Andhra Pradesh tops job, SHG targets but badly trails on housing and roads | Economy & Policy News

Andhra Pradesh overshot its employment and self-help group (SHG) targets under the Twenty Point Programme (TPP) in 2025-26 (FY26) but fell well short on rural housing, road construction, and afforestation, according to data placed before the Lok Sabha by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (Mospi) on Wednesday.

 

On the jobs front, Andhra Pradesh generated 185.9 million person-days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), narrowly clearing its target of 185.9 million person-days, with wages of over ₹4.95 trillion in cash disbursed. 

 

The state also outperformed on rural livelihoods, promoting 3,115 SHGs against a target of 2,500 and channelling a Cumulative Investment Fund to 3,106 groups against a target of 2,350.

 
 

The gains, however, were offset by steep shortfalls in physical infrastructure. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Grameen (PMAY-G), the state built 14,776 rural houses against a target of 42,355, not even covering the halfway mark at 35 per cent. 

 

The shortfall was even wider in urban housing, where 88,849 Economically Weaker Section (EWS) units were completed against a target of 476,739, under a fifth of the goal. Rural road construction under PMGSY reached 484.44 km against a target of 1,404.37 km, about 34 per cent.

 

TPP is a Government of India initiative aimed at eradicating poverty and improving the quality of life of the poor and the underprivileged, particularly in rural areas. It was first launched in 1975 and has been restructured three times since — in 1982, 1986 and 2006 — with the current version, known as TPP-2006, becoming operational from 1 April 2007. 

 

The three other states mentioned in the reply—Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh—were reported mostly without prescribed targets on the poverty-alleviation indicators. 

 

Bihar led on MGNREGA with 22.323 million job cards issued and 1,46.79 million person-days generated, ahead of Uttar Pradesh (17.43 million cards; 1,41.079 million person-days) and Madhya Pradesh (9.784 million cards; 112.833 million person-days). Bihar also promoted the most SHGs at 984,022 compared to the other two states in FY26. 

 

In a separate reply, the Ministry tabled Time Use Survey (TUS) data of 2024 that laid bare a stark gender divide in unpaid work. At the all-India rural level, women spent an average of 238 minutes a day on unpaid domestic services for their households, against just 23 minutes for men. On unpaid caregiving for household members, women averaged 47 minutes to men’s 14.

 

Taken together, rural women put in about 285 minutes — nearly five hours — of unpaid domestic and care work every day, against roughly 37 minutes for men. 

 

The pattern reverses on paid work: men averaged 273 minutes a day on employment and related activities, while women managed only 70. The survey is the second nationwide exercise after 2019 and was conducted between January and December 2024. 

 

“The primary objective of the Time Use Survey (TUS) is to measure participation of men and women in paid and unpaid activities. The Time Use Survey (TUS) does not capture the unpaid labour performed by rural women in activities such as agricultural and allied works, animal husbandry, and fodder collection,” the reply noted.