Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY) - Adarsh Gram

Villages must have more than 40% Scheduled Caste population as per the latest available Census data to qualify for selection. Additionally, the total population should be ≥ 500 persons for eligibility consideration.

Newly selected villages receive ₹20,00,000/- for Gap-filling infrastructure development activities that cannot be covered through convergence with other schemes. An additional ₹1,00,000/- per village is allocated for administrative expenses including technical resource support, capacity building, awareness generation, and Management Information System maintenance.

Villages that successfully implement their Village Development Plan and complete the five-year monitoring period can receive an additional round of funding. This includes ₹9,50,000/- for Gap-filling component and ₹50,000/- for administrative expenses to support continuous development initiatives.

All activities including need assessment, data collection, gap analysis, and Village Development Plan preparation must be conducted through the centralized web portal https://pmagy.gov.in. This portal provides all necessary formats and auto-generates the comprehensive Village Development Plan.

Gap-filling funds must be utilized within 2 years from the date of release for all infrastructure development activities. However, convergent implementation continues for an additional 3 years to ensure maintenance of basic developmental milestones and stabilization of socio-economic indicators.

The Village Level Convergence Committee is headed by the Sarpanch or Pradhan of the village and must include all Scheduled Caste members of the Gram Panchayat, Anganwadi Workers, ASHA workers, and other concerned line officials. One Scheduled Caste member serves as Member Secretary.

Villages must monitor 50 socio-economic developmental monitorable indicators distributed across 10 domains including drinking water and sanitation, education, health and nutrition, social security, rural roads and housing, electricity and clean fuel, agricultural practices, financial inclusion, digitization, and livelihood and skill development.

Villages must achieve a score of 70 or above on the monitorable indicators and be declared as Open Defecation Free to qualify for Adarsh Gram declaration. Each indicator can achieve a maximum score of 2, making the total possible score 100.

State Governments and Union Territory Administrations are expected to ensure convergence of at least 3 to 4 times of Gap-filling funds from existing Central and State Schemes or matching grants to achieve comprehensive village saturation with basic infrastructure.

The Gram Sabha must undertake social audit of the scheme at least once a year to ensure greater transparency and better utilization of resources, following the same methodology required under Section 17 of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005.

The need assessment requires Format I for village level data, Format II for village level infrastructural needs, Format III-A for family and individual needs, and Format III-B for consolidation. The final Village Development Plan consists of Formats I, IV, V and VI.

The District Level Project Appraisal cum Convergence Committee headed by the District Collector is responsible for appraising Village Development Plans. This committee ensures robust planning with adequate convergence and potential for desired improvements in monitorable indicators.

Gap-filling funds cover only non-recurring infrastructure developmental requirements for community purposes that cannot be met under existing Central or State Government schemes. All other developmental activities must be implemented through convergence with relevant existing schemes.

The administrative expenses are distributed among Centre, State, District and Village in a ratio of 1:1:1:2. This covers technical resource support, training and capacity building, awareness generation, publicity, and Management Information System development and maintenance at all levels.