SRI NAGAR: After the successful conduct of two phases of the Back to Village (B2V) programme, the Jammu and Kashmir government is all set to launch a 10-day phase-III B2V from October 2 to bring governance to the doorsteps of the people in villages.
The third phase of the B2V programme, described by officials as a festival of development and democracy among the masses, has been improved to make it more effective and the government has earmarked over Rs 500 crore for undertaking developmental work.
The government has made it mandatory for carrying out at least two developmental works in every panchayat. It means that over 8,500 works will be taken up in J&K, which has 4,290 panchayats.
According to an official, if on an average Rs 10 lakh is spent on a single work, it means that about Rs 900 crore would be spent on undertaking developmental work under the B2V initiative.
“It is a huge developmental initiative as Rs 900 crore will be pumped into the economy,” he said.
Unlike in the past, officers will not decide what works are to be undertaken, it will be decided by the panchayats and the people.
The first phase of the B2V programme took place on June 20-27 last year and it was the first initiative when the government made it mandatory for officials to spend two days and a night in the villages.
For the first time, top bureaucrats, including principal secretaries, chief engineers, head of departments, who mostly don’t move out of civil secretariat, and deputy commissioners visited the villages, including remote ones and stayed with the villagers.
“Seeing the entire government machinery around them during the B2Vs programmes gave the masses a sense of belonging and they felt more close and more connected to the administration,” an official said.
It was the first major exercise without a political touch or connection and focused on emerging panchayats, collecting feedback on delivery of government programmes and getting a real-time assessment of the developmental needs of the villages.
Principal Secretary Rohit Kansal, who has been organising and coordinating the entire programme, told this newspaper that the entire B2V programme had been designed to foster a direct contact between the public and the government. Kansal said the third phase of B2V from October 2-12 was very important and significant.
“It will be an action programme that will build on and resolve the issues raised in the first two editions of the B2V held in 2019. The introduction of an extended campaign in the shape of a Jan Abhiyan was an important innovation this year,” he said.
With people pressing for follow-up action to their grievances in the first two B2V programmes, the government realised that public issues cannot be addressed in two days and designed a 21-day pre-B2V called the Jan Abhihyan.
In the Jan Abhiyan, which started on September 10, district collectors listen to public complaints from 10 to 11.30 am daily and on Wednesdays, officials go to block headquarters to listen to public grievances.
“In these 21 days, we will try to issue as many certificates, income certificates, SC, STC, ALC, EWS, domicile, pension documents, scholarships, Aadhaar cards, KCC, gold cards, J&K health scheme cards, PMAY sanctions etc ,” an official said.
He said during the Jan Abhiyan it was being ascertained if schemes such as the Ayushman Bharat, PM Kisan Yojana, scholarships and pension schemes are actually reaching the people and that the beneficiaries are getting the benefits.
According to Kansal, the B2Vs and Jan Abhiyan have ensured that the voices of the people are heard and their complaints acted upon. He said B2V phase III would focus on ensuring that action has been taken and public grievances addressed.
It would also focus on public delivery. Kansal said the long term plan was to institutionalise the innovations such as the Jan Abhiyan and to make B2V a regular affair.
“The idea is to not just break barriers between the people and the government but to also give grassroots development a real impetus,” he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi twice mentioned the B2V programmes. In one of his Mann ki baat programmes last year, the PM called the B2V as festival of development, public participation and public awareness. He made a mention of B2V again in his Independence Day speech this year.