Content
- Celebrating 25th Anniversary: Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)
- First-ever Santhali translation of the Constitution of India
Celebrating 25th Anniversary: Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)
Why is it in News?
- The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) has completed 25 years (2000–2025).
- As of Dec 2025:
- 8,25,114 km sanctioned
- 7,87,520 km completed (~95% progress)
- Phase-IV (2024–29) launched to connect 25,000 habitations via 62,500 km roads, outlay ₹70,125 crore.
- Increasing focus on quality assurance, digital monitoring, climate-resilient materials, and maintenance systems.
Relevance
GS-3 | Infrastructure, Inclusive Growth, Economy
- Rural infrastructure → farm productivity, labour mobility, logistics efficiency
- Market integration → agri-value chains, price realisation, rural industrialisation
GS-3 | Agriculture & Rural Development
- Connectivity → input access, storage & mandi linkages
- Strengthening GrAMs, SHGs, rural services ecosystem
Why Rural Roads Matter ?
- Rural roads reduce market isolation, price distortion, and transport frictions (Michael Lipton, Jeffrey Sachs).
- Evidence shows:
- 20–25% rise in agricultural incomes in newly connected villages
- 10–15% increase in farm-to-market sales
- Higher school attendance & institutional deliveries
- PMGSY became a poverty-reduction & mobility-led growth instrument, not just an infrastructure scheme.
Evolution of PMGSY — Phases & Strategic Shifts
- Phase-I (2000): Universal Basic Connectivity
- Target: connect unserved habitations
- 1,63,339 habitations sanctioned
- Phase-II (2013): Consolidation & Upgradation
- Focus on economic corridors, rural markets, service centres
- RCPLWEA (2016): Roads in LWE-Affected Districts
- Coverage: 44 high-intensity LWE districts in 9 States
- Dual objective: security + development
- Phase-III (2019): Market-Link Connectivity
- Target: 1,25,000 km through-routes & major rural links
- Status (Dec 2025):
- 1,22,393 km sanctioned
- 1,01,623 km constructed (83%)
- Phase-IV (2024–29): Last-Mile Universalisation
- 62,500 km roads | 25,000 habitations
- Priorities: NE, Himalayas, Tribal, Aspirational & Desert regions
Budgetary & Financial Snapshot
- FY 2025–26 allocation: ₹19,000 crore
- Funding model: Centre–State sharing + multilateral assistance support (ADB, WB historically)
- Shift towards maintenance-linked payments & lifecycle costing
Technology, Monitoring & Accountability Reforms
- OMMAS — Real-time project & financial monitoring
- QMS App — Geo-tagged inspection reporting
- GPS-linked Vehicle Tracking (since 2022) — Prevents idle deployment
- e-MARG — Performance-linked maintenance payments (5-yr DLP)
- Three-tier Quality Monitoring:
- Tier-1: Implementing agencies
- Tier-2: State Quality Monitors
- Tier-3: National surprise audits
Innovation, Sustainability & Climate Resilience
- Use of eco-materials (as per IRC standards):
- fly ash, slag, C&D waste, plastic waste, crumb rubber, bio-bitumen, geosynthetics
- 1.24 lakh km roads built using sustainable technologies (as of Jul 2025)
- Techniques promoted:
- Cold-mix, Full Depth Reclamation, green pavements
- Alignment with SDGs: 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11
Impact — Socio-Economic Outcomes
- Market access & price realisation improved
- Reduction in travel time & transaction costs
- Boost to non-farm rural employment
- Better healthcare & school access
- Enabled women’s mobility & labour participation
- Strengthened agri-value chains & logistics integration
Regional & Strategic Significance
- Enhanced governance & mobility in:
- LWE regions
- Border & tribal belts
- Himalayan & NE hill terrains
- Acts as a force multiplier for security, welfare delivery, disaster response
Gaps & Challenges
- Maintenance backlog in resource-constrained states
- Variations in construction quality across districts
- Land & environmental clearance delays in ecologically fragile zones
- Low integration with public transport & freight ecosystems
- Climate-induced damage risk in:
- flood-prone, coastal & hilly regions
Way Forward
- Lifecycle-based funding + ring-fenced maintenance corpus
- Integrate PMGSY roads with:
- rural logistics, e-NAM markets, SHG clusters, OD-connectivity
- Expand green pavement technologies & resilience standards
- AI-enabled predictive maintenance
- Strengthen citizen-audit & social audit frameworks
- Road-linked rural industrialisation & services corridor strategy
Conclusion
PMGSY has evolved from a connectivity-expansion programme to a network-consolidation, market-integration, and resilience-driven rural infrastructure mission, making it one of India’s most successful scale infrastructure interventions in 25 years.
First-ever Santhali translation of the Constitution of India
Why is it in News?
- On 25 December 2025 (Good Governance Day), the first-ever Santhali translation of the Constitution of India was released at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
- Published by the Legislative Department, Ministry of Law & Justice and released by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu.
- Coincides with the Birth Centenary year of the Ol Chiki script (1925) developed by Pandit Raghunath Murmu.
- Marks a major milestone in linguistic inclusion and constitutional accessibility for tribal communities.
Relevance
GS-2 | Polity & Constitution
- Linguistic inclusion & constitutional accessibility
- Strengthening constitutional literacy & citizen participation
- Supports Articles 29–30 (cultural & educational rights)
- Role of Legislative Department in legal publications
GS-2 | Governance & Democratic Deepening
- Language-based inclusion → better civic engagement
- Good Governance & citizen-centric administration
- Access to law in mother-tongue = trust in institutions
Santhali Language & Constitutional Status
- Santhali included in the Eighth Schedule via the 92nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003.
- Written in Ol Chiki script (distinct, non-derivative script of tribal linguistic heritage).
- Linguistic spread:
- Major presence in Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar
- Also spoken across tribal belts of eastern and central India
- Recognized as one of India’s ancient living tribal languages.
Why This Translation Matters — Constitutional & Governance Perspective ?
- Enhances constitutional literacy among tribal communities.
- Strengthens linguistic justice and cultural dignity (Article 29 — protection of cultural rights).
- Supports inclusivity in governance & democratic participation.
- Advances principles of:
- Access to law in native language
- Participatory citizenship
- Decentralised constitutional awareness
Institutional & Policy Significance
- Aligns with:
- Good Governance & Citizen-centric administration
- Tribal empowerment & inclusion agenda
- Eighth Schedule linguistic promotion
- Supports broader initiatives:
- Promotion of vernacular legal translations
- Enhancing justice delivery & legal awareness in rural/tribal regions
Symbolic & Socio-Cultural Significance
- Major representation milestone for Adivasi identity and knowledge systems.
- Reinforces script-based heritage preservation (Ol Chiki).
- Encourages:
- Mother-tongue learning of civic values
- Inter-generational cultural continuity
- Deepens State–citizen relationship in tribal regions through language inclusion.
Comparative Governance Lens
- Democracies with multilingual frameworks show:
- Higher legal compliance
- Better civic participation
- Reduced alienation of minority groups
- This move strengthens constitutional nationalism rooted in diversity, not uniformity.
Critical Issues & Way Forward
- Need for translations in more tribal and Scheduled languages
- Training local civic educators & legal volunteers in mother-tongue constitutional literacy
- Expand:
- Court judgments & government schemes in tribal languages
- Digital & audio formats for non-literate communities
- Build school-level civics resources in indigenous languages
Conclusion
This initiative represents a landmark step in linguistic inclusion, constitutional accessibility, and tribal empowerment, strengthening democratic participation by enabling citizens to engage with the Constitution in their own language and script.
