ABSTRACT
Growth with social justice has been an integral part of the Indian development strategy since independence. In the Indian federal set up, policies and programmes related with social and economic development fall under the purview of state governments. The state governments implement these programmes with financial assistance/participation of the Union Government. A number of such programmes were under implementation in Punjab—chief among these were the Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY), lndra Awaas Yojana (lAY), etc. These aimed to create community infrastructure and generate additional gainful employment for unemployed and underemployed persons, both men and women, in the rural areas (GOI 2003). This chapter evaluates the effectiveness of these programmes to meet the aspirations of the beneficiaries as far as their as social and economic wellbeing is concerned. It examines the socio-economic background of the beneficiaries and their perceptions about the deliverance of benefits by the programmes.
