March 30, 2014
1000 days at a glance: Empowering rural Bengal by empowering Panchayats
In the last two and half years of All India Trinamool Congress led Ma, Mati, Manush Government in West Bengal, the grassroots bodies have been empowered through Panchayat and rural development. West Bengal has infact been honoured with global awards for rural development and also secured the top rank among states in the implementation of 100-days job scheme. Ratio for reservation of seats for women in each tier of Panchayat has been enhanced from one-third to half after amendment of West Bengal Panchayat Act. The government has facilitated the participation of OBCs in the Panchayats through reservations.
Here are some of the achievements of the Panchayat and Rural Development department:
Villagers build their own villages: A new milestone has been laid upon in 100-days work project. Man-days which have been created during the last two- and-a-half years are greater than the sum total of man-days created through preceding years. During the financial year 2012-13 man-days of 20 crore 18 lakh have been created. During 2012-13, we have stood first in terms of spending 107% of the alloted fund Job has been provided to 58 lakh of families. Total expenditure was Rs. 4,688 crore. West Bengal has created unparalleled precedence by making man-days out of 109% of Labour budget.
Special status for Bankura: Award from the Union Ministry of Rural Development by co-ordinating other projects with 100-days work and creating model for enhancement of scope for earning livelihood in poor families of villages.
Path itself is the Pathfinder: A unique and unparalleled initiative has been taken up for creating 16,000 km length of road which can be used in all seasons in each of the gram panchayats on 7 January, 2014. This special drive will create about 3 crore 50 lakh of man-days across the state.
Gram Sadak Yojana: While up to 2010-11 an average of 1,069 km of road has been constructed under the Gram Sadak Yojana, the road-length constructed during the tenure of this government becomes 1,978 km on average. Up to January 2013-14 work for construction of 255 nos. of roads under the project of Gram Sadak Yojana covering 1,016 km moving the expenditure of Rs. 558 crore has been complete.
Nirmal Bangla: By the year 2017 “Sanitary Lavatories” are being constructed in all the houses with the objective of building up Nirmal Bangla. Work for lavatories, solid and liquid waste management in schools and Anganwadi centres is going on.
My Home, My Right: The work for construction of houses for the rural poor families with the assistance of IAY Scheme is going on at a rapid pace. During the period of last two-and-a-half years more than 4.5 lakh of dwelling houses have been constructed. Assistance for building houses under Adhikar Prokalpo was provided to 25 thousand families in 11 districts.
Anandadhara Bahichhe Bhubane: More than 50 thousands Self-help Groups were constituted in two years under the Anandadhara Scheme. During the last two-and-a-half year total amount of credit received by the Self-help Groups amounts to Rs. 1,232 crore.
New ray of hope to the destitute, old, widow and differently-abled people: Allowance under the National Social Assistance Scheme is now much more easily available. 10.68 lakh of rural families are getting old-age pension. 7.39 lakh of rural women are getting widow pension. 38 thousand differently abled pepole are also getting allowance. The amount of allowance for the widows and differently-abled people has been increased to Rs. 600 per month. Age limit for old-age pension has been reduced from 65 to 60.
Click here for the full list of achievements.
