'Gram Uday' campaign: Nearly 300 govt officers to visit villages

New Delhi, April 17: Nearly 300 officers from various ministries including Defence, Home and Finance will be visiting village panchayats during the 10-day 'Gram uday se bharat uday' campaign, which was launched recently by the Prime Minister.

The officers working at the level of Deputy Secretaries and Directors have been nominated by various ministries for visiting gram panchayats during the programme to be observed between April 14-24.

"The government has attached a lot of importance to the 'Gram uday se bharat uday' abhiyan and it is being monitored by Prime Minister's Office," according to a Personnel Ministry communique. Interestingly, no officers working in the Prime Minister's Office and Cabinet Secretariat have been nominated for the programme, it says.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on April 14 launched the 'Gram uday se bharat uday' abhiyan--village self governance campaign-- aimed at development of the villages. The officers nominated would be visiting village panchayats in different states as part of this programme. The officers nominated for Panchayati Raj work include 32 from Defence Ministry, 21 from Finance and 15 from Home Ministry, it said.

"Out of 900 Deputy Secretary and Director level employees, nearly 300 have been nominated for the programme. We expect more employees to be nominated," a senior Personnel Ministry official said. The communication was sent to various ministries to convey less than desired attendance of nominated officers for the orientation programme held two days before the launch of the campaign.

Of the 300 nominated officers, only 170 had attended the orientation programme. "Non-attendance in the orientation programme on April 11, 2016 by several officers in regrettable," it had said.

Following this more officers were nominated, the official said. While launching the programme in Madhya Pradesh's Mhow on April 14, the Prime Minister had said the campaign would focus on the development work to be done in villages.

He said this year's Union Budget was dedicated to farmers and villages and initiatives should be focused on rural development.

PTI