EMN
KOHIMA OCTOBER 20
A local community group that functions as rural development mechanism has appealed to the state government to continue implementing the Backward Region Grant Fund, on the justification that there were still ‘many areas’ that lack development.’
Noting many areas in the state are “still lacking far behind in the field of development,” the Nagaland State Village Development Board Association has appealed to the state government to continue offering the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) program in Nagaland.
The organization also mentioned that the Ministry of Panchayati Raj had directed that more funds should be allotted to the pachayat.The association issued a press release on Tuesday, October 20, making high claims that “developments that are seen at the grassroots level in the state today are yielding of the promising experiment and proper implementation of the schemes by the Gram Panchayats and development board in the villages.”
In a representation to the chief minister of Nagaland, the association stated that the “discontinuation of BRGF in the state will have far reaching consequences in the progress of the living condition and development of the rural masses specially to those people living in the most backward region of the state.”
The press release claimed that the “developments that are seen at the grassroots level in the state today are yielding of the promising experiment and proper implementation of the schemes by the Gram Panchayats and development board in the villages.”
The organization’s representation also mentioned “the clear directive from the Ministry of Panchayati Raj New Delhi, to allot more funds to the pachayat stating that the pattern of 14 Finance Commission had devolve more funds in the states.”
The group stated:
“While suggesting that the existing BRGF scheme may be extended to the entire state of Nagaland, the association has appealed the authority concerned to recognize the positive influence of the strong community life of the Nagas by diving more importance to the Gram Pachayat/VDBs and to continue with the BRGF programme in the state on top priority.”
The Backward regions Grant Fund Program
The Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF), launched by the Indian Prime Minister at Barpeta in Assam on February 19, 2007, signified a new approach in addressing persistent regional imbalances of development in India.
The programme subsumed the Rashtriya Sama Vikas Yojana (RSVY), a plan previously administered by the Indian Planning Commission. The BRGF Programme covers 250 districts in 27 states,[1] of which 232 districts fall under the purview of Parts IX and IX-A of the Indian Constitution dealing with the Panchayats and the Municipalities, respectively.
The remaining 18 districts are covered by other local government structures, such as Autonomous District and Regional Councils under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and state specific arrangements as in the case of Nagaland and the hill areas of Manipur.
The Backward Regions Grant Fund is designed to redress regional imbalances in development by way of providing financial resources for supplementing and converging existing developmental inflows into the identified backward districts, to:
• Bridge critical gaps in local infrastructure and other development requirements that are not being adequately met through existing inflows,
• Strengthen, to this end, Panchayat and Municipality level governance with more appropriate capacity building, to facilitate participatory planning, decision making, implementation and monitoring, to reflect local felt needs,
• Provides professional support to local bodies for planning, implementation and monitoring their plans,
• Improve the performance and delivery of critical functions assigned to Panchayats, and counter possible efficiency and equity losses on account of inadequate local capacity.
