Gujarat tops in Centre’s 20-pt scheme

Gujarat was ranked first for performance during April-July 2010 followed by Karnataka,Jharkhand,Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

Besides Northeastern states,the worst performers include Bihar,West Bengal,Maharashtra,Jammu and Kashmir,Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.

Other states,which hold the first eight ranks in the list are Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. Both states ranked seventh. The BJP ruled Himachal Pradesh was ranked 10.

Inaugurating the review meeting of the Twenty Point Programme-2006 here,Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation Sriprakash Jaiswal today said,”out of 19 parameters monitored on the monthly basis,except a few,the performance of most of them have been very good.”

Some of these parameters are: number of scheduled caste families assisted,habitation covered for quality of water supply,houses constructed under Indira Awas Yojana.

The Twenty Point Programme was started in 1975 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The objective of the programme has been to improve the living standard of the poor and down-trodden sections of the society.

The emphasis has also been in streamlining production,procurement and distribution of essential commodities,implementation of agricultural land ceiling and distribution of surplus land,development of handloom sector and workers’ association in industry.

The programme has been restructured thrice since its inception in 1975 primarily because of introduction of new schemes and programmes by the government.

The first revision was held in 1982 and the second in 1986. The third and last revision took place in 2006. The restructured programme is called Twenty Point Programme – 2006.

The programme consists of various pro-poor schemes with focus on poverty alleviation,employment generation especially in rural areas,housing,education,family welfare and health,protection of the environment,among others.