Centre, UP join hands to make 10,783 villages poverty-free

Aim is to help these villages reach a minimum level of comfort, including access to services and social and economic development.

A whopping 10,783 villages of Uttar Pradesh are set to witness all-round development as part of a centre-state initiative to make them ‘poverty-free’.

All major government departments would implement the welfare and development schemes.

Parameters for selection of villages

For selection of villages under the poverty alleviation initiative, the government has set specific parameters.

Villages which are open-defecation free, or have been picked up under Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) self-help group.

Villages which are part of mission water conservation or Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana or were selected as ‘Rurban cluster gram panchayat’ under the Rurban Mission aiming to develop a cluster of ‘smart villages’.

Crime-free and dispute-free gram panchayats as well as villages of award winning gram panchayat pradhans will also be selected under the scheme.

The exercise, to be carried out under the Antyodaya mission announced in the Union Budget, is aimed at the uplift of 1 crore households and making 50,000 gram panchayats across the country poverty-free by 2019.

The priority being accorded to Uttar Pradesh by the Centre is evident from the fact that there would be one village from the state for every five selected for the mission. The initiative will help these villages reach a minimum level of comfort measured on 21 parameters that include creation of infrastructure, access to services, social and economic development, protection mechanisms and livelihood diversification avenues.

“Principal secretary, rural development, Anurag Srivastava has instructed all the district magistrates and chief development officers to identify the gram panchayats of their respective districts that qualify on priority parameters set for the selection and provide the list to the state government by July 30,” said a senior official at rural development department.

“The missive dated July 12, said the chosen villages would be made poverty-free by October 2, 2019 — the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi,” he added.

“All major government departments would implement the welfare and development schemes that they have at these villages simultaneously during this period. To make the plan more effective, the DMs have been asked to prepare a gram panchayat development plan for each chosen village,” added the official.