Tendulkar exercises his MP powers, picks Maharashtra village for govt programme

Cricket icon and Rajya Sabha MP Sachin Tendulkar has taken Donja village in Osmanabad district in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra under his wings to help plan its development under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna.

Cricket icon and Rajya Sabha MP Sachin Tendulkar has taken Donja village in Osmanabad district in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra under his wings to help plan its development under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna.

Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar during the launch of senior citizen care-line number 1090 ‘Kartavya’ in Thane, Mumbai on Independence Day. (PTI)

Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, launched in October 2014, is a rural development programme.

“We are happy that Tendulkar has picked Donja. We are sure this will inspire other villages in the region to emulate this model of development,” Osmanabad Zilla Parishad CEO Anand Rayate said.

Osmanabad has been reeling under severe drought for the past few years which has led to a steep rise in farmer suicides.

As per 2011 census, 582 families are residing in Donja. It has a population of 2,863 of which 1,508 are men while 1,355 are women.

Population in the age group of 0-6 years is 319 which makes up 11.14% of the total population.

The average sex ratio of the village is 899, which is lower than Maharashtra’s average of 929, while the Child Sex Ratio as per 2011 census is 910, higher than the state average of 894.

The literacy rate of Donja in 2011 was 72.17%, lower than 82.34% of Maharashtra. Male literacy rate stands at 78.75%, while female literacy rate was 64.84%.

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Tendulkar has been an MP since April 2012, and has often been cited for his low attendance and minimal participation in the upper house.

In 2015, a data journalism portal that analysed the performance of 10 nominated Rajya Sabha MPs, found that Tendulkar fared among the worst with less than 6% attendance to house sessions.

The same year, Tendulkar asked his first question in the house, addressing the railway minister with a written query.