Fifteen districts of Chhattisgarh have been covered under Ministry of Panchayati Raj's District component of Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) Programme, the Central Government has informed.
The districts are namely-- Bastar, Bijapur, Bilaspur, Dantewada, Dhamtari, Jashpur, Kabirdham, Kanker, Korba, Korea, Mahasammund, Narayanpur, Raigarh, Rajnandgaon and Sarguja covered under the BRGF Programme.
The backward districts under the BRGF Programme were selected on the basis of rank of backwardness on chosen parameters relating to income deprivation, health and education status, social backwardness and infrastructural inadequacy.
After the acceptance of the recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance Commission, the District Component of BRGF Programme has been delinked from budgetary support of the Central Government with effect from the financial year 2015-16, on account of enhanced fiscal space made available to the States due to higher devolution from 32% to 42% of the Centre’s net tax receipts to them.
The funds under BRGF were released to the State Governments for onward transfer to the backward districts for supplementing and converging existing developmental inflows into identified backward districts so as to bridge critical gaps in local infrastructure and other development requirements.
The BRGF Programme has been delinked from budgetary support of the Central Government with effect from financial year 2015-16.
There are also 11 districts of Chhattisgarh included in list of 115 Aspirational Districts identified by NITI Aayog in the country, officials informed.
They are- Korba , Bastar, Mahasamund Bijapur, Dantewada,Chhattisgarh, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Rajnandgaon and Sukma .
A total of 115 districts of the country which includes 35 districts affected by left Wing Extremism have been indentified for rapid transformation.
The Central Government has appointed an officer of the rank of Joint Secretary/ Additional Secretary as Prabhari Officer who would act as bridge between District, State and Central Govt.
They are to guide district administration in making district action plan and to implement the same so that the concerned district may first try to catch up with the best district in the concerned State and then aspire to become among the India’s best districts. Four districts of Maharashtra have been identified in the list.
They are Nandurbar, Washim, Gadchiroli, and Osmanabad. Of these, Gadchiroli has been included due to district being affected by left Wing Extremism.
This programme is implemented in partnership with State Governments. The concerned State Govt. including Maharashtra have joined this programme, and are working in close coordination with NITI Aayog and Central Government.
Given these institutional mechanism, there is no requirement of formally entering into a MoU as States are already working in close partnership with the Central Government.
NITI Aayog has given ‘in principle’ approval to various proposals related to roads, telecommunication, education, Ujjwala yojana and expansion of bank branches for overall development of Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region.
NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has asked various departments of the Centre to ensure speedy implementation of these suggestions and said that the Aayog will review the implementation process on a regular basis.
At a meeting held to implement Bastar Development Plan jeld in New Delhi at the NITI Aayog recently, senior officials led by Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary Ajay Singh had discussed these suggestions with NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, CEO Amitabh Kant, other members and Secretaries of various departments of the Government of India.
The Chief Secretary had informed that ‘in principle’ approval has been given for construction of additional 600 km of roads in Bastar under Rashtriya Road project – 2 and Special Secretary (Home Ministry) has assured that implementation of this proposal will be done on priority.