Odisha’s 1200 panchayats to be poverty-free under Mission Antyodaya

Chinmayee Dash Published On : Feb 9, 2017 at 3:13 PM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Feb 9:

As many as 1200 panchayats of Odisha will be included under Centre’s proposed Mission Antyodaya to be poverty-free by the year 2019.

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The Union Ministry of Rural development has sent a draft proposal to Odisha Panchayatiraj department mentioning details about the proposed Mission seeking the State government’s opinion on the proposal, the official sources said.

The proposed mission will be implemented after getting feedback from all the states.

Notably, the Centre has decided to make 50,000 gram panchayats poverty-free by 2019.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitely while presenting the Union Budget 2017-18 had said that the government will launch a Mission Antyodaya for poverty alleviation in the country.

Focusing to improve the economic condition of people, the Centre will undertake a Mission Antyodaya to bring 1 crore households out of poverty and to make 50,000 gram panchayats poverty-free by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhiji, Jaitley had said in his budget speech.

Out of 50,000 panchayats, around 1200 panchayats of Odisha will be covered under the mission.

Currently, there are 6,802 panchayats in Odisha including 596 newly formed panchayats.
Combining all the central welfare schemes including NFSA, Sarva Siksha Yojana, Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), National Health Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission, National Rurban Mission, Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), National Social Assistance Programme(NSAP) and Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP), the proposed mission will be launched with an aim to achieve the target of poverty-free panchayats.

For beneficiary identification process, the Centre will invest Rs 3.41 crore for setting up state level nodal centres, Rs 10.23 crore for district level coordination and Rs 75 crore survey and data collection in the gram panchayats selected under the Mission. However, there has been a variation in the fund allocation in the states.

Besides, fund has been allocated for formation of a project monitoring unit and technical team.