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The deadline for MPs to nominate a model village under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) for this year is set to end on January 31. However, many MPs, cutting across party lines, are up in arms against the Centre on the lack of funds available under the scheme.
In a reply to a letter sent by Rural Development Minister Birender Singh earlier this month, a group of MPs have decided to approach the Prime Minister, pointing out the lacunae in the scheme.
The issue was raised several times in both the Houses and the Standing Committee on Rural Development, but it was not resolved, say the MPs who are drafting a joint memorandum to the Prime Minister.
The MPs say the number of villages or gram panchayats in Lok Sabha constituencies range from 80 to 200. “To identify one gram panchayat under these circumstances is extremely difficult and is leading to unnecessary controversy and heartburning. In our view, restricting the SAGY to one gram panchayat is unrealistic,” the letter says.
They said there is no additional funding for the scheme as it involves convergence of existing schemes, including the MP Local Area Development Scheme. “Convergence is desirable, but without additional funds, the programme has little meaning,” the letter said.
The MPs also ruled out the suggestion of Singh that Corporate Social Responsibility funds can be used for the model villages. “Getting funds from CSR is impractical and presents conflict of interest issues. Based on our experience, the programme requires additional funding, even if it is limited to one gram panchayat,” they argued.
State schemesThere are other suggestions that the Centre should fund independent projects meant for the model villages. “Even MLAs get more funds for local area development. Certain States such as Kerala invite project suggestions from MLAs and make funds available for that. The Centre can emulate such schemes,” said senior Congress MP KV Thomas.
Birender Singh said in his letter to the MPs that the aim is for each MP to develop three model villages by March 2019. “While the activities for the development of the first set of Aadarsh Ggrams are going on, the timeline of the scheme requires identification of the next set of SAGY gram panchayats by January 2016,” the Minister’s letter said.
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