Budget allocations higher for rural development, Minister

New Delhi, Mar 21 (UNI) Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad today said the government is constructing 15 lakh houses each year for the rural poor which is among several other schemes as the budgetary allocations for the sector has gone up from Rs 24000 crore to Rs 31,000 crore.

Speaking after a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on working of the Ministries of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, the Minister said ''I am still not satisfied with the budget. Much more needed to be done for this sector as rural India remains backward. All our plan of taking the country among the most developed nations will just be a dream.'' He said in the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, that was launched in February, over two crore families in 17 states had registered themselves for getting employment.

In 181 districts, several jobless have been employed in the country.

On rural road connectivity more than Rs one crore has been spent.

On rural housing, he said 10 crore families have been identified and the government has created a ''permanent waiting list''. For 60 per cent of SC/STs, the government has provided dwellings. Even electricity would be provided under the Rajiv Gandhi Vidyut Yojana programme.

On land management, he said one crore 47 lakh acres of waste land has been distributed, while 72 lakh hectares of land has been made cultivable. He pointed out to the huge areas in arid Rajasthan that has been made cultivable.

Earlier, taking part in the discussion on the Working of Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Mr Moolchand Meena (Cong) said the government policies have been discriminatory to rural population.

He said the farmers were not getting adequate prices for their produce and their lands were confiscated if they failed to pay their credit of a few thousand rupees, while big industrialists were waived off their credits worth crores of rupees.

The promise of cheap power to farmers is also forgotten after elections, he said.

The condition of health services was pathetic. There was only one hospital for six villages and there was no monitoring of private agencies which got government funds for providing health care in rural areas.

BJP member Kalraj Mishra suggested that direct elections should be held to all the three tiers of Panchayat institutions to eliminate corruption.

Mr Mishra also called for greater monitoring of funds allocated to panchayat bodies and creation of a separate Panchayat Nikay (Corporation) with a separate budget of its own.

On the other hand, Jayantilal Barot, also of the BJP, wanted to do away with the system of elections itself. If panchayat bodies were created on the basis of consensus, they would work in a more harmonious manner, he felt.

UNI RT/NAZ MSJ GC1910