Under ‘Pradhan Mantri Adarash Gram Yojna’, 225 villages had been identified to make them model villages in district Solan and Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh for which rupees one Lakh each would be made available to them by the State Government. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, Sarveen Chaudhary announces in a meeting of Central Advisory Committee of Pradhan Mantri Adarash Gram Yojna at New Delhi today in which Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, Mukul Vasnik, Union Rural Development Minister, Jairam Ramesh and the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministers of various States were also present. She said that the base-line survey had been completed in all the 225 villages of Solan and Sirmaur districts. She stressed the need for training of officials and officers for implementing the Yojna in an effective manner, adding that though the topography of the State was different from rest of the States of the Country, still the State Government, was giving top priority to Social Service Sector and the State Annual Plan for Social Welfare Sector was 29.26 percent of the total budget.
The Minister said that the State Government was endeavouring for development and economic uplift of Scheduled Castes and was spending 24.72 percent of the total annual budget under Scheduled Caste sub-plan. She said that all the basic infrastructural facilities were being made available to those villages where the population of SC families was 50 percent or more under the plan. She said that a provision of Rs. 816 crore had been made in the budget in the year 2011-12. She said that Ambedkar Bhawans were being constructed in every assembly constituency adding that 50 percent relaxation was being given to children of Scheduled Caste BPL families seeking admission for computer education in all the schools of the State. Besides, free stationery and uniform was also being made available to them. Apart from this students of SC and OBCs, who had completed college education were being provided free computer courses in recognized institutions of the State to make them capable for services in Government and Non-Government organization, said the Minister. She said that in current financial year, villages where population of SCs were more than 40 percent, were being developed as model villages under ‘Mukhya Mantri Adarash Gram Yojna’ under which two village in every assembly segment would be developed as model villages and a sum of Rs. 12.40 crore would be spent on the same every year. The Minister said that the State Government had also launched ‘Mata Shabri Yojna’ to facilitate the SC women who were living below poverty line by providing them 50 percent subsidy on purchase of LPG connection.
