Adarsh Gram Yojana: The Scheme That Changed Its Name, Not Its Mission

A scheme called the “Adarsh Gram Yojana” hasn’t officially existed by that name since 2021. It was folded into a larger scheme with a different name years ago. Yet more than 47 lakh people have benefited from it, most of them since that rename.

Adarsh Gram Component: The Numbers

Polity0216

As of the latest PM-AJAY progress update

47.59L

citizens benefited

16,759

villages declared Adarsh Grams

46,782+

development works completed

24,133

Village Development Plans prepared

Same mission, new name: what these numbers measure was called the “Adarsh Gram Yojana” until 2021. It now runs as one component inside a larger scheme, PM-AJAY.

⇩ Download as image

📑 Contents

1Timeline
2Must Know
3Good to Know
4Test Yourself
5Great to Know
6Current Affairs

Timeline

Union Budget 2009-10: The Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) is announced, for SC-majority villages.
23 July 2010: PMAGY is formally launched, in Sri Ganganagar district, Rajasthan.
2014-15: PMAGY is expanded to cover 1,500 more villages, across 11 additional states.
FY 2021-22: PMAGY is merged into a new umbrella scheme, PM-AJAY, along with two other schemes. It becomes PM-AJAY’s “Adarsh Gram Development” component.
March 2025: More than 11,000 villages have been declared Adarsh Grams, since the merger.
17 July 2026: The Ministry reports 16,759 villages declared, and 47.59 lakh citizens benefited, under the component.

Must Know

The Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) was announced in the Union Budget 2009-10. It was formally launched on 23 July 2010, in Sri Ganganagar district, Rajasthan.
Its aim was to build “model villages,” in villages with a Scheduled Caste population above 50%. It worked by filling infrastructure and service gaps that other schemes didn’t cover.
In FY 2021-22, PMAGY stopped existing as a standalone scheme. It was merged into a new umbrella scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY).
PM-AJAY merged three older schemes together. Besides PMAGY, these were the Special Central Assistance to Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCA to SCSP), and the Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana (BJRCY). BJRCY was a hostel-construction scheme.
What was PMAGY is now called the “Adarsh Gram Development” component of PM-AJAY. It sits alongside two other major components: Grants-in-Aid (livelihood and socio-economic projects) and Hostels (educational infrastructure).
PM-AJAY is implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. It is 100% funded by the central government, and runs across 28 States and Union Territories.
The 50%-or-more SC-population threshold still applies. It decides which villages are eligible for Adarsh Gram infrastructure grants under the current scheme.

Good to Know

Of PM-AJAY’s total funds, up to 50% goes to the Adarsh Gram component alone, for gap-filling activities in selected villages. This is by far the scheme’s single largest funding share.
A smaller share goes to the other components: up to 2% for hostel construction and repair, and up to 5% for monitoring and evaluation. The rest funds Grants-in-Aid projects, split among states by their SC population.
Each selected village gets a Village Development Plan (VDP). This maps out its specific gaps, across roughly 50 socio-economic indicators covering drinking water, sanitation, education, nutrition, and health.
Implementation runs through a PM-AJAY Portal and an AJAY Mobile App. These handle VDP preparation, project appraisal, fund tracking, and geo-tagged monitoring online.
Several North-Eastern states and Union Territories aren’t covered by PM-AJAY at all. These include Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Ladakh, and Lakshadweep, among others.

Test Yourself

Great to Know

PM-AJAY’s Adarsh Gram model targets Scheduled Caste-majority villages specifically. This is a useful contrast with a similarly-structured scheme for tribal-majority villages. See Polity0171 — Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DAJGUA).
The 2021-22 merger is a common pattern in Indian welfare administration. Several older, narrowly-targeted schemes often get folded into one broader “umbrella” scheme, without the underlying work actually stopping.
“Adarsh Gram Yojana” and “PM-AJAY” aren’t two different schemes. One is simply the older name for a component that still exists, inside a scheme that replaced it administratively in 2021-22.
The scale gap is worth noting. Only about 44,000 villages nationwide meet the 50%-SC-population threshold at all. Yet PM-AJAY had already selected nearly 30,000 of them for the Adarsh Gram component by 2025-26.

Current Affairs

On 16 August 2026, a PIB feature highlighted Ruby Devi, a Scheduled Caste woman from Hajipur, Vaishali, Bihar, widowed in 2016. She used Sustainable Livelihood Scheme (SJY) support to build a grocery business, and received ₹17,000 under PM-AJAY to expand it further. Her monthly income grew from ₹2,000-3,000 to ₹15,000-20,000, and her total assets are now valued at approximately ₹1,45,640. (Source: PIB)
3 August 2026: MoS Ramdas Athawale gave the Rajya Sabha updated Adarsh Gram Component figures, including a first Telangana-specific breakdown.
- 47,328 villages have been selected nationwide, including 435 in Telangana. (Source: PIB)
- Nationwide, the scheme has identified 3,28,131 development works and 1,10,51,213 beneficiaries for coverage.
- In Telangana, 3,529 education-sector beneficiaries have been identified. Of these, 472 have already received benefits.
- States and UTs must now verify self-declared Adarsh Gram villages, with third-party validation underway.
On 17 July 2026, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment shared new progress figures. 47,59,399 citizens have benefited through the Adarsh Gram component so far. (Source: PIB)
A total of 16,759 villages have been declared Adarsh Grams, out of 47,316 villages covered under the component. (Source: PIB)
More than 46,782 development works have been completed, and 24,133 Village Development Plans prepared, across the country. (Source: PIB)
The Ministry also allocated ₹22.50 crore for three new hostel projects, two of them for girls, adding accommodation for 750 students. (Source: PIB)
Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Dr. Virendra Kumar said PM-AJAY addresses socio-economic disparities through focused, technology-enabled interventions, and community participation. (Source: PIB)