged the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) to draw inspiration from Mukherji’s life and bring in development based on his vision of reducing the rural-urban divide.

Tomar said that migration from rural to urban areas would reduce if we provide employment, education and basic amenities in these clusters. He laid emphasis on skill development linked with market linkage, and insisted on developing theme-based clusters, which would encourage entrepreneurial skills and buying power of the clusters.

What are Rurban clusters?

 

Large parts of India’s rural areas are not standalone settlements, but part of a cluster of settlements, which are relatively proximate to each other. These clusters typically illustrate potential for growth, have economic drivers and derive locational and competitive advantages, making a case for concerted policy directives for such clusters. Once developed, these clusters can be classified as ‘Rurban’. Taking cognisance of this, the Union government proposed the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission for developing such rural areas by provisioning of economic, social and physical infrastructure facilities.

Rurban areas refer to a cluster of 15-20 villages having about 30-40 lakh population. A Rurban cluster would be a cluster of geographically contiguous villages with a population of about 25,000 to 50,000 in plain and coastal areas and with a population of 5,000 to 15,000 in desert, hilly or tribal areas.

* SPMRM was launched on February 21, 2016, with an outlay of Rs 5,142 crore.

* The mission has an objective for comprehensive development of 300 clusters, out of which Integrated Cluster Action Plans for 279 clusters have been approved.

* The total investment in these 279 clusters is estimated at Rs 26,258 crore, of which Rs 5,150 crore has already been spent. The SPMRM will provide an additional funding support of up to 30 per cent of the project cost per cluster as critical gap funding as central share to enable the development of such clusters.

* State governments identify the clusters in accordance with the framework for implementation prepared by the Ministry of Rural Development.

* Basic amenities in a cluster typically comprise of provision of 24x7 water supply to all households, waste management facilities, provision of village roads, adequate street lights and public transport facilities using green technologies.

* Economic amenities in a cluster comprise various thematic areas in the sectors of agri services and processing, tourism and skill development to promote small- and medium-scale enterprises.

How is SPMRM linked to PURA?

 

A predecessor to SPMRM was the Provision of Urban Amenities to Rural Areas (PURA). Announced in 2003, it aimed at providing urban amenities and livelihood opportunities in rural areas to bridge the rural-urban divide, thereby reducing migration from rural to urban areas.

PURA was championed by the then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

PURA was for holistic and accelerated development of compact areas around a potential growth centre in a panchayat (or group of panchayats) through public-private partnership by providing livelihood opportunities and urban amenities to improve the quality of life in rural areas. It included…

* Simultaneous delivery of different schemes

* Deployment of funds for operations and maintenance of assets along with capital investment for creation of assets

* Synergy in operations of schemes - leading to optimal use of resources

* Standards for service delivery in rural areas at par to those set for urban areas