The Government has launched a new scheme called Pradhanmantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) for the integrated development of scheduled castes dominated villages in the country. The Finance Minister while presenting the Budget 2009-10 in the Lok Sabha today said that there are about 44,000 villages in which the population of scheduled castes is above 50%. Shri Mukherjee said that the new scheme PMAGY will be launched this year on a pilot basis in 1000 such villages. An amount of Rs.100 crore has been allocated for this Scheme, he added.
Under this Scheme, each village would be able to avail gap funding of Rs.10 lakh over and above the allocations under Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation Schemes. On successful implementation of the pilot phase, the PMAGY would be extended in coming years.