J&K’s back to village programme- 3 to focus on execution of first two editions

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Friday embarked on the third edition of the back to village (B2V) programme. The 10-day edition will focus on implementation and execution of all that was conceived and achieved in the previous two editions.

The first edition of the B2V programme was held under former Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) governor Satya Pal Malik in June 2019 and the second edition under former lieutenant governer (L-G) GC Murmu in November.

A senior official, tasked with supervising the project, said, “B2V-3 aims to build on the foundations of B2V-1 and B2V-2. This will be an action edition with focus on implementation and execution.”

Shortly, after the constitution of panchayats in the UT, a first-of-its-kind week-long interface programme was devised. “The programme focused on energising the panchayats, collecting feedback on delivery of government programmes, capturing specific economic potential and undertaking an assessment of the needs of the villages,” the official said, adding that as part of the programme, a gazetted officer spent two days and one night in each of the 4,129 panchayats of the erstwhile state.

The programme won plaudits across the country, the PM called it a ‘festival of development, public participation and public awareness’, in his radio programme Mann Ki Baat.

The exercise of sending a gazetted officer to a village for three days was repeated again in the second phase in November. This time the objective was to follow up on B2V1, focus on 100% implementation of individual beneficiary-oriented schemes, focus on schemes and activities that can be undertaken to double farmers’ income, assessment of implementation of all measures and schemes aimed at empowerment of panchayats and spread awareness about them, said the officer. The programme again found mentioned in the PM’s Independence Day speech.

While the first B2V-focussed on interaction and information – getting to know the difficulties of the people and taking the administration to the grassroots, the second B2V focused on strengthening and institutionalising panchayats, handholding the newly elected PRIs and focussing on saturation and 100% coverage of beneficiary- oriented schemes. In both phases, visiting officers participated in gram sabhas and learnt about people’s grouses. “The third edition aims to address the problems, grievances and demands through concrete action,” said the official.