Discuss the objectives and components of PM-AJAY. How does the Adarsh Gram component seek to address developmental deficits in SC-majority villages?

Article 46 directs the State to promote the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections. Giving effect to this, the Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY), launched in FY 2021-22 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, merges three erstwhile schemes into a single umbrella intervention for Scheduled Castes [1].

Objectives

• Poverty reduction among SC communities by generating additional employment through skill development and income-generating activities [1].
• Educational empowerment, chiefly by expanding residential facilities for SC students in higher educational institutions [1].
• Infrastructure and service saturation in SC-dominated habitations, removing the spatial concentration of deprivation.
• Administrative convergence — subsuming PMAGY, Special Central Assistance to SCSP and the Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana to end overlap; the scheme is 100% Centrally funded, with an outlay of ₹2,050 crore in FY 2023-24 [1].

Components (three)

• Adarsh Gram — integrated development of SC-majority villages into model villages.
• Grants-in-aid for District/State-level projects for socio-economic betterment of SCs, including community assets and livelihood infrastructure [1].
• Hostels — construction of hostels in higher educational institutions, aiding retention of SC students [1].

Adarsh Gram and developmental deficits

• Gap-filling approach: villages are assessed against 50 monitorable socio-economic indicators across 10 sectors (education, health, sanitation, drinking water, connectivity), and works are sanctioned only where gaps exist [2].
• Scale and targeting: 47,328 villages stand selected nationally, with 46,642 development works completed benefiting over 47 lakh persons [2].
• Convergence, not duplication: up to half of a State's allocation is used for gap-filling, the rest drawn from existing departmental schemes.
• Beneficiary-level tracking through identification of individual beneficiaries makes outcomes auditable rather than merely input-based [2].

PM-AJAY thus shifts SC welfare from scattered grants to a saturation-based, village-level model. Its promise now rests on timely State-level selection, robust gram panchayat participation and social audit, so that Adarsh Grams translate into substantive equality envisaged under Articles 15 and 46.