B2V4:

Kashmir Magazine

35 departments participate, 101 deliverables attempted, around 14000 dropouts rejoin schools, 1 lakh Golden Cards issued, 50 thousand families benefited, over 20000 youth get help for self-employment

Visiting Officers to be ‘Panchayat Prabharies’ for next one year

The B2V4 mission is finally over with a lot of achievements done this time. The move was flagged-off to bring administration at the doorsteps of common people living in rural areas. The J&K Government has polarized all its departments and functionaries during the week-long B2V4 program. A top official in the J&K administration stated that during the program 35 departments participated, 101 deliverables attempted, around 14000 dropouts rejoin schools, 1 lakh Golden Cards were issued, 50 thousand families were benefited, over 20000 youth will get help for self-employment.

The program commenced on October 27, 2022 and continued till November 03, 2022 during which administration brought top officials at the doorsteps of common people living in rural areas. As per official data 25000 government employees including 4500 gazetted officials participated in this ambitious program.

Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta on November 08, 2022 chaired a high-level meeting with Administrative Secretaries wherein he reviewed achievements of the recently concluded Back to Village-4 program. Dr. Mehta at the occasion congratulated the Secretaries and their respective departments for successful culmination of the program with most of the set targets achieved. “The 35 participating departments were successful in saturation of 54 deliverables set as their respective targets for the program. The rest of the set 101 deliverables have also been partially achieved”, the meeting was informed.

“Among numerous success stories of the B2V4 program, readmission of 13977 school dropouts into schools, with quality education assured, stands out as the biggest achievement of the program”, Mehta said.

Additionally, to foster connection with the youth, 23 musical talent shows from all over J&K were hosted on YouTube during the program. Similarly 15 role-models have also been identified to inspire youth through a contemporary digital format.

The program has been successful in providing self employment opportunities to 21329 individuals. 277 cooperative societies were also registered in various fields like poultry, housing, transport, health etc. In the agriculture sector, 14567 Soil Health Cards, 5914 Kissan Credit Cards were issued during Jan Abhiyan.

Laborers and migrant workers also benefited during B2V4 as 24179 beneficiaries were enrolled and 4063 e-Shram cards were generated. The scheme now stands 88 percent saturated so far in the UT, he informed the meeting.

In the health sector, 95959 PMJAY-SEHAT Golden Cards were issued thereby giving health insurance coverage to 49526 families. With the achievement, the scheme has reached to 93% saturation rate in the UT.

The Revenue Department has been successful in issuing 6.6 lakh Land Passbooks. During B2V4, 8.46 lakh persons were introduced to Apki Zamin Apki Nigrani portal enabling them to access revenue records from the comfort of their homes.

A lot has been achieved by the Social Welfare Department, which digitized 5159 Disability Cards (UDID) and seeded 30231 Anganwadi beneficiaries and 11313 Ladli Beti beneficiaries with Aadhaar. Moreover 211 Divyang Camps were also organized by the department.

In addition more than 1.55 lakh e-challans were issued by the Mining Department with unique QR code integrated with an online payment system for sale and purchase of minerals through zero-manual interface.

The Chief Secretary asked for implementation of e-Contractor Registration System and Online Billing System and promotion of digital payment systems across all works departments. He called for introducing the School Complex System, under which teachers are able to teach in multiple schools.

He also asked the Planning, Development and Monitoring Department to expedite actions on Aspirational Panchayat Program and Panchayat Development Index. He also asked all departments for creation of Gati Shakti layers by 25th November.

The Chief Secretary also laid stress on Swacch Gram Yojana and asked the concerned department to work in unison to achieve the goal of Clean J&K.

He directed for implementation of an app-based attendance system, and conducted audits of manpower in government departments. Discussion was held on implementation of e-Office, training of PRI members and measures against Lumpy Skin Disease and Dengue were also reviewed by the Chief Secretary in the meeting.

Besides other directions, he asked for compilation and analysis of data collected during the program to work out future planning in a holistic sense. He asked the visiting officer to visit their Panchayat at least once every quarter to assess the change on ground after their visit and act as Panchayat Prabhari for the area during the next one year.

During the meeting, the Chief Secretary lauded efforts of the public and government officials in the conduct of the program.

Principal Secretary, Higher Education and Information’s Kathua visit:

Earlier several top officials of the administration visited far-off areas and took stock of the situation. During the visit, the officials interacted with locals and got first hand information of their grievances.

Principal Secretary, Higher Education and Information, Rohit Kansal also visited Kathua district and interacted with officials, PRIs and locals. He also participated in Gram Sabha and inspected Panchayat assets in the district.

The officer expounded the concept of Back of Village and urged the rural population to actively participate in the program which is purely meant to assess the developmental achievements projected during previous B2V programs. He said the main aim of B2V4 is to make the rural economy self-reliant and self-sufficient by exposing people living in rural areas to new skills, vocational training and covering them under tailor made government schemes of self-employment through proper hand holding.

Referring to the record tourist footfall in J&K this year, Kansal said Panchayat Hutt also holds tremendous potential to emerge as one of the attractive tourist destinations owing to its picturesque and scenic beauty. He directed the officers to focus on saturation of all schemes of their respective departments to provide benefits to deserving people in a transparent and hassle free manner.

While interacting with the students, Rohit Kansal took feedback from them about facilities available for them in the Panchayat. He also participated in Gram Sabha wherein he interacted with representatives of PRIs to take stock of their issues pertaining to welfare and development of their respective areas.

During his visit, the officer assured that genuine issues of local population like road connectivity, piped water supply, disbursal of Local Area Development Fund (LADF) from NHPC SEWA project, shortage of School and Medical Staff will be taken up with concerned at appropriate levels to ease out the sufferings of the local population.

At the occasion, he also distributed the loan sanctioned letters of various government schemes like PMEGP, Banks besides distributing AB-PMJAY Health cards. He also distributed Land Passbooks among the local land owners.

Intensive sanitation drive launched across all ULBs:

Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of Kashmir division also launched an intensive sanitation-cum-awareness drive in different Panchayat Halqa as part of Jan Abhiyan initiative under phase 4th of Back to Village program.

The campaign was initiated in all 40 Urban Local Bodies of Kashmir on the directions of the Principal Secretary Housing & Urban Development Department, Dheeraj Gupta with the objective to clean nearby rural areas and water bodies with community participation, besides creating awareness among the general public on Segregation of Waste at Source, 3R Principle of Waste Management and Ban on Single Use Plastic.

Different activities aimed at cleanliness and dissemination of awareness on best sanitation practices were undertaken by the Urban Local Bodies in nearby Panchayat areas which include Sanitation & Cleanliness drives, Plog Runs, Clearance of Garbage Points & Garbage Vulnerable Points, Installation of boards & hoardings with Swachhata Messages, Awareness on Source Segregation through ‘HaraGeela-SookhaNeela’ concept of waste segregation, Awareness on Ban on Single Use Plastic, Dissemination of Swachhata messages through announcements by D2D collection vehicles and Cleanliness of Water Bodies.

During the drive, about 31 tons of garbage was collected and lifted by the Urban Local Bodies. As part of the Jan Abhiyan initiative, the community participation was ensured by the ULBs. The elected Public Representatives of the ULBs, Panchayat Representatives, local rural population, officers & officials of other Govt. departments, Non-governmental Organizations, Community –based Organizations, Students, Informal Workers (rag pickers) participated in the Sanitation Campaigns.

In order to ensure widespread dissemination of the Swachhata campaigns & messages, the ULBs shared the activities through different social media handles as well.

Overwhelming public response in Kulgam:

The Back to Village-4 program witnessed overwhelming public response in different districts of Kashmir valley. On the occasion the designated visiting officers listened to locals, PRIs and civil society members to have on spot appraisal of public issues.

In south Kashmir’s Kulgam, Joint Director Information Kashmir visited at Panchayat Halqa Shurat and took stock of developmental scenario in the Panchayat. He met PRIs and locals, interacted with them, listened to them patiently to take stock of their genuine demands pertaining to their respective areas.

While interacting with the people, the Joint Director said the B2V4 has been organized with an aim to ensure participation of the public in the local governance setup. He toured Panchayat Halqa and inspected developmental activities. He also sought feedback from the general public on the effectiveness of welfare schemes as well as developmental activities being executed in their respective areas.

The Joint Director inaugurated sports events in which scores of school children participated. Later on he also visited educational institutes and other offices and took stock of functioning and available facilities. On this occasion, the officers of various departments apprised and sensitized people about various centrally sponsored and welfare schemes so they can avail benefits of these schemes.

Strong database for development:

Secretary, Tourism, Youth Services and Sports, Sarmad Hafeez visited Panchayat Nesbal in north Kashmir’s Bandipora as Visiting Officer under fourth phase of Back to Village program. “The outreach program involved the people of J&K and the government officials in a joint effort to deliver the mission of equitable development across all rural areas”, the Visiting Officer said during his visit to Nesbal in Sumbal.

Deputy Commissioner Bandipora, Dr Owais Ahmed, ADC Waseem Raja and other senior officers of district administration were also present on the occasion.

Sarmad Hafeez, along with Dr. Owais inspected the stalls of various departments showcasing their services and achievements. He interacted with PRIs, the public and listened to various issues of public importance. The officers, later, distributed sports kits and various certificates among the beneficiaries and interacted with the youth of Nesbal who participated in sports activities.

Senior citizens and representatives of Panchayats projected their demands before the visiting officer and sought redressal of the same. While stressing on implementation of the program in letter and spirit, Sarmad Hafeez said the program is primarily aimed at energizing the Panchayats and directing development efforts of rural areas through community participation.

The Deputy Commissioner said that B2V-4 program is an ambitious mission of government and district administration has taken notable initiatives across the district in facilitating a wide variety of on spot services during the Week long Program.

Later, the Secretary along with the Deputy Commissioner inaugurated two home stays at Nesbal.

A milestone towards good governance:

Secretary, Department of Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, Nazim Zia Khan visited far flung Surinder Panchayat Halqa in Arin Block of Bandipora district as a visiting officer under the ambitious B2V4 program to assess the developmental scenario of the Panchayat.

While speaking on the occasion, the Secretary outlined the essence of the government's outreach program saying, “It a milestone towards ensuring good governance”. He interacted with the officers, PRIs, public and frontline workers on a variety of public issues and sought feedback from the public on various development parameters of the Panchayat.

He visited educational institutions in Arin block besides inspecting sites of various development works. He laid the foundation stone for Foot Bridge to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 15.85 lakh. He also inspected an under-construction tourist hut in the area.

The visiting officer distributed sports kits among the students, mother and child care kits among the lactating mothers and land passbooks among the beneficiaries. Earlier, he witnessed a cultural bonanza presented by the students at Arin block. DDC member, Arin Ghulam Mohi ud Din Rather, BDC member, Arin were present also.

Assistant Commissioner Revenue Parvaiz Rahim, Tehsildar Bandipora, Project Manager DIC were among the district officers accompanying the Secretary during his visit.

Boon for self-employment generation:

The B2V4 acted as a boon for generating self-employment in Rajouri and during the 4th edition of this public outreach program, as many as 881 people have been provided self-employment loans amounting to Rs. 13.78 crore.

Jammu and Kashmir’s flagship Back to Village program, which provided a platform to people to get their grievances redressed, also provided opportunities to the unemployed and educated youth of the district to avail self-employment opportunities in the rural areas.

“Empowering the youth is among the topmost priorities of the UT Government and concrete measures are being taken to enable the youth to stand on their own so that they can live a respectable life in the society. Major focus is being laid on livelihood generation activities with an aim to make the youth job creators rather than job seekers,” said a senior Officer.

In Rajouri, multifarious activities were carried out in the district as a part of B2V4 with special focus on self employment generation activities. Huge participation of the youth was observed during the program who availed benefits of schemes and programs launched by the Government for their welfare.

The resource persons of Line Departments also educated and motivated the youth to avail the benefits of scores of self employment generation schemes being implemented by their Departments in the district.

“It is due to the untiring efforts put in by the Line Departments and Banks that as many as 881 unemployed and educated youth of the district have been provided self employment under different self employment generation schemes and an amount of Rs 13.78 crore has been disbursed as loan” said the officer.

The fourth edition of the Back to Village program is an action packed deliverable oriented program with focus on Youth, skills and self employment, good governance and Panchayati Raj, Nasha Mukt, Rozgar Yukt J&K.

The youth of the district appreciated the UT Government for providing them financial assistance in a very short span of time and has made an appeal for continuing such programs in future also.

Top functionaries of J&K Bank visited B2V4 camps, distributed sanction letters

As part of continuous monitoring of the Bank's participation in UT Government’s flagship ‘Back to Village-4 Program, J&K Bank General Managers Sunit Kumar and Syed Rais Maqbool also visited a few camps organized at various Panchayats in districts of Jammu and Kashmir respectively.

In Jammu, General Manager and Divisional Head (Jammu) Sunit Kumar visited the camp held at Gole Gujral Panchayat Ghar and distributed sanction letters of various self-employment loans among the beneficiaries. He also presented Keys of e-Rikshaws, financed by the Bank, to the beneficiaries.

In Kashmir, General Manager Syed Rais Maqbool visited various camps across Budgam district including Nasrullahpora village in presence of Under Secretary to J&K Social Welfare Department Rafia Nabi. The dignitaries jointly distributed sanction letters among various beneficiaries who have availed loans under different Government sponsored and employment generation schemes.

Participants at the camps hailed both the Government and J&K Bank for massive out-reach under the B2V4 program.