Directions issued for completion of Town Development Index
RDD, Planning Deptt to come up with Panchayat Index
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 19: After successful completion of Back to Village Phase-5, the Government has directed the Housing and Urban Development Department to start preparations for the launch of My Town My Pride in all the Urban Local Bodies of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Moreover, all out efforts are being made for completion of Town as well as Panchayat Development Index.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta has directed the Administrative Secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Department to make and finalize preparations for the launch of another edition of My Town My Pride so that dates for conducting the programme in all the 78 Urban Local Bodies (Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils and Municipal Committees) are finalized.
“This would be second edition of the My Town My Pride programme and focus will be on public outreach in towns, service delivery at doorsteps and strengthening grass-root democracy in urban areas”, sources said, adding “during the programme senior officers will visit towns under the jurisdiction of Urban Local Bodies and hold interaction with the people to ascertain the progress of the Municipal Bodies in resolving their issues”.
The Housing and Urban Development Department has already been told by the Government to pass detailed instructions to all the Urban Local Bodies so that issues required to be dealt with during the My Town My Pride are identified well in time, sources further informed, adding the visit of senior officers to the towns during the programme will help the Government in obtaining feed-back from the grass-roots so as to tailor Government efforts in improving delivery of town specific services.
The Chief Secretary has further directed the Housing and Urban Development Department to expeditiously complete Town Development Index, which will act as a guide to evidence-based policy making, catalyse action to achieve broader developmental outcomes including the Sustainable Development Goals, assess and compare the outcomes achieved by municipal bodies and give citizens an insight into the functioning of local bodies.
Moreover, instructions have also been issued to the Housing and Urban Development Department to review whether the Boards and Housing Bodies etc are processing cases of transfer/related services with respect to properties falling under their jurisdiction under the online mode and take immediate action if that is not the case.
Even Rural Development Department and Planning Department have been told to work on the development/completion of Panchayat Development Index and address the bottlenecks, if any, appropriately.
It is pertinent to mention here that Panchayat Development Index is a multi-domain and multi-sectoral index that is intended to be used to assess the overall holistic development, performance & progress of Panchayats. The Panchayat Development Index takes into account various socio-economic indicators and parameters to gauge the well-being and development status of the local communities within the jurisdiction of a panchayat.
The index typically considers factors such as infrastructure (availability of basic amenities like roads, electricity, water supply, sanitation facilities, etc); health and education (access to healthcare services, educational institutions, literacy rates, and enrollment in schools); economic indicators (income levels, employment opportunities, agricultural productivity and economic activities); social indicators (poverty rates, gender equality, social inclusion and overall quality of life); governance and administration (efficiency and transparency of local governance, delivery of public services and citizen participation); environmental sustainability (measures related to ecological balance, conservation and sustainable practices).
“Both the Town Development Index and Panchayat Development Index will provide public representatives, policy makers, Government agencies and local authorizes with valuable insights into the areas that require attention for improvement within the rural and urban areas”.
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