On October 2, Centre plans to roll out Sabki Yojana, Sabka Vikas campaign

The central government will launch a campaign covering over 250,000 gram panchayats across the country on October 2. Christened ‘Sabki Yojana, Sabka Vikas’, the campaign will involve people at the grassroots while preparing structured gram panchayat development plans, along with a thorough audit of the works done in the last few years. The mega campaign, to start on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary, will be conducted just before the elections in three major BJPruled states and also before the 2019 general elections. Under the campaign, which will conclude in December, all gram panchayats in the country will have to put up a notice board detailing the work done by it in the last few years, funds received from various sources, details of their allocation and also what developmental activities it plans to undertake in the 2018-19 financial year. Gram sabha meetings will be made mandatory where trained assistants related to all 29 sectors assigned to gram panchayats, according to the 11th schedule of the constitution, will have to be present. The sectors include agriculture, rural housing, drinking water, poverty alleviation programmes, social welfare, cultural activities, market and fairs, etc. These assistants, who could be village ‘sakhis’ or MGNREGA support staff, will have to explain the work by them under various sectors in the last few years and also their plans for the future with full financial details. “Gram panchayat development plans have been largely unorganised, but this year onwards the idea is to make them more structured with maximum people participation so that people know what development activities they are entitled to and what has been the progress so far,” a senior government official said. “If used properly, gram panchayats can become micro-models of development as funds are not a constraint after the 14th Finance Commission (FFC) devolutions,” the official said. After FFC recommendations are implemented, an average big-sized gram panchayat will have an annual budget of close to ~50 million. “If this is judiciously used, a lot of good tangible development work can be done,” the official added. The development plan of each gram panchayat will have to be shared with the Centre after the campaign is over. Letters are being sent to all state chief secretaries and others to kickstart the programme.