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Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Minister for Rural Development has said that war on poverty will be unleashed to remove it from the countryside before the end of the Eleventh Plan. The Minister for Rural Development was inaugurating a two-day National Conference of Project Directors of District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) here today. Dr. Prasad further said that rural development programmes will have to be implemented in a mission mode to ensure that total funds earmarked for rural development are utilized fully, they are to be passed on to the implementation agencies without any iota of delay and strict monitoring should be put in place to plug the loopholes in benefiting the target groups. The Minister also underlined the point that Government has seized of the matter and we cannot be a front-ranking nation without bringing in the prosperity in the villages. The Government is emphasizing, therefore, the food for work programme and is also to initiate the Employment Guarantee Programme to cover all unemployed persons throughout the country. But, despite best of the efforts we are not still able to succeed to the desired level and we are facing many problems including the bank credits to finance the Self Help Groups in Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY). He said the banks will have to adopt a pro-active approach to make these programmes a success. Keeping in view the importance of the role of financial institutions, especially public sector banks in successful implementation of the SGSY, the Minister for Rural Development also impressed upon the senior executives of the banks, RBI and NABARD to ensure that the loans extended to swarozgaris under SGSY should be made available within a slab of 4 to 6 per cent interest.
National Conference of Project Directors from all over the country was also attended by RBI officials, Chief Executives of the major banks, State Government Secretaries in-charge of rural development, Government of India Secretaries and other senior officials of the Ministry of Rural Development. The Planning Commission Member, Shri B. N. Yughandhar, Secretary, Rural Development and Secretary, Drinking Water Supply also graced the occasion. The inauguration of the programme was followed by a special presentation on SGSY, SGRY, rural housing and monitoring of the rural development programmes.
The National Conference of Project Directors of DRDAs has been convened by the Ministry of Rural Development to have a close interaction between the planners, policy makers and implementers to exchange ideas and information to improve the quality of implementation to make the delivery system more efficient and result oriented. The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing a number of programmes to improve the quality of life in rural areas, especially targeting the large population living below poverty line. These programmes cover schemes such as employment generation, rural infrastructure development, food security, shelter and habitat development, drinking water supply, sanitation, area development etc.
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