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The Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana was launched last week, for the development of model villages.  Under the Yojana, Members of Parliament (MPs) will be responsible for developing the socio-economic and physical infrastructure of three villages each by 2019, and a total of eight villages each by 2024.

The first Adarsh Gram must be developed by 2016, and two more by 2019.  From 2019 to 2024, five more Adarsh Grams must be developed by each MP, one each year.  This implies that a total of 6,433 Adarsh Grams, of the 2,65,000 gram panchayats, will be created by 2024. Key features of the Yojana are outlined below.

Objectives

Key objectives of the Yojana include:

  1. The development of model villages, called Adarsh Grams, through the implementation of existing schemes, and certain new initiatives to be designed for the local context, which may vary from village to village.
  2. Creating models of local development which can be replicated in other villages.

Identification of villages

MPs can select any gram panchayat, other than their own village or that of their spouse, to be developed as an Adarsh Gram.  The village must have a population of 3000-5000 people if it is located in the plains, or 1000-3000 people if located in hilly areas.

Lok Sabha MPs can choose a village from their constituency, and Rajya Sabha MPs from the state from which they are elected.  Nominated members can choose a village from any district of the country.  MPs which represent urban constituencies can identify a village from a neighbouring rural constituency.

Funding

No new funds have been allocated for the Yojana.  Resources may be raised through:

  1. Funds from existing schemes, such as the Indira Awas Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and Backward Regions Grant Fund, etc.,
  2. The Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS),
  3. The gram panchayat’s own revenue,
  4. Central and State Finance Commission Grants, and
  5. Corporate Social Responsibility funds.

Implementation

A Village Development Plan must be created for each Adarsh Gram.  While each village will develop a list of activities to be carried out, based on its own resources and requirements, possible activities have been listed in the guidelines for the scheme.  For example, Adarsh Grams can work towards providing universal access to basic healthcare facilities, promoting diversified livelihoods through agriculture related livelihoods and skill development, providing pension for all eligible families, housing for all, and promoting social forestry.

The table below outlines key functionaries at the national, state, district, and village level and their responsibilities.

Table 1: Roles and responsibilities of key functionaries

Level Functionary Key roles and responsibilities
National Member of Parliament
  • Identify the Adarsh Gram
  • Facilitate the planning process
  • Mobilise additional funds
  • Monitor the scheme
  Two committees, headed by the Minister of Rural Development, and Secretary, Rural Development, respectively.*
  • Monitor the process of identification and planning
  • Review the implementation of the scheme
  • Identify bottlenecks in the scheme
  • Issue operational guidelines
  • Indicate specific resource support which each Ministry can provide
State A committee headed by the Chief Secretary
  • Supplement central guidelines for the scheme
  • Review Village Development Plans
  • Review implementation
  • Outline monitoring mechanisms
  • Design a grievance redressal mechanism for the scheme
District District Collector
  • Conduct the baseline survey
  • Facilitate the preparation of the Village Development Plan
  • Converge relevant schemes
  • Ensure grievance redressal
  • Monthly progress review of the scheme
Village Gram Panchayat and functionaries of schemes (at various levels)
  • Implement of the scheme
  • Identify common needs of the village
  • Leverage resources from various programmes
  • Ensure participation in the scheme

Note: *These committees will include members from other Ministries.

Sources: Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana Guidelines, Ministry of Rural Development; PRS

Monitoring

A web based monitoring system will be established to enable the MP and other stakeholders to monitor the scheme.  Outputs relating to physical and financial targets will be measured each quarter.  A mid-term evaluation and post-project evaluation will be conducted through an independent agency.

More information on the scheme is available in the guidelines for the scheme, here.

Yesterday, Parliament passed a Bill to increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court from 30 to 33 (excluding the Chief Justice of India).  The Bill was introduced in view of increasing pendency of cases in the Supreme Court.  In 2012, the Supreme Court approved the Scheme of National Court Management System to provide a framework for case management.  The scheme estimated that with an increase in literacy, per capita income, and population, the number of new cases filed each year may go up to 15 crore over the next three decades, which will require at least 75,000 judges.  In this blog, we analyse the pendency of cases at all three levels of courts, i.e. the Supreme Court, the Highs Courts, and the subordinate courts, and discuss the capacity of these courts to dispose of cases.

Pendency in courts has increased over the years; 87% of all pending cases are in subordinate courts

Sources:  Court News, 2006, Supreme Court of India; National Data Judicial Grid accessed on August 7, 2019; PRS.

Overall, the pendency of cases has increased significantly at every level of the judicial hierarchy in the last decade.  Between 2006 and now, there has been an overall increase of 22% (64 lakh cases) in the pendency of cases across all courts.  As of August 2019, there are over 3.5 crore cases pending across the Supreme Court, the High Courts, and the subordinate courts.  Of these, subordinate courts account for over 87.3% pendency of cases, followed by 12.5% pendency before the 24 High Courts.  The remaining 0.2% of cases are pending with the Supreme Court.  The primary reason for growing pendency of cases is that the number of new cases filed every year has outpaced the number of disposed of cases.  This has resulted in a growing backlog of cases.

In High Courts and subordinate courts, over 32 lakh cases pending for over 10 years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:  National Data Judicial Grid accessed on August 7, 2019; Court News, 2006-17, Supreme Court of India; PRS.

In the High Courts, over 8.3 lakh cases have been pending for over 10 years.  This constitutes 19% of all pending High Court cases.  Similarly, in the subordinate courts, over 24 lakh cases (8%) have been pending for over 10 years.  Overall, Allahabad High Court had the highest pendency, with over seven lakh cases pending as of 2017.

Despite high pendency, some High Courts have managed to reduce their backlog.  Between 2006 and 2017, pendency of cases reduced the most in Madras High Court at a rate of 26%, followed by Bombay High Court at 24%.  Conversely, during the same period, the pendency of cases doubled in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, and increased by 2.5 times in Karnataka High Court.

As a result of pendency, number of under-trials in prison is more than double that of convicts

Sources:  Prison Statistics in India, 2015, National Crime Record Bureau; PRS.

Over the years, as a result of growing pendency of cases for long periods, the number of undertrials (accused awaiting trial) in prisons has increased.  Prisons are running at an over-capacity of 114%.  As of 2015, there were over four lakh prisoners in jails.  Of these, two-thirds were undertrials (2.8 lakh) and the remaining one-third were convicts. 

The highest proportion of undertrials (where the number of inmates was at least over 1,000) were in J&K (85%), followed by Bihar (82%).  A total of 3,599 undertrials were detained in jails for more than five years.  Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of such undertrials (1,364) followed by West Bengal (294). 

One interesting factor to note is that more criminal cases are filed in subordinate courts than in High Courts and Supreme Court.  Of the cases pending in the subordinate courts (which constitute 87% of all pending cases), 70% of cases were related to criminal matters.  This increase in the pendency of cases for long periods over the years may have directly resulted in an increase in the number of undertrials in prisons.  In a statement last year, the Chief Justice of India commented that the accused in criminal cases are getting heard after serving out their sentence.

Vacancies in High Courts and Subordinate Courts affect the disposal of cases

Sources:  Court News, 2006-17, Supreme Court of India; PRS.

Vacancy of judges across courts in India has affected the functioning of the judiciary, particularly in relation to the disposal of cases.  Between 2006 and 2017, the number of vacancies in the High Courts has increased from 16% to 37%, and in the subordinate courts from 19% to 25%.  As of 2017, High Courts have 403 vacancies against a sanctioned strength of 1,079 judges, and subordinate courts have 5,676 vacancies against a sanctioned strength of 22,704 judges.  As of 2017, among the major High Courts (with sanctioned strength over 10 judges), the highest proportion of vacancies was in Karnataka High Court at 60% (37 vacancies), followed by Calcutta High Court at 54% (39 vacancies).  Similarly, in major subordinate courts (with sanctioned strength over 100 judges), the highest proportion of vacancies was in Bihar High Court at 46% (835 vacancies), followed by Uttar Pradesh High Court at 42% (1,348 vacancies).