Curtain Raiser
The President Smt.Pratibha
Devisingh Patil would felicitate
over 2808 Nirmal Gram Puraskar
awardees from 21 states at a function in Vigyan Bhawan here on Wednesday, the 23rd March, 2011. Union
Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh
would release a booklet on water security on this occasion. The Minister of
state for Rural Development Ms. Agatha Sangma will
also be present. About 500 Panchayati Raj
Representatives from 21 states across the country have been invited to attend
the function.
Nirmal Gram Puraskar has been one of the
pioneering initiatives of the Department of Drinking water supply and
sanitation under the Ministry Of Rural Development to encourage the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) to achieve full
sanitation coverage. Introduced in 2004 by the Government Of India , the scheme
provides for cash rewards to Gram Panchayats &/
Block Panchayats, Zilla Panchayats and Institutions that achieve 100% sanitation
i.e. they are 100% open defecation free (ODF) and have tackled issues of liquid
and solid waste management.
For the year 2010-11 ,over 2808
Gram Panchayats from 21 States have been
selected Nirmal
Gram Puraskar along with one Block Panchayat from Tamilnadu. The
distribution is as follows :
|
S.N.
|
State Name
|
GPs Selected for NGP
-2010-11
|
|
1
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
44
|
|
2
|
Arunachal Pradesh
|
3
|
|
3
|
Assam
|
2
|
|
4
|
Bihar
|
13
|
|
5
|
Chhattisgarh
|
172
|
|
6
|
Gujarat
|
189
|
|
7
|
Haryana
|
259
|
|
8
|
Himachal Pradesh
|
168
|
|
9
|
Karnataka
|
121
|
|
10
|
Kerala
|
103
|
|
11
|
Madhya Pradesh
|
344
|
|
12
|
Maharashtra
|
694
|
|
13
|
Meghalaya
|
160
|
|
14
|
Mizoram
|
5
|
|
15
|
Nagaland
|
23
|
|
16
|
Orissa
|
81
|
|
17
|
Punjab
|
51
|
|
18
|
Rajasthan
|
82
|
|
19
|
Tamil Nadu
|
237
|
|
20
|
Uttar Pradesh
|
13
|
|
21
|
Uttarakhand
|
44
|
|
|
Grand Total
|
2808
|
During the financial year 2010-11, cash
award worth Rs. 44.5 crores has been released for the
award winning 2808 Gram Panchayats. The amount of cash
prize ranges from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 5 lakhs, based on
the population of the Gram Panchayat as follows :
|
Levels
|
Population as per Census
2001Gram Panchayat
|
Incentive Amount
|
|
Gram Panchayat
|
Less than 1000
1000to 19999
2000 to 4999
5000 to 9999
10,000 and above
|
Rs. 50,000
Rs.1,00,000
Rs.2,00,000
Rs.4,00,000
Rs.5,00,000
|
|
Intermediate Panchayat
|
Up to 50,000
50,000 and above
|
Rs. 10,00.000
Rs.20,00,000
|
|
District Panchayat
|
Up to 10,00,000
10,00,000 and above
|
Rs. 30,00,000
Rs.50,00,000
|
Rural Sanitation
Coverage has grown up at the rate of about 7-8% per
annum since the launch of NGP in 2004, as compared to 3% in the period
2001-2004. Ever since its launch, the Nirmal Gram Purskar has been very successful in putting up the agenda
of rural sanitation in forefront and played the role of a catalyst in
motivating the Panchayati Raj Institutions to take up
the initiative in a big way.
*****
AKT/BS