Chandigarh, August 12- Haryana Development and Panchayats Minister, Mr O.P. Dhankar said that the 7-Star Rainbow scheme which was launched with an objective to connect the Gram Panchayats with social causes, has borne fruits. Under this, 3930 Gram Panchayats (GPs) out of 6,167 GPs, which is 63 per cent have successfully achieved star rating from 1 to 6 star.

The Minister was addressing a press conference regarding the 7-Star Rainbow scheme, here today.

Mr Dhankar said that last year, 1,122 Gram Panchayats had achieved the Star ratings under the scheme, which was just 18 per cent and it has increased to 63 per cent, this year. He said that on August 13, 2019, 20 GPs which have achieved 6-Star Rating and 58 GPs which have achieved 5-Star Rating and four districts of Rohtak division namely Rohtak, Jhajjar, Charkhi-Dadri and Bhiwani for achieving 4 to 1-Star would be felicitated by Union Rural Development, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Panchayati Raj Minister, Mr Narendra Singh Tomar, in a function to be organised at Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak.

He said that 628 GPs would be felicitated in the function. “This year, all Star GPs would be given away awards worth of Rs 84 crore, whereas last year, awards worth Rs 21 crore were given away last year. After Rohtak, Star rating award distribution ceremony would also be organised in Gurugram, Karnal and Hisar ,” he added.

He said that 270 GPs of 20 districts have achieved four-Star and 794 GPs of all 22 districts, have achieved three-Star, 1,375 GPs have achieved two-Star and 1,413 GPs have achieved 1-Star. He said that next year, it would be mandatory for Gram Panchayats to get themselves registered to get the star rating and for the rating purpose, in digitalization and dropouts, Class 10 would also be included for assessment instead of Class 8.

He said that this year, 5,279 GPs have registered themselves, whereas 4,902 GPs were registered last year. He said that Gram Panchayats have been working with full dedication for social causes, which is evident in Star Rating assessment. In 2,312 GPs (30 per cent) have achieved star in the category of no lawsuit in their villages. Similarly, 3,604 GPs have achieved stars for maintaining cent per cent enrollment of children in schools, that is, zero drop out, 1,108 GPs have achieved Environment preservation Star rating, 465 GPs have achieved Sex Ratio Star rating, 240 GPs achieved Hygiene and Sanitation Star rating, 203 GPs achieved Good Governance Star rating and 103 GPs achieved Social Participation Star Rating.

He said that under the scheme, Gram Panchayat are rewarded with Rs 1 lakh for each parameter and special bonus of Rs 50,000 to those Gram Panchayats who achieved star rating in having equal or more girl population and Swachhta in their respective GPs.

He said that the state government has decided that the GPs attaining 6 to 4-Star would be entitled with additional funds so that they could get any developmental work done in their respective GPs, which is Rs 20 lakh for 6-Star rating GPs, Rs 15 lakh for 5-Star rating GPs and Rs 10 lakh for 4-Star rating GPs. He said that according to need and demand, a detailed project report has been prepared for each village. So far, Gram Sachivalays have been established in 1,853 villages. He said that last year, 3 GPs achieved 6-Star rating, 4 GPs achieved 5-Star Rating and 9 GPs achieved 4-Star rating, 108 GPs achieved 3-Star Rating, 564 GPs achieved 2-Star Rating and 434 GPs achieved 1-Star rating. He said that in order to encourage the other panchayats to become star Gram Panchayats, 7-Star Rainbow Committee would be constituted and its meetings would be held regularly. Apart from this, a permanent committee would be formed at village Level which would continue to work in the Star Rating Committee. Next year, the special focus would be on Health and Good Governance. He said that our villages should be as famous as the village Ralegan Siddhi of Anna Hazare in India and other countries.

He said that it is a matter of great pride for Haryana that Andhra Pradesh has adopted its Star rating system and Himachal Pradesh has adopted the Gram Gaurav Patt. In about 3500 villages, Gaurav Patts have been installed. He said that Inter-District Parishad has been constituted for decentralization of power. It is worth mentioning that the Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal has set an example through his vision of having educated panchayats.