Ministry of Rural Development

All the District Rural Development Agencies were instructed to follow the guidelines for providing 3% reservation for persons with disabilities in the major Poverty Alleviation Programmes, which includes the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) and the Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY).

The Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act aims at enhancing the livelihood security of the people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. In the guidelines,  the "Allocation of Employment Opportunities" section states that, "If a rural  disabled person applies for work, work suitable to his/her ability and  qualifications will have to be given. This may also be in the form of services  that are identified as integral to the programme." Provisions of the Persons  with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full  Participation) Act, 1995 will be kept in view and implemented.

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Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY): The guidelines of Swarnjayanti Gram  Swarozgar Yojana stipulate that disabled persons will account for at least 3% of the total Swarozgaries.  The groups formed should ideally be disability-specific, wherever possible; however, in case, sufficient numbers of people for formation of disability-specific groups are not available, a group may comprise persons with diverse disabilities or combination of persons with disabilities and able-bodied persons below poverty line.

Financial Assistance : Assistance under the SGSY, to individual Swarozgaries or Self Help Groups, is given in the form of subsidy by the government and credit by the banks.  Subsidy under the SGSY to individuals is uniform at 30% of the Project Cost subject to a maximum of Rs. 7500/-.  In respect of SCs/STs and Persons with Disabilities, the subsidy is 50% of the Project Cost, subject to a maximum of Rs. 10,000/-.

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Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY): SGRY is applicable to all rural poor who are in need of wage employment. Preference is given to persons with disabilities.

Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY): The objective of the scheme is to provide dwelling units to the people below poverty line.  The guidelines provide for allotting house in the name of female member of household or in the joint names of husband and wife. 3% of the funds are reserved for the benefit of persons with disabilities below the poverty line in rural areas.

Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP): The Government of India has approved the introduction of a new credit linked subsidy programme called Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) by merging the two schemes namely the Prime Minister's Rojgar Yojana (PMRY) and Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP), for the generation of employment opportunities through the establishment of micro enterprises in rural as well as urban areas. PMEGP, will be a central sector scheme to be administered by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MoMSME). The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) will implement the scheme. Its objectives are: 

i. To generate employment opportunities in rural as well as urban areas of the country through the setting up of new self-employment ventures/projects/micro enterprises.
ii. To bring together widely dispersed traditional artisans/rural and urban unemployed youth and give them self-employment opportunities to the maximum extent possible, at their place.
iii. To provide continuous and sustainable employment to a large segment of traditional and prospective artisans and rural and urban unemployed youth in the country, so as to help arrest the migration of rural youth to urban areas.
iv. To increase the wage earning capacity of artisans and contribute to increasing the growth rate of rural and urban employment. The guidelines mentions inclusion of PwDs as follows, Categories of beneficiaries under PMEGP - General Category and Special including SC / ST / OBC /Minorities/Women, Ex-servicemen, Physically handicapped, NER, Hill and Border areas etc. The Institutions/Production Co-operative Societies/Trusts specifically registered as such and SC/ ST/ OBC/ Women/ Physically Handicapped/ Ex-Servicemen and Minority Institutions with necessary provisions in the bye-laws to that effect are eligible for Margin Money (subsidy) for the special categories.

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