August 29,2010

 The State Government is paying special attention on rural development, as more than 90 percent of population lives in villages. Various welfare and development schemes are being implemented for the development of rural areas with special emphasis on socio-economic uplift of the people. A number of developmental schemes such as Swarn Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna, Watershed Management, Indira Aawas Yojna, Atal Aawas Yojna, Total Sanitation Campaign and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) are being implemented in the right perspective in the State, which are not only ensuring speedy development of the rural areas but also creating a number of avenues of self-employment to the people.

 The efforts of the Himachal Pradesh Government in implementation of the MNREGA have been applauded at the National level. So far, more than 9.40 lac families have been covered under the scheme, which is around 78 percent of the total rural families of the State. During current financial year, Rural Department has set a target to bring 4.5 lac families under the scheme by spending Rs. 909 crore. Irrigation and horticulture activities have also been included under the scheme to help marginal farmers in improving their land holdings. Kangra district has taken a lead in implementation of this scheme in the State and the district has been awarded with National Excellence Award for successful implementation of MNREGA at National level.

For effective implementation of the rural development schemes, 1081 Gram Rozgar Sewaks, 92 Computer Operators, 847 Technical Assistants and 42 Junior Engineers have been appointed while 40 additional posts of Junior Engineers, 35 of Junior Accountants and 12 posts of Computer Operators have been created and the process to fill these is underway. To ensure transparency in payment under MNREGA, 6, 22,431 accounts have been opened and the powers of technical employees have been decentralized to avoid any delay in payment to the workers.

Rural Development Department has formulated Rs. 4,688 crore schemes for watershed management, agriculture development and employment generation, which has been sent for the approval of Government of India. This programme is basically an area development programme and aims at integrated development of natural resources like land, water, vegetation etc. by taking up watershed development projects. The works carried out by the department are employment oriented so that employment opportunities could be generated for the maximum number of people. Professional agencies are being involved in preparing Detailed Project Reports (DPR) of watershed projects with a view to benefit people at large scale, besides carrying rain water harvesting activities and development of natural resources. 

The State Government has launched a comprehensive strategy to tackle the sanitation challenge based on motivating rural communities to end the unhealthy practice of open defecation and adopt safe sanitation through implementation of the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC). The State is poised to become "Nirmal Himachal " by the end of this year. There has been a remarkable increase in rural sanitation coverage from less than 30 per cent in 2001 to close to 85 per cent in 2009. 

To further encourage Gram Panchayats, doing excellent work in sanitation, 'Maharishi Valmiki Sampoorna Swachata Puraskar' (MVSSP) is being given to them. The cleanest Gram Panchayat selected at all the administrative tiers- the block, district, division and state levels in a competitive manner is awarded. So far, 253 Gram Panchayats have been given Nirmal Gram Pachayat awards amounting to Rs. 3,64,50,000.  Besides, 'School Water Harvesting Scheme' has been launched under MNREGA in all schools of the State for construction of rain water harvesting structures as a part of Total Sanitation Scheme.

Indira Awas Yojna and Atal Awas Yojna are being implemented in the State with a view to provide housing facility to rural BPL houseless families. Under these schemes, the assistance for the construction of houses has been enhanced from Rs. 28,500 to Rs. 48,500 per unit during the present Government regime. During last two years, 21733 houses have been constructed under both these schemes. A target of constructing 9790 houses has been fixed for current financial year under these schemes.

Under Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna (SGSY), the poor families are being assisted by providing income-generating assets. The scheme envisages covering various aspects such as organization of poor into Self Help Groups, training, credit, technology, infrastructure and marketing.