Union Minister of Panchayati Raj, Rural Development and Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar has said that Sarpanches and elected representatives of Panchayats should perform their responsibility for the overall development of villages. Panchayat representatives should also come forward to work on subjects like education, health and nutrition so that every village in the country can move forward on the path of complete development.

Speaking on the occasion of National Panchayat Awards distribution function held virtually from New Delhi today, Shri Tomar congratulated the award-winning Panchayat representatives, and said that taking inspiration from the winning panchayats, other panchayats should also do better so that they too can receive these awards next year. On National Panchayati Raj Day on 24th of April 2020, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had direct interaction with the panchayat representatives of the country through a webcast. The winners of three categories of National Panchayat Awards - Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Purasakar, Child Friendly Gram Panchayat Award and Gram Panchayat Development Plan Purasakar were also announced that day.

Shri Tomar said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has started the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan to give a new direction to the country amid the circumstances arising out of the Corona infection. At the core of Self-Reliant India is a village and agro-based economy. In such a situation, the role of the people's representatives of the panchayats increases further so as to realize the vision of the Prime Minister. Shri Tomar said that every child of the village should go to school, all programs from vaccination to nutrition should run smoothly, farmers should get information about farming techniques; to make it a reality the sarpanches will have to work in coordination with the local government. Sarpanches should monitor the benefits of every government scheme for villagers.

The Minister referred to the Svamitva Yojana of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and said that this scheme will provide legal documents to the people living in the villages for their residential properties. Shri Tomar also released the Gramoday Sankalp, a magazine of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. This magazine contains important information about the excellent works of Panchayats, inspiring themes and success stories as well as the plans of the departments.

Panchayat & Rural Development Minister of Uttar Pradesh Shri Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, Panchayat & Rural Development Minister of Himachal Pradesh Shri Virendra Kanwar and  Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj Shri Sunil Kumar also participated in the program through webcast. Two categories of Rashtriya Panchayat Awards - Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashatikaran Puraskar and E-Panchayat Puraskar were also announced. The elected representatives of the award-winning panchayats informed about the outstanding work done in their panchayats.

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