Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, May 24: 6,842 Northeast villages are included in the Government of India’s first-of-its-kind “Gram Swaraj Abhiyan”, for which a total of 16,850 villages were identified across the country, with the objective of achieving saturation point targets in Government’s seven flagship schemes within a time-bound span of twenty days, from 14th April to 5th May 2018.
Disclosing this at a meeting for the appraisal of “Gram Swaraj Abhiyan” in the eight States of Northeast, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, said here today that this itself is an indication of the huge volume and extent to which the Northeast has been included to contribute in India’s “Sab Ka Sath, Sab Ka Gaon, Sab Ka Vikas” campaign undertaken with the inspiration and directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. All these 6,842 villages of Northeast are the ones with more than 50% households belonging to SC/ST category.
At the meeting which was, among others, attended by Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha, senior Secretaries to Government of India and Chief Secretaries of the North-Eastern States, Dr Jitendra Singh observed that even though all the 6,842 North-Eastern villages could not achieve the saturation point targets within 20 days because of the typical constraints of inclement weather, heavy rainfall, topographical difficulties, geographical peculiarities and poor connectivity, it has been planned that all the targets will be achieved within the next one month.
For the eight States of Northeast, Dr Jitendra Singh said, “Gram Swaraj Abhiyan” is not only a campaign for infrastructural and economic upliftment, but it has also served to bring the entire region further closer to mainstream India. The success of this novel experiment, he said, will pave the way for further and closer participation of Northeast in the mainstream All-India programmes and schemes initiated by the Union Government.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, it is the outcome of Prime Minister Modi’s personal outreach to Northeast and his high prioritization that today NITI Aayog has established an exclusive NITI Aayog Forum for Northeast and all the developmental programmes have been put on fast-track. He assured that the Ministry of Northeast (DoNER) will work in close coordination with the Ministry of Rural Development and other concerned Ministries to achieve all the developmental targets laid down for the region.
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