The Centre will be releasing more than 2 lakh crore rupees – under 14th Finance Commission – to Gram Panchayats for 5 years to undertake physical and social infrastructure projects in the villages. This was informed by Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water & Sanitation and Rural Development
Addressing the media in New Delhi on the eve of the National Panchayati Raj Day to be observed on April 24, 2017 at Lucknow, the Minister said that earlier about Rs 30,000 crore was allocated to the Panchayats in the 13th Finance commission, wherein Panchayats found it difficult to execute developmental projects in a holistic fashion. Laying stress on training of Panchayat functionaries and to promote healthy completion among panchayats, the Ministry is making all out efforts for the real empowerment of Gram Panchayats, he said.
Tomar said that the Panchayati Raj Ministry has asked all Gram Panchayats to prepare advance planning related to problems faced by them and till date more than 175, 000 village development plans were received. He said that each village has on an average 4 to 5 major issues like drinking water, drainage system, roads and solid and liquid waste management, which can be solved easily as now there is no dearth of funds to the Panchayats. He said that training programme will be undertaken by State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) and State Governments jointly to enlighten and empower the Panchayati Raj functionaries.
A YouTube Channel of Ministry of Panchayati Raj with short films on best practices and schemes of Government of India will be launched on the National Panchayat Raj Day.
Moreover, a quarterly News magazine “Gramoday Sankalp”, published and distributed by Ministry of Panchayati Raj on behalf of three Ministries – Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation will also be released on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day . This news magazine will be launched in Hindi, English and other regional languages. It is expected that this newsletter will act as a vehicle for direct communication between the Policy makers and Gram Panchayats.
While launching a Gramoday Sankalp news magazine to act as a vehicle for direct communication between the policy-makers and gram panchayats, A Mobile App (mobile application software) of the magazine will also be launched on the occasion.
