New Delhi, Aug 3 — The Centre has selected 47,328 villages across the country, including 435 in Telangana, under the Adarsh Gram component of the Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana, with 46,642 development works already completed, the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Sunday.

Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale shared the details in a written reply. He said the scheme is being implemented to promote the socio-economic development of Scheduled Caste communities through the integrated development of villages under its Adarsh Gram component.

The Adarsh Gram component aims to achieve saturation of 50 monitorable socio-economic indicators across 10 sectors, including education, through the integrated development of selected villages. A need-assessment survey is conducted to establish the baseline status of these indicators. Identified gaps are then addressed through convergence with Central and State government schemes or through interventions supported under PM-AJAY.

Progress made by the states is regularly updated on the PMAGY Portal.

Across the country, 3,28,131 development works and 1,10,51,213 beneficiaries have been identified under the scheme. Of these, 46,642 development works have been completed, benefiting 47,59,399 people so far.

With regard to Telangana, the minister informed the House that under the education sector, 3,529 beneficiaries have been identified, of whom 472 have already received benefits.

Responding to a query on third-party audits, Athawale said States and Union Territories have been directed to verify the self-declaration of Adarsh Gram under the PM-AJAY Adarsh Gram component.

The figures reflect steady progress in the scheme’s effort to improve socio-economic indicators in selected villages through a combination of convergence and targeted interventions.