Tripura publishes report card of rural development, says NREGA not its barometer

Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma published the report card of the rural development department since the 2018-19 financial year and listed 46 major achievements in six segments.

Village committees are the equivalent of a gram panchayat in autonomous district council areas. (Express Photo)

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The Tripura government Friday published a report card of rural development achievements in the last five years and said despite the Covid pandemic and rural livelihood avenues were augmented through the modernisation of villages. However, the government does not feel jobs rolled out through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) can be an indicator of positivity or progress.

Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma published the report card of the rural development department since the 2018-19 financial year and listed 46 major achievements in six segments, including Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), rural livelihood mission, MGNREGA, rural development engineering wings, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission and panchayat department.

He said all other departments of the state government would also publish report cards of respective achievements apart from similar report cards from all MLAs.

While the deputy CM said his government has rolled out 60 person-days work on average under the MGNREGA across Tripura and 65 person-days on average in 12 ‘aspirational RD blocks’ and ended corruption in wage employment benefits, his government does not feel NREGA is an indicator of positivity.

“NREGA can’t be the barometer of development or a positive indicator. I would not say there should be less NREGA work. If there is demand among people, we shall give work as long as we can. But if there is no demand, it means there are other avenues of income in villages,” he said.

Dev Varma also said MGNREGA is given more priority in aspirational blocks like Raishyanari, Ganganagar etc since they have a high demand for work. “We have earmarked these as aspirational blocks based on ground reality. We are giving special treatment for all these blocks as they were neglected blocks in the past”, he said.

He said rural people are in celebration mode due to the modernisation of panchayats, augmentation of rural livelihood, extension of governance and services to the doorstep through the integration of technology, development of infrastructure etc.

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In a sharp jibe to the previous Left Front government, Dev Varma said gram panchayat offices used to be havens for the highhandedness of political parties in the past but these offices are now modernised and integrated with Internet services to usher in practical development.

“Rural development and panchayat departments have done the highest work for last mile service delivery. In the past, panchayat offices were places for the high-handedness of political parties. We want these offices to become an epicentre of development today”, he said.

He also virtually inaugurated 15 new panchayat bhawans and introduced the first phase of internet connectivity at 108 gram panchayat and village committees.

Village committees are the equivalent of a gram panchayat in autonomous district council areas.