The Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that the Country is witnessing a huge transformation in the wake of de-monetisation announced by the Prime Minister on 8th of this month. He said that in the last two and half years many big changes happened due to sheer strong will of the top leadership, rather than cosmetic changes on the policy front. Shri Tomar was addressing about 1,000 Sarpanches and Gram Panchayat Secretaries from 8 States of the country here this morning. He urged the Sarpanches to usher in a cashless village economy by ensuring maximum participation of the common man. Shri Tomar said that if the Prime Minister can put his chair at stake by taking such a bold move, the Sarpanch can also take a pledge to take all the risks for the over-all development of their gram panchayats. He said that the NDA Government is committed to Transparency, Honesty and Good Governance and the Prime Minister is willing to work shoulder to shoulder with the elected representatives of Panchayat bodies. The Minister said that in the 14th Finance Commission, more than 2 lakh crore rupees were allotted to the Panchayats, wherein in the 13th Finance Commission the amount was Rs 65, 000 crore only for five years and this shows the commitment of this government toward upliftment of the rural poor.
The Minister of State for Panchayti Raj Shri Parshottam Rupala said that the NDA Government under Shri Narendra Modi is committed to the welfare of the poor and the villages and the de-monetisation scheme announced by the government will go a long way in achieving this goal.
He said that the Modi government has done away with the culture of middle man and commission agents and now the entire amount sanctioned by the centre reaches the Gram Panchayats, unlike the earlier practices of leakages and corrupt siphoning off mechanisms. He called upon the Sarpanches to help the local administration for registration of property and proper record keeping to eradicate corruption. Sarpanches and Panchayat Secretaries form the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujrat are taking part in a three-day training programme on Capacity-Building and sharing of Best Practices.
Earlier, Shri Tomar has urged the Sarpanches to take social responsibilities like universal education, immunization, building of toilets, besides undertaking the routine developmental works. He said the aim of the present government is to strengthen the grassroots democracy and more steps would be taken in future to give more powers to panchayati raj institutions.
In his address, Secretary, Panchayati Raj Ministry, Shri J.S.Mathur said that Panchayati Raj Institutions are the main pillars of governance and it is our endeavour to provide more strength to them. He said that training is an important component in running the local administration but more than that sharing of best practices of successful Gram Panchayats will help in socio-economic transformation of the village economy.
Three best short films on model panchayats out of 400 people sourced films were awarded by Shri Tomar on the occasion. The Minister also felicitated the best Sarpanches for the innovative and good work done by them in their village pancahayats.