Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, was it a success? | Fusion - WeRIndia

On August 15th, 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. He said that, although every parliamentarian wants to do something for society, much of the time, none of them are presented with the opportunity to do so.

The scheme that he announced presented that very opportunity to them. His idea was for every parliamentarian to take up and transform one village for a year, and to do this for three subsequent years.

Thus, within three years, the parliamentarian will have made three villages into ideal villages, completely transforming them. At first, the scheme was very well received, and Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Rural Development, convened several meetings to make the guidelines for the initiative.

The transformation process was divided into four spheres: the physical sphere, the social sphere, the human sphere, and the environmental sphere. Members of Parliament had to choose a village and inform the Ministry of Rural Development of their choice.

About seven hundred parliamentarians chose a village. Some claimed the scheme as being just another gimmick, but others were excited for this new idea. Parliament members enthusiastically went about their task to transform their village, even collaborating with civil society organizations and using the scheme to transform entire constituencies.

However, for the most part, this sporadic development went overlooked. The media was focused on more radical developments, such as the currency demonetization and the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Although there was excitement and enthusiasm in the original initiative of the model village scheme, the fervor surrounding it has waned significantly.

Additionally, there are several critiquing points to be found within this scheme. Firstly, the scheme had a requirement that part of the transformations of the villages must include behavioral transformations, which cannot be forced upon people.

Secondly, there are concerns that villages left untouched would feel neglected and backlash.

Lastly, the scheme had poor organization in general.

The village model scheme began as a valiant effort, but many are now considering whether or not it was worth all the enthusiasm and excitement.

Image credit: Shri Narendra Modi at the Chief Ministers’ Conference on Internal Security in New Delhi image by Narendra Modi is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Image Reference: https://www.flickr.com/photos/narendramodiofficial/9042072796