Speech of the Hon'ble President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, at the National Conference of the Project Directors of District Rural Development Agencies

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am glad to be here at this Conference, as I strongly believe that with 70 percent of our population living in villages, the development of India will not be comprehensive or complete unless there is development in the rural areas. In the fast changing world, there is need to act with a sense of urgency to ensure that our population living in rural areas has the skills and opportunities to benefit from growth. Therefore, we will have to shed lethargy and lax attitude to achieve this objective. The 11th Five Year Plan is targeting economic growth with emphasis on inclusive growth. A major focus of our efforts must be on bringing about a visible and tangible difference in the quality of life of the rural population especially the rural poor of our country.

The Ministry of Rural Development has a pivotal role in formulating programmes for sustainable income, capacity building and skill up-gradation in rural areas. On the other hand, District Rural Development Agencies, as nodal administrative units for implementation of programmes, have the challenge of actually bringing change in the lives of the people in rural areas by taking effective action for implementing programmes.

The Government has put in place a framework of policies and programmes, which seek to bring about a holistic development of rural areas. They also aim to give the weaker sections of our society a security net. The Flagship programmes - Bharat Nirman and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme have been launched with these objectives.

Bharat Nirman is shaped to address issues relating to the provision of basic infrastructure and amenities such as drinking water, roads, housing, irrigation, telephone connectivity and electrification in a time bound manner to rural areas. Construction of rural roads brings multifaceted benefits that include better prices for agricultural produce, lower prices of essential commodities for rural consumers and a better infrastructure for setting up rural and agro-industries. They also bring to the lives of the rural population, better medical care, better access to education and better availability of public services. The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna is a right step in this direction.

Rural Housing is one of the basic requirements for human survival. Possession of a house brings about a profound social change in a person's existence. The Indira Awaas Yojana provides assistance for the construction and up-gradation of dwelling units to rural households living below the poverty line with priority being given to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The work of actual construction is being done directly by the beneficiary, which gives a sense of ownership and whole-hearted involvement in building the dwelling unit.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has given the right to employment to the rural poor of this country in the form of a guarantee of 100 days of unskilled work in a year. This programme if implemented in letter and spirit will bring about a revolution in rural areas leading not only to immediate wage-employment generation but, also in the long run, to the rejuvenation of land, water bodies and bio-diversity. Many a times, complaints are received that full remunerations are not being paid or payments are delayed and sometimes employment is not provided in time. Implementing agencies will have to be sincere and prompt to redress these grievances and to avoid recurrence of such incidents.

The objective of rural development can only be realized when the executing agencies - that is all of you - plan, implement and monitor effectively. Planning requires that ad-hocism should be avoided and projects be executed in a manner so as to ensure that they result in the proper development of an area. One inadequacy in planning is that there is little co-ordination amongst various line Departments. There are hundreds of welfare schemes for the benefit of the rural population sponsored by various Government departments. Often action for the execution of these schemes is taken in a compartmentalized manner.

An important requirement is the convergence of various schemes to optimize benefits and to avoid duplication. Project Directors, officials and CEOs of Zilla Parishads and District Collectors should coordinate these programmes in a manner that benefits are maximized. An appropriate monitoring system should be that which is designed to ensure time bound execution and should help in identifying delays and constraints in implementation. A lacuna in our system is that sometimes benefits are not reaching the targeted population even though funds are available. The yardstick that you should adopt when judging your own performance should be whether funds are fully utilized in time and whether they have been utilized prudently for creating durable assets and by ensuring that there has been no pilferage of funds either on account of wastage or corruption.

As implementers, you must have experienced that often there is lack of awareness about various development and welfare programmes among people. You must take action to launch awareness campaigns by keeping gram-sabhas and panchayats informed about initiatives, policies and programmes and make them "information hubs for rural development". The experiences I heard yesterday of the NSS volunteers and NCC cadets who had participated in the Republic Day parade were important. These young committed boys and girls will be of immense help in creating awareness about various Government schemes in rural areas. I was also informed by the Director-General of the NCC and the Director of the NSS about the willingness of these young people to work for the eradication of social evils and help in other areas. We should tap this potential so as to make them, "messengers of development".

Agriculture is an important component of rural development. To enhance productivity, land development and irrigation are necessary. Land is a critically important national resource, the efficient use of which is vital for economic growth and development of rural areas. However, land is under tremendous pressure both biotic and abiotic. There should be optimum utilization of land and efforts must be made to improve its quality and restore soil health. Many programmes like the 'Drought Prone Areas Programme', 'Desert Development Programme' and 'Integrated Wastelands Development Programme' are related to the development of wasteland and degraded lands through the watershed approach. Rain fed farming is like a gamble. To reduce the risk, particularly during dry spells, protective irrigation helps immensely. For this purpose, small structures like farm ponds, village tanks, nallah bunds and cement plugs are very useful and these can be easily constructed. At the same time, the upkeep and de-silting of existing water bodies needs to be undertaken to enhance their water storage capacity. Apart from Government programmes, these activities can also be undertaken through Shramadan by motivating people.

In rural areas, women undertake 60 percent of farm work and contribute in a big way to food production and economic growth. As the most vulnerable, they often are the most neglected. Your task has been greatly facilitated by the Panchayati Raj system where 33 percent of women representatives, totaling more than one million, have been elected across the nation. They can certainly be your most powerful allies to bring about change in the lives of rural women.

Promoting the marketing of rural products is important in generating higher incomes. The Ministry under the brand name SARAS is organizing various fairs and exhibitions in metropolitan and major cities of the country. Similarly, efforts to give adequate publicity to the range of products produced by the swarozgaries and to establish adequate backward and forward linkages for this purpose should be encouraged.

The Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana is a major self-employment programme for the rural poor covering various aspects such as organization of the poor into Self Help Groups (SHGs), training, credit, technology, infrastructure and marketing. The Yojana focuses on organization of the poor at the grassroots level through a process of social mobilization for poverty eradication. Social mobilization enables the poor to build their own organization namely the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in which they participate fully and directly and take decisions on all issues concerning poverty eradication. The Scheme also envisages promoting micro-enterprises by following the cluster approach in identified key activities. So far over 27 lakh Self Help Groups have been formed, nearly 5.5 lakh SHGs have actively taken up economic activities and a total of over 92 lakh Swarozgaris have been assisted with an investment of nearly Rs. 20,000 crore. Out of the total swarozgaris, 46 percent are SCs/STs of which 52 percent are women.

This Conference should have a discussion on how to ensure the full involvement of Panchayati Raj institutions, NGOs and the local population in the implementation of the schemes. Secondly, how to dovetail various programmes; to ensure proper coordination amongst DRDAs, line departments and Panchayati Raj Institutions; and to promote cohesive action by officials, office bearers of Panchayat Raj institutions, NGOs, beneficiaries and the local population. Peoples' participation is of utmost importance for achieving "Gram Swaraj" and for the prosperity of rural areas and welfare of the poor. The implementers must be sensitive to the livelihood concerns of the people and strive to provide a decent living standard to every citizen. It is my hope that this Conference will be a step towards realization of Gandhiji's message, which was also mentioned by Raghuvansh Prasadji, in which Gandhiji had said, "I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall feel that it is their own country in whose making they have an effective voice." It is your responsibility to turn this into reality.

I am confident this work will be completed under the able leadership of Raghuvansh Prasadji who is committed to the cause of Rural Development. I am happy that Ahluwaliaji has also come today in the programme and the Minister of State for Rural Development and also three women Secretaries have also come. The work has been done with speed, determination and commitment. We will be successful in making our Nation prosperous.

JAI HIND