The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an allocation of Rs 7,395 crore for the Pradhan Mantri Viksit Gram Swaraj Yojana, with Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw calling it a paradigm shift from prescription-based schemes to a model focused on local-level capacity building and planning.
A major focus of the scheme is capacity-building of elected representatives. General and specialised training will be provided to elected representatives to improve their functioning and governance capabilities.
Vaishnaw said the scheme would enable panchayats to identify their local resources and constraints, and prepare development plans based on their specific needs. “This is a paradigm change,” the minister said, explaining that the approach would move away from schemes that prescribe interventions and instead strengthen local institutions to plan for their own development. The scheme seeks to financially empower panchayats through better utilisation of Finance Commission grants and mobilisation of own-source revenue, to make them more self-reliant, he said. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
