Jammu: Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs), being implemented in J&K Panchayats are giving major sectors, including agriculture, health, education, women and skill development, a miss.
In contravention with the constitutional mandate and the guidelines of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India, the GPDPs in the Union Territory are mainly focussing on schemes run by the Department of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj and are not adequately covering major sectors out of 29 subjects devolved to the Panchayats.
Analysing this major lacuna, the J&K government has now directed its all Administrative Secretaries to “sensitize their respective Heads of the Departments about the importance of participatory planning process for overall development of the village and ensure that the GPDPs are all encompassing.”
This direction has been issued after during a recent meeting, the Chief Secretary J&K Arun Kumar Mehta, has observed with concern that there has been miniscule presence of major sectors e.g., Agriculture, Women & Child Development, Health & Nutrition, Education, Animal Husbandry, Skill Development etc. in the GPDPs that are being implemented in the Panchayats.
“The Constitution has empowered the Gram Panchayats (GPs) for planning and implementation of various schemes for economic development and social justice. Several initiatives have been taken by the Government of India, as well as state governments to realize the constitutional mandate by enabling the GPs to prepare decentralized participatory plans,” GAD secretary Dr Piyush Singla has pointed out.