Five months after it was launched, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's much touted welfare scheme, the Saansad Gram Adarsh Yojana, under which MPs have to adopt a village for development, is meeting resistance from the Opposition. On Tuesday Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha extended their support to Samajwadi Party member Naresh Agarwal's proposal to scrap scheme as there are no clear guidelines on how to develop the model villages and no clarity on the source of funding for it.
Speaking during Zero Hour, Mr. Agarwal said there are no guidelines or financial plans for the MPs to follow. He said the scheme has been announced without much thought and MPs have been left to fend questions from villagers.
Mr. Agarwal said when the scheme was announced there was a perception that the government would announce a separate fund for the development of these adopted villages and guidelines on where will the money come from. “When we visit our constituencies we are often told to go seek votes from the villages that we have had to adopt. This scheme has made it difficult for us to visit our constituencies,” Mr. Agarwal said, adding. “I've had to adopt a village too, but I don't want to and am opting out of this scheme.”
The MP said just as the government's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has remained limited to photoops and Ministers weilding the broom, the model village scheme too has failed to take off. He said the expectations of the villagers has gone up and they are under the impression that all amenities will be provided for as it is the initiative of the Prime Minister.
The Saansad Gram Adarsh Yojana was launched on October 11, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan, with the Prime urging MPs from both Houses of Parliament to identify and develop one village as a model village by 2016, and two more by 2019, covering over 2,500 villages of the 6 lakh villages countrywide.
Members from CPIM, CPI, Trinamool Congress, SP, BSP and JDU associated with Mr. Agarwal.
