Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission:
Aibawk cluster in the Aizwal, Mizoram becomes the first cluster to be completed under the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission.
- SPMRM was launched by the Prime Minister in February 2016 with a vision to provide amenities to rural areas which are perceived to be urban and have the potential to stimulate local economic development.
- The Mission aim: Development of 300 Rurban clusters, in the next five years.
- Rurban Cluster : It is a cluster of geographically contiguous villages with a population of about 25000 to 50000 in plain and coastal areas and with a population of 5000 to 15000 in desert, hilly or tribal areas.
- Selection of the ‘Rurban Clusters’
- There are two categories of clusters under SPMRM: Non-Tribal and Tribal. The process of selection varies for each of these categories.
- While selecting the Rurban cluster, the State may identify a large village/gram panchayat that are growth centers with resources available in the area that could potentially lead the economic transformation of the region.
- These growth centres could also be block headquarter, villages or census towns.
- The clusters could then be formed by identifying geographically contiguous villages/gram panchayats within a radius of 5–10 km (or radius appropriate to the population density and geography of the region) around the identified growth centre.
