Ranchi
Khunti, by virtue of being the Lok Sabha constituency of Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda, has reaped much dividends of government schemes, with one of them being the Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAAGY).
The scheme aims at the integrated growth of such villages where the total population of Scheduled Tribes (ST) is more than 40 per cent, but caped up to 50 percent for the time being.
This scheme was introduced by the union Tribal Affairs Ministry in the financial year 2021–22 and would continue upto 2025–26. However, in the first phase, only such villages where the Scheduled Tribes population is at least 50 percent or their total population is more than 500 were selected.
A total of 16,554 such villages from across the country were taken up in the first phase. And 254 such villages from Khunti district and 386 villages from Gumla district too were among them.
The development schemes focusing on education, health, employment generation, infrastructural growth, conservation and enrichment of places of religious and cultural importance, et al, were prepared in consultation with the traditional gram sabhas and the self-help groups, especially the ones being headed by women, were responsible for the execution of the schemes.
The projects received special attention of the official machinery also because they come under the Khunti Lok Sabha constituency, which is being represented by Arjun Munda himself.
Munda has also closely been monitoring the progress of these projects from the very start, officials close to the Minister said.
President Droupadi Murmu too will be visiting Khunti on May 25. Addressing the women’s self-help groups is her main official engagement during the Khunti tour. Senior officials of the state administration are now busy giving final touches to preparations for extending a warm reception to the President.
However, a senior official of the state government’s tribal welfare department maintained that apart from the remaining of villages of Khunti and Gumla districts, certain villages of West Singhbhum district too would be taken up for development as model villages in the second phase. The proposal has been sent to the Centre for approval.
“Initially, we had proposed a total of about 5, 800 villages in the state. But, the Centre approved only 3,891 villages. Only Gumla and Khunti districts have so far directly been benefitted in the first phase,” he said.
