Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said that his State will play a pivotal role in creation of New India 2022 as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision.
Addressing the 4th Governing Council Meeting of Niti Aayog at New Delhi on Sunday, he said the Prime Minister has given new dimension to ‘citizen empowerment’ by implementing more than 100 schemes beneficial for the common man. The day-long meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by Union Ministers, Chief Ministers and senior Government officials. In his speech, the Prime Minister lauded implementation of District Mineral Foundation (DMF) in Chhattisgarh and urged all States to emulate the same.
Raman Singh appreciated Niti Aayog’s initiative taken towards special subjects and problems of Chhattisgarh. Referring to a meeting of Niti Aayog called for discussing overall development of Bastar region, the Chief Minister said that such initiatives were always helpful in taking immediate action and in speedy implementation of pending and important issues.
Chhattisgarh has touched many pinnacles of development. It has included the partnership of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, women and youth in the development, he said. State Government is committed towards achieving targets set by the Prime Minister for New India 2022. Chhattisgarh has shown complete devotion in implementation of schemes like GST and GeM, Raman Singh said.
Speaking on District Mineral Foundation, the CM said that Prime Minister’s foresightedness has made it easier for the Government to work as per the aspirations of locals. He added that funds from DMF has made it possible to bring modern education, health institutions, drinking water, electrification, agriculture development and cleanliness work in Naxal-affected regions of Bijapur and Dantewada.
Chief Minister said that his Government has chalked out an action plan to double the income of farmers and started working towards its implementation.
He informed that 14 ‘mandis’ (markets) in State have been brought under E-NAM and E-NAM ‘mitras’ (friends) have been appointed to ensure effective operation of the portal. Agricultural produce have been continuously linked to the portal to increase buying and selling, he added.
Referring to Soil Health Card Scheme (Mrida Swasthya Card Yojana), he said that number of soil testing laboratories have been increased to 26. In addition to that 174 mini soil testing laboratories have also been set up to increase capacity of laboratories from one lakh to 9 lakh.
On Ayushman Bharat, he said that the state government has designated a nodal agency to ensure its effective implementation. He further said that 15 districts have been included under the Nutrition Drive (Poshan Abhiyan) in the current fiscal year and 24 theme based activities have been marked under the programme.
On efforts of the state government, he said, Chhattisgarh has succeeded in bringing down malnutrition rate from 40.05 per cent in year 2012 to 26.33 per cent in 2017. The malnutrition rate has remarkably come down to 13.72 per cent. He also mentioned village and agriculture haat, Pradhanmantri Rashtriya Swasthya Suraksha Mission, Mission Indradhanush etc.
He said that 10 districts of the state have been selected under ‘Akankshi district programme. As per the ranking given by the Niti Aayog in 2018 Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district is the second on the list of Akankshi districts. With Mahasamund and Korba districts, the number of CG’s districts on the list of top ten reaches to 3.
The chief minister further said that Niti Aayog has strengthened the concept of cooperative federalism by setting up time bound targets. He thanked Niti Aayog and Prime Minister for the same. Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary Ajay Singh was also present at the meeting.