Millennium Post (Kolkata)

Centre not releasing dues under 100 days’ work scheme, Bangla Awas Yojana: Mamata

Trinamool delegation recently met Union minister Giriraj Singh to discuss issues concerning MGNREGA

- OUR CORRESPOND­ENT

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday lashed out at the BJP government at the Centre for not releasing funds related to 100 days work scheme and Bangla Awas Yojana despite repeated requests.

The chief minister said that she has sent a team of party MPs to New Delhi in this connection, and if a solution is not arrived at soon, she will have to travel to the national Capital to sort the matter.

The TMC supremo claimed that other states, too, have renamed the PMAY scheme, and there should not be any problem if Bengal does that too.

“The BJP has stopped releasing funds for ‘Banglar Bari’... I had sent one delegation of MPs to Delhi. Let’s see what happens. Or I may have to go to

New Delhi to get all these issues solved,” she said, addressing a programme in Burdwan town.

A delegation of TMC MPs met Giriraj Singh, Minister of Rural Developmen­t and Panchayati

Raj in Delhi, a few days back and demanded that the Centre should clear MGNREGA dues for Bengal.

Banerjee, during the day, distribute­d kisan credit cards under her government’s scheme for farmers.

Hitting out at BJP central leadership, she said: “You (BJP leaders) will come to Bengal and talk big before the elections.

Then why do you have objections if Bengal’s name is taken (in the scheme)? Banglar Bari (home) and Banglar Rasta (road) will continue... I will talk about Bengal and the country again and again.”

Banerjee further slammed the Union government for “not transferri­ng funds under the 100 days’ work scheme.

“The BJP-led government has over the last six months stopped giving funds under the 100 days’ work scheme, too. Have you seen how hard they (labourers) work? As per rules, money should be paid within 15 days. Money of poor people cannot be withheld. We want the BJP to release funds or leave,” Banerjee said.

Notably, the CM has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the past, pointing out that the Centre was yet to release funds to the state under MGNREGA and PMAY schemes.

The CM further alleged that farmers are unable to sell paddy at Kisan mandi.

NEW DELHI: Rajasthan’s Sikar is the highest performing district in school education followed by Jhunjhunu and Jaipur, according to Union Ministry of Education’s Performanc­e Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D).

The three districts have figured in the ‘Utkarsh’ category (scoring 81-90 per cent on a scale of 100) with Junjhunu scoring the maximum (236 out of 290) in learning outcomes.

Also, in the second grade ‘Ati-uttam’, Rajasthan is significan­tly ahead of the second and third top states having 24 of its districts in this category.

The other states whose districts have performed best in the latest index released by the Ministry of Education (MoE) on Monday are Punjab with 14 districts in ‘Ati-uttam’ grade (scoring 71-80 per cent on a scale of 100) followed by Gujarat and Kerala with each having 13 districts in this category. On the other hand, there are 12 states and Union Territorie­s which don’t have any districts in the Ati-uttam and Uttam categories which include seven of the eight states from the North East region.

The Ministry on Monday released the Performanc­e Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2018-19 and 201920 which assesses the performanc­e of school education system at the district level by creating an index for comprehens­ive analysis. PGI-D grades districts into 10 grades with highest achievable grade being ‘Daksh’, which is for districts scoring more than 90 per cent of total points. ‘Utkarsh’ category is for districts with score between 81-90 per cent followed by ‘Ati-Uttam’ (71-80 per cent), ‘Uttam’ (61-70 per cent), ‘Prachesta-I’ (51-60 per cent), ‘Prachesta-II’ (41-50 per cent) and ‘Pracheshta III’ (3140 per cent).

The lowest grade in PGI-D is called ‘Akanshi-3’ which is for scores up to 10 per cent of the total points. According to the report for 2019-20 and 2018-19, none of the districts attained highest grade Daksh in both 2019-20 and 2018-19 implying there is ample scope for the districts to further improve their performanc­e in future years.

Three districts reached Utkarsh grade in 2019-20 by achieving more than 80 per cent of the score, there was none in 2018-19 in this grade.

“Ultimate objective of PGI-D is to help the districts to priorities areas for interventi­on in school education and thus improve to reach the highest grade. Eighty three indicator based PGI for District (PGID) has been designed to grade the performanc­e of all districts in school education.

The data is filled by districts through online portal. The PGI-D is expected to help the state education department­s to identify gaps at the district level and improve their performanc­e in a decentrali­zed manner,” a senior MoE official said.

“The indicator-wise PGI score shows the areas where a district needs to improve. The PGI-D will reflect the relative performanc­e of all the districts in a uniform scale which encourages them to perform better,” the official added.

 ?? PIC/MPOST ?? Mamata Banerjee addresses a public meeting, in Burdwan, on Monday
PIC/MPOST Mamata Banerjee addresses a public meeting, in Burdwan, on Monday

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