Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Saturday stressed on multi-dimensional approach to tackle Maoists violence in the country.
Addressing a press conference after the launch of Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows at Andhra Pradesh Academy of Rural Development (APARD), Jairam Ramesh said that the naxalism could be fought through three legs – political, development and security. However, he said unfortunately, the security was getting the top priority in almost all the naxal-affected States.
Stating that the situation in Andhra Pradesh was not as critical as in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh or Odisha, he said the political approach was missing in many States. He said the government was trying to bring in development in the affected areas through schemes like National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. He said while Andhra Pradesh was able to deal with the situation by taking up all activities, development and politics took a back seat in other States.
Jairam Ramesh informed that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has been conducting the performance audit of NREGS schemes in 12 States. He said the government would take appropriate action based on the findings of the CAG report.
The minister praised Andhra Pradesh Government for the effective implementation of NREGS. He reminded that the Social Audit conducted by the State Government has been revealed the financial misappropriation of over Rs 120 crore and almost Rs 30 crore have been recovered so far. He said that the Social Audit has been acknowledged and were being adopted by other States. He said Andhra Pradesh is the only state in the country which has a transaction-based Management Information System wherein the expenditure of each rupee could be tracked at the panchayat, block and district levels.
Jairam Ramesh claimed that the Special Programmes taken up by the government has also improved the productivity of Assigned Lands owned by dalits and Adivasis. According to an estimate, he said the crop cultivated area in Andhra Pradesh has gone up by about 10 per cent in the last three years through schemes like NREGS.
Regarding the PMRD Fellows Programme, the minister said that it was aimed at bringing convergence of development and welfare programmes and schemes by the central and the state governments. He said that of 8,560 applications received for the Fellowship, 156 candidates have been selected.
Jairam Ramesh said the programme would be implemented in 84 districts in the country. They include nine district in Bihar, 18 in Orissa, three in West Bengal, 16 in Chattisgarh, eight in Madhya Pradesh, three in Uttar Pradesh, two in Maharashtra, 17 in Jharkhand and eight in Andhra Pradesh. He said the Fellows would report to the District Collector concerned. He clarified that the Fellows would not be the ‘eyes and ears’ of the Central Government.
Jairam Ramesh said that the selected Fellows would work for the programme for a period of two years, which might be extended, if required. (INN)