E-Paper
Villages adopted by MPs to get priority in govt schemes
Villages chosen under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna will not only receive special attention from members of Parliament over their development work, various schemes will also be diverted to these at the expense of others, show government documents.
Villages chosen under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY) will not only receive special attention from members of Parliament over their development work, various schemes will also be diverted to these at the expense of others, show government documents.
While drawing up annual plans for schemes such as Indira Awas Yojna (IAY), national rural livelihood mission (NRLM), and Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA), the states will have to ensure the villages under SAGY are given priority.
For RGPSA, the scheme launched in 2013-14 with an objective of empowering the panchayati raj institutions through financial assistance for various activities, the Centre has directed all states to accord priority to SAGY villages.
“It is requested that state governments accord priority to gram panchayats selected under SAGY while preparing annual action plan under the RGPSA for meeting the requirements of the items admissible under the scheme,” the ministry of panchayati raj wrote to states on December 10.
The guidelines for IAY and NRLM have been amended similarly for the same purpose.
Revising the guidelines of these schemes for the benefit of the SAGY villages lends credence to the Opposition’s criticism that PM Narendra Modi’s pet project will create islands of developed villages leaving out many others.
TMC spokesperson Derek O’Brien had told HT that his party had decided not to adopt villages as it believed the scheme leaves out other villages. “Our understanding is that if you adopt a single village then the others feel neglected,” he said.
The Left too has taken a similar stand.
Under SAGY, each MP has to take responsibility for three villages and turn them into a ‘model village’ by 2019 through the convergence of different government schemes and their implementation.
