Village heads need proper, time-bound training: Union minister

Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar today emphasised on proper and time-bound training of village heads after their election and said the funds meant for this exercise should not be spent anywhere else.
He said neither the Centre nor the states have requisite infrastructure to impart training to the large number of panchayat representatives on time.
"The Centre and states don't have infrastructure to provide training to the representatives of 2.55 lakh panchayats of the country.
"In the present set up, a sarpanch is able to get training after completion of four years or more out of his/her five-year term. This doesn't benefit the system," the rural development and panchayati raj minister said.

Tomar was addressing a conference of state panchayati raj ministers here.
"Training should be imparted within first six months of a sarpanch's election. Through this way, a panchayat can benefit from his/her training for the next four-and-a-half years. By the time a sarpanch gets training, his/her term gets over. The district administration should hold training programmes in association with educational institutes."

The Union minister lamented that at times, the funds meant for such training sessions are spent on other events.
Tomar said there are 29 subjects (as per the 11th Schedule of the Constitution for Devolution to the Panchayati Raj Institutions), which village panchayats need to address.

"Some panchayats are doing a good work but there may be some others which are addressing these 29 subjects only on papers. Fund allocation to panchayats is increasing but there is a need for capacity building," he added.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was the chief guest at the concluding function, said he held 40 panchayats (meetings) at his residence and this helped him to chalk out several public-oriented schemes.
Chouhan said suggestions given by the participants at the conference would be implemented in the state.
He said Madhya Pradesh recorded a robust growth in the agriculture sector last fiscal.

"Madhya Pradesh has recorded an agriculture growth rate of 25.92 per cent (in last fiscal) after clocking 20 per cent expansion every year since the past five years. This growth rate has created its own problems as farmers are not getting proper prices of their crops. We are working to address this issue," said Chouhan.
Panchayati Raj Ministers from Haryana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Assam and Andhra Pradesh participated in the conference.
Addressing the event, Haryana Panchayat Minister Om Prakash Dhankar took a dig at the Congress prime ministers while speaking about the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a flagship scheme of the Narendra Modi government.

"We have never seen any picture of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi or more recently Manmohan Singh with a broom. But now we have a prime minister who wields the broom," Dhankar added.