240 Panchayats get national awards

New Delhi (NVI): Government on October 24 honoured as many as 240 out of India’s 2.5 lakh panchayats, conferring them with National Panchayat Awards 2019 for their outstanding performance under various categories. Six states were given e-Panchayat awards.

The awards were given away by Union Minister for Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar. 

A total of 195 awards were conferred under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar category, 20 Gram Panchayats in Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar category and 3 Gram Panchayats in Gram Panchayat Development Plan Award category.

Twenty-two Gram Panchayats were awarded in Child-Friendly Gram Panchayats Award and six states were awarded under e-Panchayat Puraskar category. Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been incentivizing the best performing Panchayats as recommended by the State Governments since 2011-12.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said, to create a new India, all the 2.50 lakh Gram Panchayats must be developed. He said, under the 14th Finance Commission, over two lakh crore rupees have been allocated to Gram Panchayats as against 65,000 crore rupees given under 13th Finance Commission.

Tomar said that every elected representative of panchayats should be proud of the responsibility given to them by the voters and they are no less than any other elected representative of the country. He also asked the awarded panchayat representatives to be a model and motivation to other panchayats so that they also can learn and strive for betterment.

Details of number of awards under various categories of National Panchayat Awards 2019 are as follows:

 The Panchayati Raj Ministers from states of Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Assam and Tamil Nadu along with representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions across the country took part in the award ceremony.

-sb