Information and communication technology will play a major role in prime minister Narendra Modi’s rural development programme – saansad adarsh gram yojana (SAGY). Under the programme members of parliament (MPs) will now be able to adopt one village that will be developed into a model village.
The scheme , which is aimed at driving all-round development of villages through a participative approach will leverage space applications and remote sensing for planning and monitoring of rural programmes. Village assets will also be mapped using GIS.

Under the scheme, mobile technology will be used for geo-tagging for programmes monitoring. At the national level,  a separate, real time web-based monitoring system will be put in place that will allow MPs and key stakeholders to review the project. The government also plans to use information technology for driving universal access to education and healthcare, including setting up of village level e-library as part of the scheme.

Livelihood-related technologies and innovations will also play a key role in the SAGY rollout. These could be sourced from the National Innovation Foundation and the bank of ideas and innovations set up by the rural development ministry through the state rural livelihood missions, a guideline issued by the ministry said.

The scheme also talks about using agriculture-related technologies and innovations to improve productivity and add value. SAGY would also include development of appropriate building construction technologies, using expert organisations which work with local material and local designs.

“The rural development ministries and Rural Housing Knowledge Network of IIT Delhi would provide the necessary back-up,” the guideline said.
The ministry of drinking water and sanitation would provide cost-efficient and innovative technologies, while the rural development ministry would be responsible for a compendium of relevant technologies and innovations, and its dissemination.

Launching SAGY on October 10, prime minister Narendra Modi pointed out that development in India was often supply-oriented. The saansad adarsh gram yojana will, however, have three distinct features – it would be demand-driven, inspired by society, and will be based on people’s participation. The prime minister has appealed all MPs to rise above political lines and quickly select villages that could be developed into model ones based on a demand-driven model.