National Missions
The National Rurban Mission (NRuM) was launched in February, 2016, to be implemented by Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India. NRuM aims to develop rural areas by provisioning of economic, social and physical infrastructure i.e. stimulating local economic development, enhancing basic services, and creating well planned ‘Rurban clusters’. A ‘Rurban cluster’, would be a cluster of geographically contiguous villages with a population of about 25000 to 50000 in plain and coastal areas and with a population of 5000 to 15000 in desert, hilly or tribal areas. As far as practicable, clusters of villages would follow administrative convergence units of Gram Panchayats and be within a single block/tehsil for administrative convenience. The objectives of the Mission are:
(i) Bridging the rural-urban divide viz: economic, technological and those related to facilities and services
(ii) Stimulating local economic development with emphasis on reduction of poverty and unemployment in rural areas
(iii) Spreading development in the region and
(iv) Attracting investment in rural areas.
It follows the vision of "Development of a cluster of villages that preserve and nurture the essence of rural community life with focus on equity and inclusiveness without compromising with the facilities perceived to be essentially urban in nature, thus creating a cluster of Rurban Villages". The following components are envisaged as desirable in each cluster:
(i) Skill development training linked to economic activities
(ii) Agro Processing, Agri Services, Storage and Warehousing
(iii) Fully equipped mobile health unit
(iv) Upgrading school/higher education facilities
(v) Sanitation
(vi) Provision of piped water supply
(vii) Solid and liquid waste management
(viii) Village streets and drains
(ix) Street lights
(x) Inter-village road connectivity
(xi) Public transport
(xii) LPG gas connections
(xiii) Digital literacy
(xiv) Citizen Service Centres (CSC) - for electronic delivery of citizen centric services/e-gram connectivity. Components pertaining to agriculture and allied activities would be given special emphasis while developing these clusters.
The States have also been proposed as anchors and key implementers under NRuM. The framework envisages the engagement of key stakeholders at the National, State, District and Gram Panchayat level. In order to achieve the desirable outcome under NRuM, the resources shall be mobilized through convergence of various schemes of the Government, over and above which a Critical Gap Funding (CGF) would be provided under this Mission, for focused development of these clusters. The Mission aims to create 300 such 'Rurban Clusters' over the next 3 years across the country, with about 100 Rurban clusters every year. The Mission aims at the development of rural growth clusters which have latent potential for growth in all States and UTs, which would trigger overall development in the region. As the success of the scheme hinges on careful selection of the clusters, the Ministry has adopted a scientific process of cluster selection which involves an objective analysis at the District, Sub District and Village level considering the demography, economy, tourism & pilgrimage significance, transportation corridor impact etc.