Budget: Higher budgetary allocations have been made for rural road and water sectors

While renewing its commitment to providing wage and self-employment opportunity in rural areas, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the wage employment would be provided under MGNREGA through works that are more productive, asset creating and substantially linked to agriculture and allied activities.

Ajeevika, the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), aims to eliminate rural poverty through sustainable livelihood options.

Under this Mission, Women SHGs are provided bank loans at 4 percent on prompt repayment in 150 districts and at 7  percent in all other districts.

The Finance Minister said the government has decided to extend the provision of bank loan for women SHGs at 4 percent in another 100 districts.

Jaitley also proposed to set-up a “Start Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme” for encouraging rural youth to take up local entrepreneurship programs with an initial sum of Rs 100 crore.

Jaitley said to give an added impetus to watershed development in the country, a new programme called “Neeranchal” will be launched with an initial outlay of Rs 2,142 crore in the current financial year.

For providing safe drinking water, Rs 3600 crore has been earmarked under National Rural Drinking Water Programme in approximately 20,000 habitations affected with arsenic, fluoride, heavy/toxic elements, pesticides/fertilizers through community water purification plants in next 3 years, the Finance Minister added.