BIDAR: The State Government plans to take up a comprehensive programme for development of villages under its "Suvarna Gramodaya" scheme. It plans to spend Rs. 1 crore on each "mid-sized" village of around 700 people. The Government has identified 1,012 villages housing gram panchayat headquarters for the scheme.

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has promised to cover all backward villages in the State's 5,653 gram panchayats. He has also promised to increase the funds for "very backward villages" to Rs. 5 crore.

Projects

The development projects to be taken up include construction of concrete roads, sewers, bridges, public toilets, classrooms, playgrounds and toilets at schools, anganwadi buildings and libraries. The scheme aims to provide drinking water, training to self-help groups, vocational training to unemployed youth and training to farmers in advanced cultivation practices. It also aims to distribute agricultural tools to farmers and develop hygiene and new residential areas in the backward villages.

Critics of the scheme, however, say it has some disadvantages, especially since local MLAs and not the gram sabhas select the villages to be covered by the scheme, thus making it too centralised. Quazi Arshad Ali, MLC, says the Government should have come up with a more scientific method of identifying the most backward villages. It has also not clarified how it proposes to fund such a huge scheme, he adds.

Mr. Ali says the scheme's biggest flaw is that it does not give much attention to employment generation through promotion of village industries.

The scheme also overlooks a basic loophole in the Panchayat Raj Act, he says, namely, that zilla panchayats are not allowed to handle projects costing over Rs. 10 lakh. This means that the scheme will be implemented by the Government directly and the panchayat bodies will not have any role, he adds.

General Secretary of the district unit of the Congress Arvind Arali says the Government should drop the idea of selecting gram panchayat headquarters for the scheme as they are already fairly developed as compared to the more remote villages.

Agriculture Minister Bandeppa Kashempur, who is in charge of the district, has denied allegations that the scheme is anti-decentralisation.

He feels that what matters is not who implements the scheme but how it is implemented. He says the Government is confident of meeting the targets of the scheme and is also willing to consider changes in its guidelines if necessary.

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