Government plans booklets in regional languages to publiciise flagship schemes

NEW DELHI: The rural development ministry plans to distribute booklets in regional languages outlining the government’s flagship welfare schemes and their benefits. With the proposed move, the ministry hopes to sharpen its approach to increasing awareness about the UPA government’s social sector schemes in rural areas, which represent about 67% of the country’s population.

The Jairam Ramesh-led ministry has been allocated Rs 74,000 crore for implementation of four flagship welfare schemes — Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Rs 33,000 crore), Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana (Rs 21,700), Indira Awaas Yojana (Rs 15,184) and National Rural Livelihood Mission (Rs 4,000 crore).

“All the flagship rural development programmes and the money allocated for them belong to the people at the grassroots level,” rural development secretary LC Goyal told ET. “However, not many people at the gram panchayat level are fully aware of these programmes, their objectives, guidelines and processes involved.

Hence, the ministry is now mulling to come up with small booklets in regional languages to help the rural population better understand these schemes.”

The booklets, Goyal said, would be used as part of a campaign strategy to reach out to the rural population. General elections, due next year, will determine whether the Congress-led UPA government will continue to hold power at the Centre. Last month, Ramesh was appointed as convener of a ‘special group’ of the AICC that has been tasked with coordinating the Congress party’s poll efforts.