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Integrated growth hub: Niti Aayog to develop 11 UP dists, plan to be readied in three months
NITI Aayog will develop 11 districts in Uttar Pradesh as Integrated Growth Hubs, with a plan to be prepared in the next three months.
Anna Roy, senior advisor/additional secretary, NITI Aayog, said that a plan to develop 11 districts of four divisions of UP as Integrated Growth Hub will be prepared in the next three months. She instructed officials of divisions to provide data required for the plan.
Roy chaired a meeting on the development of 11 districts of four divisions, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Prayagraj, and Azamgarh as growth-hubs. Consultants from McKinsey, Deloitte, ISEG companies and consultants from NITI Aayog along with officials from the planning department of Uttar Pradesh were present, a press statement read/.
The meeting was attended by Varanasi’s divisional commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma, Mirzapur’s divisional commissioner Muthukumarswamy B, Azamgarh’s divisional commissioner Manish Chauhan and Prayagraj’s divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant and officials of development authorities.
Roy said that the basic objective of this meeting is the development of the entire region. The target of development in each division should be such that the growth rate of the Integrated Growth Hub is faster than the growth rate of the state.
Roy appreciated the efforts of divisional commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma and his team to make Varanasi a unique tourist destination as the first choice for visitors from India and abroad.
Roy said that the data will be collected from them (officials) by NITI Aayog team and they should help in making it available.
Manish Chauhan, divisional commissioner, Azamgarh, informed that the work of projects like Purvanchal Expressway, MSME Skill Park, Maharaja Suheldev State University, Engineering and Medical College, Masterplan 2031 etc. is going on in the division.
Kaushalraj Sharma, divisional commissioner, Varanasi, said that projects for all-round development in Varanasi have been completed and are active. He informed that a record number of people are visiting Kashi ever since Shri Kashi Vishwanath Dham was inaugurated two years ago. At the same time, special focus is on infrastructure development in every sector.
hen a girl arrives at the government child shelter home (Rajkiya Bal Griha – Balika) for girls on Para Road, the first question she is asked is, “Do you want to go home, or not?” The course of action for the rehabilitation is then decided based on their answer, said Bharti Srivastav, full-time counsellor at the shelter home.
The home has a capacity of 100 children aged 10-18 years but is currently holding 122 girls including 14 infants. While there is a separate unisex government shelter home for infants and young children (aged 0-10) at Prag Narayan Road, the infants at the girls’ home are the ones that come with their underage mothers. “These children come in with their mothers, and gain at least five more mothers,” said Safalta Singh, superintendent of the shelter home.
“The inmates at this home are all young girls who have had traumatic childhoods so far. Most of them are from unplanned pregnancies,” said Srivastav. She added that these young girls get into relationships and get married to their partners in an effort to run away from home, and since they are not educated about contraceptives, they get pregnant. “They are naturally unable to manage their pregnancies on their own, and need medical care and attention,” said Srivastav.
Most of the expectant mothers come to the shelter home three or four months into the pregnancy, and the shelter home authorities arrange for their prenatal care and delivery at Lok Bandhu Hospital, said the superintendent. After they have had their baby and are over the age of 18, the Child Welfare Committee reunites them with their partners, or the families of those who are willing to take their daughters back.
Singh said, “Having so many babies in the house is also a source of excitement and learning for the other older girls. They take care of one another’s babies and also of each other when they are tired or unwell.” But amidst the several programmes, extracurricular activities like dance, self-defence, threadwork and embroidery, culinary lessons, and more, they also have monthly group counselling sessions, suggestion meetings, and duty allocation meetings with the authorities. “We try to provide a holistic environment for growth for these children, so they leave the shelter home healed from the trauma or isolation they experienced in the past.
