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Need to strengthen panchayats for growth of democracy: Joshi | Union Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Dr. C.P. Joshi on Monday stressed on the need to strengthen the elected bodies especially the Panchayats at the
grass root level for the real growth of democracy and actual devolution of power in the country. Addressing the 10th Editors Conference on Social Sector Issues
in the national capital, Joshi said: "Panchayats are the grassroot democratic
institutions and need to be further empowered through effective devolution of
functions, finances and functionaries (3Fs) following the principles of subsidiarity
and centrality of Panchayats. This would also ensure convergence of plethora of
schemes and pooling of resources through holistic planning by Panchayats." He
said that the Panchayati Raj Ministry is implementing the backward regions grant
fund (BRGF), which was launched by the government in January 2007. The Minister
added that another innovative initiative has been the inclusion of construction
of Bharat Nirman Sewa Kendras and Panchayat Ghars under the expanded scope of
works permissible under MNREGA. "The scope of work under MNREGA has been expanded
to include the construction of Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendra (BNRGSK)
at the Gram Panchayat and Block level. This is based on the demands made by states
to strengthen the infrastructure at GP and Block level to enable an efficient
implementation of MNREGA and to provide space for greater and more transparent
interaction with the citizens," Joshi said. "Panchayat Ghars would be developed
as mini secretariat, as a forum for the rural people to meet, share and discuss
their issues, to provide logistic support and as a record keeping facility center,"
he added. He said that Bharat Nirman Sewa Kendra shall be a single window for
providing the information on MNREGA and provide feedback on the implementation
of the program. The idea is to slowly move from wage employment to self-employment
by providing skill development facilities to the rural people and in the process
give a fillip to rural economy, Joshi added. |
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