As the one month-deadline for Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) approaches on Tuesday, less than a sixth of all MPs have selected villages in their constituencies to be developed as “model villages”.
Of the 795 MPs, including MPs in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and nominated MPs, 125 MPs submitted names of villages selected to the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) by Monday evening.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled SAGY on October 11 asking MPs to coordinate convergence of existing rural development schemes in the village using existing schemes’ funds and their MP Local Area Development Fund (MPLAD) of Rs. 5 crore. No additional funds had been allocated.
The Prime Minister on November 7 announced Jayapur in his constituency Varanasi as his chosen village under SAGY. The same day, Union Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman announced that she had chosen two villages in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. Among MPs, Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party, Union Minister Sushma Swaraj, JD-U’s Sharad Yadav, Antony of Indian National Congress are among those who have selected a village in their respective constituencies.
“I have chosen Nanand village in Nalanda. It has a population of 6,000. I chose it because I got 3,600 of the 3,700 votes cast in this village in the last election. But Rs. 5 crore will be too little to develop a good high school, a college, roads, electricity, water, toilets facilities in even one village and this scheme. There should be more debate on this,” said JD-U’s Kaushalendra Kumar who represents Nalanda in Bihar. Sanjeev Kumar, Rajya Sabha MP of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, told The Hindu he had three villages in mind but was yet to finalise one. BJP MP from Hazaribagh Jayant Sinha's office said the MP had not selected any village as the model code of conduct had come into force in Jharkhand before the Assembly election beginning November 25.
MPs from Lok Sabha can select any village with a population of 3,000-5,000 in plains areas and 1,000-3,000 in hilly areas in their constituencies besides their own village. Rajya Sabha MPs can choose any village from the State they represent that meets this population criteria. MPs have been asked to focus on and develop one village from their constituency as a model village by 2016, and two more by 2019 covering over 2,500 villages of 6 lakh villages country-wide.
MPs can choose any village except their own or their spouse’s. There is no other criteria. District Collectors will carry out a baseline survey and then chair monthly review meetings to monitor progress and MPs will supervise progress.
The Ministry had asked rural development officials in States to hold an orientation programme on SAGY for MPs and District Collectors before November 24.
