Soon after taking reigns of the Union Rural Development Ministry, Gopinath Munde, who died in a car accident on Tuesday, had got cracking as he held two detailed review meetings on implementation of two ambitious programmes — Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna (PMGSY).
Munde was elated to take charge of the Ministry for the welfare of rural people and ensuring drinking water and sanitation. He had no qualms in saying, “I am a man from a village. I began my political career from a panchayat. I was born in a small village with a population of 400 people. I am very happy as I have been assigned by Narendra Modi to work for the welfare of villages.”
He had even suggested a roadmap to improve lives of millions of poor living in rural India, said RD officials with whom he had struck an instant report soon after assuming charge. A senior official recollected that just a week in his office and the late Minister had shown ‘maturity’ and vision of a senior politician.
Munde had suggested ‘a village planning’ by converging welfare schemes in the three Ministries — Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation — and this should be implemented in the least developed villages.
“He was not into scraping the schemes of his predecessor (Jairam Ramesh) who was from the different political party. Rather, he favoured making the existing programmes perfect and adding on to them. For instance, he was of the opinion that the Indira Awas Yojana should not only have SC/ST and BPl households; but also migrant households/nomadic tribes too,” said a senior RD official.
On rural job schemes, the late Minister was clear from very beginning itself when he said he liked NREGA but it needed changes. “This scheme is best for villages. Basically, people get employment, but proper management was a problem,” he had told reporters soon after joining the Ministry.
In fact, praise for the work in the UPA II in the field had brought his predecessor Jairam Ramesh to the Krishi Bhavan to congratulate him personally.
“I am both shocked and saddened by the sudden demise of Gopinath Mundeji with whom I shared a warm personal relationship although we belonged to different political parties,” Ramesh said.
It was not only among officials but with scribes too Munde was popular as he was easily accessible to them.