Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec19: Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Ali Mohammad Sagar today released “Dehat Sudhar” magazine published by the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.
The magazine caries detailed information for the general public regarding various Central and State sponsored schemes and flagship programmes like MGNREGA, UDAAN, UMEED and HIMAYAT being implemented by the department in the State.
On the occasion, the Minister highlighted the achievements of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in detail. He said under Watershed programme 22 projects have been approved for execution under various schemes in the State out of which 17 projects have been taken in hand this year on which the work is in progress.
The Minister said that the aim and objective of the Government is to ensure that a maximum number of people are benefitted by the schemes being implemented in the State with liberal financial assistance from Central Government. He said the magazine contains detailed information about various schemes and hoped that it would definitely help to motivate the people to come forward to take benefits of these schemes.
The Minister said that under MGNREGA the State has the highest per-capita uptake of funds and the labour budget has been placed at Rs. 1350 crore as against Rs. 72 crore five years back indicating the successful implementation of the scheme in the State. He said the State has the privilege of being one of the few States, which has put in place a monitoring and supervisory mechanism for its implementation.
Coming down heavily on the impression being given in some section of the media regarding the poor implementation of the scheme, the Minister said the record number of rural job seekers have been registered under the scheme in the State for availing job opportunities besides creation of assets. He said under UMEED and National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) Rs. 755 crore have been approved and is being successfully implemented in four blocks adding that it would be extended to other parts of the State to cover two third of the rural population over a period of 5 years by offering livelihood opportunities through establishment of income generating units.
Referring to the capacity building measures of PRIs, the Minister said 1976 Panchayat Ghars have been constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 350 crore. He said under IWMP a prospective plan of Rs 2300 crore has been approved and projects worth Rs. 782 crore have been started in the first phase.
Under conversion scheme 100 model village are being taken up with an estimated cost of Rs. 1.12 crore each, Mr. Sagar added.
Mr Sagar said that holding Panchayat elections in the State after a gap of 27 years is the landmark achievement of the present Government, adding that the establishment of these grass root institutions have greatly helped to enforce transparency and accountability in the Rural Development Department.
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