Education institutions to adopt villages, devise developmental strategies

NEW DELHI: Leading higher education institutions will adopt villages, carry out field studies and come up with developmental solutions which could be implemented by district authorities under a unique initiative planned by the Centre.

According to officials, secretaries of Union ministries of HRD, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj signed an MoU yesterday under the 'Unnat Bharat' programme, which aims to connect knowledge institutions with rural development processes through adoption of village clusters.

The programme is being implemented in 92 districts in Phase-I.

After field study, engagement with the local community and assessment of requirements for quality living, the knowledge inputs of educational institutions could be incorporated into the Gram Panchayat Development Plans, that can be considered for implementation by district authorities.

As per the MoU, HRD ministry will ensure that all higher education institutions would be encouraged to adopt a cluster of 5 panchayats in consultation with the District Collectors to carry out detailed field study.

These institutions would participate in conceptualising and preparation of household-level and community-level development plans along with the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj personnel.

They would provide inputs and suggest innovative solutions to issues faced in the day-to-day lives of people, in the areas of livelihoods, energy security, environment security and basic living amenities.

The Ministry of Panchayat Raj would facilitate the involvement of knowledge institutions in the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) preparation process and ensure operational tie-up between the educational institutions and the local bodies.

The Ministry of Rural Development will make available the services of National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Hyderabad for capacity building of personnel from educational institutions to undertake field visits and impart familiarity with the tools of field study and report preparation.

It would make available the SECC data at household level so that plans can be formulated with livelihoods of households in view. MoRD would also facilitate the effective participation of District Collectors, DRDAs and other authorities to assist the programme processes.

On completion of the GPDPs for the clusters, MoRD would also take steps to provide resources for implementation of the plans through a process of convergence across schemes.