Village Poverty Reduction Plan

The Village Poverty Reduction Plan (VPRP) is a community demand plan prepared by the Self Help Group (SHG) network which can be further integrated in to the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP). 

About Gram Panchayat Development Plan

The Article 243G of the Constitution intended to empower the Gram Panchayats (GPs) by enabling the State Governments to devolve powers and authority in respect of all 29 Subjects listed in the Eleventh Schedule for local planning and implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice. In 2015, the Fourteenth Finance Commission grants were devolved to GPs that provided them with an enormous opportunity to plan for their development themselves. Since then, local bodies, across the country are expected to prepare context specific, need based Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDP).

Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) brings together both the citizens and their elected representatives in the decentralized planning processes. GPDP is expected to reflect the development issues, perceived needs and priorities of the community, including that of the marginalized sections. Apart from the demand related to basic infrastructure and services, resource development and convergence of departmental schemes, GPDP has potential to address the social issues. GPDP is conducted from 2nd October to 31st December, every year across the country, under the People’s Plan Campaign (PPC).

Since 2018, the PPC guidelines and the joint advisory issued by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Rural Development, has mandated Self Help Groups and their federations under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) to participate in the annual GPDP planning process and prepare the Village Poverty Reduction Plan (VPRP). 

What is Village Poverty Reduction Plan

VPRP is a comprehensive demand plan prepared by the Self Help Group (SHG) network and their federations for projecting their demands and local area development which needs to be integrated with the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP). The VPRP is presented in the Gram Sabha meetings from Oct. to Dec. every year.

Objectives of VPRP

Objectives of VPRP are three-fold

• Strengthen the community based organisations and their leadership for active participation in poverty reduction activities
• Prepare a comprehensive and an inclusive demand plan of the community for local development
• Facilitate an interface between the SHG federation and Panchayati Raj institutions for development of demand plan

Components of VPRP

Demands under VPRP are categorized into five major components:

• Social inclusion - plan for inclusion of vulnerable people/household into SHGs under NRLM
• Entitlement - demand for various schemes such as MGNREGS, SBM, NSAP, PMAY, Ujjwala, Ration card etc.
• Livelihoods - specific demand for enhancing livelihood through developing agriculture, animal husbandry, production and service enterprises and skilled training for placement etc.
• Public Goods and Services - demand for necessary basic infrastructure, for renovation of the existing infrastructure and for better service delivery
• Resource Development - demand for protection and development of natural resources like land, water, forest and other locally available resources
• Social Development - plans prepared for addressing specific social development issues of a village under the low cost no cost component of GPDP

How to prepare VPRP

To know the details, click here. 

Source : Kudumbashree National Resource Organization