NRIDA and IIM Kolkata Sign MoU on PMGSY-IV Impact Study

The National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA) of the Ministry of Rural Development and the Indian Institute of Management Kolkata signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a four-year longitudinal impact assessment of rural roads built under PMGSY-IV and PM-JANMAN. The aim is to put hard evidence behind rural connectivity spending rather than judge it by kilometres laid alone.

Who signed

Ms Aditi Singh (IAS), Director General of NRIDA, signed for the agency and Prof. Alok Kumar Rai, Director of IIM Kolkata, for the institute. Secretary, Rural Development, Shri Rohit Kansal, and officials of the ministry and the institute were present.

How wide the study runs

The survey covers 10 States and Union Territories, 50 districts, 150 blocks and 250 roads. The States and Union Territory chosen are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Uttarakhand. About 5,000 households will be surveyed to record changes in mobility, accessibility and socio-economic conditions.

The three stages

Because the same households are revisited, the design is called longitudinal: it measures change over time in the same places instead of comparing unrelated samples.

What will be measured

The study will look at travel time and transport cost, livelihoods, employment, income from more than one source, farm and non-farm work, and access to markets. It also covers education, healthcare, women's empowerment, safety, migration patterns and the reach of public and financial services, with attention to how outcomes differ across regions and vulnerable groups.

Why it matters

PMGSY is the flagship rural roads programme and PM-JANMAN is aimed at particularly vulnerable tribal groups. An independent, long-running assessment can show whether a road keeps delivering gains years after it is built, flag gaps in implementation and feed into future planning and policy.