Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) aims for integrated development of selected villages having more than 50% Scheduled Caste (SC) population through implementation of existing scheme of Central and State Governments in a convergent manner and by utilization of gap filling funds provided as Central Assistance. The scheme was launched in 2009-10 on a pilot basis, for the integrated development of 1000 villages in 5 States viz. Himachal Pradesh (Northern Region), Bihar (Eastern Region), Rajasthan (Western Region), Tamil Nadu (Southern Region) and Assam (North-Eastern Region) and further extended in 2015 to another 1500 villages in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana. Works and programmes taken up under PMAGY in the identified States include inter alia, construction of village roads, community halls/meeting places, community toilets, drainage works, installation of hand pumps, solar powered street lights, drinking water scheme etc.
As per scheme, details for a village to be declared as Adarsh village a minimum of three of the targets listed below have to be achieved by the end of the third year of implementation of PMAGY:-
· As far as possible, elimination of poverty, but reduction in its incidence by at least 50% within three years.
· Universal adult literacy
· 100% enrolment and retention of children at the elementary stage (I-VIII).
· Reduction of infant mortality rate (per thousand live births) to 30 and maternal mortality rate (per lakh) to 100, by 2012.
· Village should fulfill the Nirmal Gram Puraskar norms of the Deptt. Of Drinking Water Supply, M/o Rural Development, ie, these villages should be 100 % open defecation free
· Access to safe drinking water facility to all villagers on a sustainable basis.
· 100% institutional deliveries for pregnant women
· Full immunisation of children
· Achieving all weather road connectivity to the village
· 100% registration of deaths and births in the village
· No child marriages, and child labour
· No public consumption of liquor and other intoxicating substances
· 100% allotment of Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana (PMGAY) houses to all eligible families
