This article attempts to examine the flagship poverty alleviation scheme Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) against the background of emerging policies aimed at ‘good governance’. How far the SGSY, a major programme of the Government of India for poverty alleviation has been able to incorporate ‘good governance’ principles like participation of the people, involvement of civil society, and sound project formulation, is the main focus of this article. The governance approach indicated in the SGSY is supposed to be significantly different from earlier poverty alleviation programmes in India, especially the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP). However, the article, based on a review of some available studies, indicates that the SGSY is implemented in a very deterministic and top-down manner, ignoring the participatory approach that is envisaged in the design. In the whole process, right from identification of participants to supporting them, to developing a sustainable income generation enterprise, the SGSY is beset with problems like faulty selection, improper identification of viable schemes, sidelining of capacity building and, above all, lack of integration among different agencies involved in implementation of the scheme. The article concludes that ‘good governance’ for poverty alleviation programmes seems to be more of rhetoric than a reality.

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