Mission Antyodaya Survey 2022-23, which was launched last month is likely to be completed by April 15, 2023.

The Department of Rural Development has been conducting the Mission Antyodaya Survey across all Gram Panchayats in the country since 2017-18 to measure the outcomes through convergence of various schemes.

What is Mission Antyodaya?

• In India, 8.88 crore households are found to be deprived as per Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) of 2011 from the perspective of multi-dimensional deprivations. These households require targeted interventions under the government’s various schemes and programmes in areas such as wage employment, skill development, social security, education, health, nutrition and livelihood creation. 

• Already, financial resources to the tune of about Rs 4 lakh crore are allocated annually to impact the lives of rural poor by various ministries in schemes spanning rural wages, rural roads, skill development, health, education, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, environment, etc. 

• In this context, Mission Antyodaya seeks to converge interventions with Gram Panchayats as the basic unit for planning by following a saturation approach by pooling resources — human and financial — to ensure sustainable livelihoods. 

• Mission Antyodaya is a convergence and accountability framework aiming to bring optimum use and management of resources allocated by 27 ministries/departments of the government of India under various programmes for the development of rural areas.

• It is envisaged as a state-led initiative with Gram Panchayats as focal points of convergence efforts.

• It is a state-led framework for rapid rural transformation to bring households out of poverty through diversification and development of multiple livelihoods.

• The Mission will ensure effective utilisation of resources through convergence of various government schemes with a focused micro plan for sustainable livelihood for each marginalised household.

Mission Antyodaya Survey

• An annual survey in Gram Panchayats across the country is an important aspect of Mission Antyodaya framework.

• It is carried out coterminous with the People’s Plan Campaign (PPC) of Ministry of Panchayat Raj and its purpose is to lend support to the process of participatory planning for Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP).

• It is very useful for preparation of GPDP as the gap analysis tool in 2,69,253 Gram Pranchayats and equivalents. 

• The primary objective is to survey and collect village infrastructure and services data for more than 6.5 lakh villages in the country. 

• The preparation of GPDPs is a comprehensive exercise that uses both primary and secondary data for preparing final plan document for any Gram Panchayat. 

• It presents secondary data to carry out gap analysis and the data serves as a key input in the preparation of development plans at Gram Panchayat, block and district levels.

• Being a convergence framework, no funds have been allotted for Mission Antyodaya Survey. The survey is being conducted with the funds available with the states/UTs under the administrative head of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). 

• The survey encourages addressing all identified deprivations in a time-bound manner through intensifying coverage of government schemes to address individual, household and community-level deprivations in saturation mode.

• It also aims to lend support to the process of participatory planning for Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) which will improve service delivery, create space for an alliance of people’s institutions and groups and improve governance at the local level.

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