Deputy Chairman,
Shri K.C. Pant, said today that pooling of resources and focussed
attention on key areas was needed to achieve the ambitious targets
set for the 10th Plan. The State Governments must ensure
that the policies and programmes that impinge on the line of poor
are well targeted and implemented effectively as this was imperative
for upliftment of poor from shackles of poverty. Speaking at the
conference of Ministers and Secretaries of Rural Development,
Panchayati Raj and Public Works Department here today. He said
the slacking of growth of employment, tapering of agricultural
productivity, land degradation, water scarcity and environmental
sustainability were among the major causes of worry as they have
direct impact on employment generation.
Shri Pant said
plethora of schemes and programmes have not adequately addressed
the problem of growing regional disparities. He pointed out that
even in the States that are better developed there were districts
that had not been able to integrate effectively with the over
all growth process. He said to address this issue the Planning
Commission had introduced a comprehensive programme on district
level development called Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana (RSVY) in
selected backward districts. The Government would provide additional
resources to these districts for creation of infrastructure and
livelihood opportunities. He said the States must take up the
task of holistic development and convergence of schemes at district
and sub-district levels to have major impact in addressing problem
of growing disparities.
He said allocations
under RSVY had been link to governance reform as governance was
being considered as a major constraint to growth. In order to
have more targeted approach the 10th Five Year Plan
has laid lot of emphasis on empowerment of Panchayati Raj institutions.
These institutions have been given a central role in mobilisation
of social capital and delivery of developmental programmes to
the rural areas. The State Governments need to supplement centre’s
initiatives in that democratic decentralisation so as to bring
about greater transparency and accountability in the system of
development administration.
The Deputy Chairman,
Planning Commission said wage employment programme ‘Sampoorna
Gramin Rozgar Yojana’ (SGRY) was being considerably strengthened
with much higher allocation in the 10th Plan so that
it could serve as an important instrument to address the problem
of current poverty by providing employment in lean agricultural
season. The SGRY would be taken up more intensively in the identified
backward districts, which are characterized by low agricultural
productivity and employment.
