Evaluation of Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission

Migration from rural to urban areas is one of the main problems in India. To tackle this problem, the GoI introduced Rurban Mission in 2016, aiming to create 300 Rurban clusters in three phases by providing support through scheme convergence and critical gap funding to the potential regions in Rural India. This study is based on evaluating this scheme, identifying flaws at each step and exploring the scope for intervention. Thus, it helps prepare a robust regional development plan by addressing the limitations in further implementation of the scheme. As a part of the evaluation, the proceedings in cluster categorization, selection, funding and ICAP preparation were inspected and corresponding confounding factors were pointed out. A comparison between six ICAPs from Maharashtra unveiled that all clusters are not alike in needs and preferences. The spatial analysis of 296 Rurban clusters showed up a peculiar pattern in tribal clusters’ distribution extending in India’s central part. Since this pattern was similar to that of scheduled tribal districts in India, tribal clusters’ locations were overlaid with scheduled districts on the map and found that 68% of the tribal clusters were in scheduled tribal districts which is an additional advantage for tribal districts. This study brought out significant insights and suggests adopting a separate classification rather than following the age-old articles, giving more freedom to the states in cluster selection rather than promoting government schemes, considering more relevant factors than population alone and increasing the fund for tribal clusters development.