Mission Samriddh Gaon: Poverty-Free, Employment-Rich Villages – Five Features, Pilot Blocks, MCQs and Facts

Context

• Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Ministry of Rural Development, launched Mission Samriddh Gaon to develop a comprehensive model for rural transformation – poverty-free, employment-rich villages with assured access to basic amenities.
• The mission’s stated aim includes ending distress migration from villages to cities by making every rural family economically secure at home.

What the Mission Is

• An integrated rural transformation and livelihood-saturation framework.
• Coordinates central and state welfare programmes to deliver comprehensive infrastructure, assured basic amenities, diversified income streams and targeted social protection directly to rural households and gram panchayats.
• Nodal ministry: Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD).
• Pilot locations: Budni block (Sehore district) and Khategaon block (Dewas district), Madhya Pradesh.

The Five Key Features

• Family-level saturation: maps eligible households and plans at the family, gram panchayat and block levels so that every family gets every scheme it is entitled to.
• Inter-departmental convergence: integrates agriculture, health, education, skilling, rural development and infrastructure.
• Integrated Farming Systems (IFS): combines horticulture, livestock, fisheries, poultry and beekeeping to diversify farm income.
• Women farmer empowerment: promotes the Lakhpati Didi model through advisory, credit and enterprise opportunities.
• Rural infrastructure and value addition: warehouses, cold chains and village-level processing to cut losses and retain value locally.

How It Differs from Earlier Programmes

• Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (2014) and Mission Antyodaya (2017) also used convergence, but Samriddh Gaon adds a family-by-family saturation plan and an explicit livelihood-diversification design with measurable income goals.
• It builds on MGNREGA, PMAY-G, DAY-NRLM self-help groups and Lakhpati Didi rather than creating a new cash scheme.

Practice MCQs

• Q1. With reference to Mission Samriddh Gaon: (a) it was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development; (b) it aims to create poverty-free, employment-rich villages with assured basic amenities; (c) it will be piloted in Budni and Khategaon blocks of Madhya Pradesh; (d) it focuses exclusively on agricultural development. How many statements are correct?
• Answer: three – (a), (b) and (c). Statement (d) is wrong: the mission is deliberately multi-sectoral, covering agriculture, employment, health, education and rural infrastructure.
• Q2. Consider: (a) an integrated framework is prepared at family, gram panchayat and block levels; (b) households are linked to central and state schemes by eligibility and need; (c) the mission emphasises convergence across agriculture, employment, health, education and infrastructure; (d) reducing distress migration is a stated aim. How many are correct?
• Answer: all four. The three-level framework – family, gram panchayat, block – is the most testable detail.

FAQs

Is Mission Samriddh Gaon a new cash-transfer scheme?

No. It is a convergence framework that delivers existing schemes to every eligible family and adds livelihood planning.

What is an integrated farming system?

A farm model that combines crops with livestock, fish, poultry, bees and horticulture so that by-products of one enterprise feed another and income comes from several sources.

Why is this asked in NABARD and RBI exams?

Rural development frameworks, convergence and Lakhpati Didi are regular ARD and ESI questions.