Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday hailed the gram panchayats for playing a vital role in social reforms and community building process and said that efforts are being made by the state government to ensure development of villages at par with urban areas so that the state could make its distinct identity in the country and world.
Addressing the Sarpanches of gram panchayats who have achieved 6-Star and 5-Star ratings under the 7-Star Rainbow Scheme, Khattar said that it was a matter of pride that this year about 4,000 gram panchayats has achieved 1 to 6 stars rating whereas only 1100 panchayats had achieved this rating last year.
Development and Panchayats Minister, O.P Dhankar was also present on this occasion. While 20 gram panchayats have achieved 6-star rating, 58 villages achieved 5-star rating.
Khattar said that to enhance the level of competition among the panchayats and to enable them to achieve highest rating, it has been decided that from the next year, those gram panchayats would either achieve the target of sex ratio of 1000 female per 1000 male once in five years or average sex ratio of five years is above 950, would be given full marks in this category. Stars are given to the panchayats on the basis of seven different yardsticks and sex ratio is one of them.
The chief minister said that earlier, the name of Haryana was prominently highlighted for killing daughters in the womb. Sensing the gravity of the situation, the nation-wide Beti-Bachao Beti Padhao programme was launched from Panipat on January 22, 2015. He said that the State Government with the support of panchayats and Non Government Organizations took it as a challenge and besides generating awareness among the masses also taken stringent actions including registration of FIRs against those violated the provisions of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994.
Khattar added that besides the infrastructural development, the state government has brought about a positive change in the system to make the life of people easier. E-governance has been implemented to inject much needed transparency in the system. Apart from this, government jobs are being given on merit basis, he said adding that to eliminate corruption and discretion, interview process has been scrapped in government jobs of Class III and IV.
He said that in order to give a strong leadership to society who can raise voice of the people at the grass root level, the State Government has introduced the concept of educated panchayats in the State. He said though it was a tough challenge for the State government to implement the concept but later not only the Supreme Court put its stamp on the State’s initiative but also suggested other States to follow the same.
Development and Panchayats Minister O.P Dhankar congratulated the Sarpanches of 6-Star and 5-Star gram panchayats of the State and said that now these 78 villages could be shown as a model to the foreign dignitaries’ visiting Haryana. Hoping that some of these Panchayats would also achieve 7-star rating next year, he said that a committee comprising dedicated youth should be constituted at village level which would not only work toward achieving 7-star rating but also maintain the status.
The Minister said this year 85 per cent gram Panchayats have made their registration under this scheme. But to instill a sense of competition among the Panchayats, it has been decided that from next year 100 per cent panchayats would have to make their registration compulsory. He said that as the survey for Grammen Swachata has been started in the State , the gram Panchayats should work towards ensuring that Haryana bagged the Swachh Sarvekshan Grameen Awards this year also. It may be recalled that Haryana has won the Swachh Sarvekshan Grameen Awards 2018.
Principal Secretary, Development and Panchayats Sudhir Rajpal said that the 7-Star Rating scheme was launched last year and the scheme has started yielding results in a very short span of time. He said that the process of star rating is transparent and based on seven different yardsticks.