Sunday, September 2, 2018
- Chandigarh, September 2- Former President, Mr Pranab Mukherjee said that the Smartgram initiatives aim to transform villages into Happy, Harmonious and Hi-tech villages, by connecting the villagers with the initiative.
- Mr Mukherjee was addressing the people of villages Harchandpur, Alipur and Nayagaon adopted by Pranab Mukherjee Foundation in Gurugram today.
- Mr Mukherjee along with Haryana, Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal today inaugurated Harchandpur Smartgram Gramalaya Building, Smartgram Partner Processing Centre at village Harchandpur, Training and Innovation Warehouse at village Alipur and Water ATM at village Nayagaon and laid foundation stone of Nayagaon Happiness Square at village Nayagaon in Gurugram. On the occasion, Mr. Mukherjee and Mr. Manohar Lal also honoured the new entrepreneurs of these villages, who used rural resources and the representatives of organizations promoting them, by giving them appreciation letter.
- Mr. Mukherjee also launched the Selfie with Daughter trophy at village Alipur and released booklet of Laado-Rights at village Nayagon.
- Mr Mukharjee said that the aim of Pranab Mukherjee Foundation is to give pace to the development of villages by connecting its people and in this the support of various government departments, NGOs and corporate companies are also involved. Under the Smartgram Initiative, people should be provided such environment through the medium of happiness so that people should understand their responsibility and learn a way to live their life happily.
- Earlier speaking on the occasion, the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal said that India resides in villages and our culture is identified through villages. He said that very rare people take care of their villages, and even during the tenure of his Presidency, Mr Mukherjee gave special emphasis on rural development. For this, Smart Village Initiative was launched in five villages of Haryana on July 2, 2016.
- The Chief Minister said that in the last four years, many unique schemes were launched for rural development in Haryana which included Sansad Gram Yojana and Vidhayak Adarsh Gram Yojana. He said that Adarsh Gram Yojana was launched for connecting well to do families with their villages to carry out development works. Under this scheme, more than 50 villages have been adopted by them.
- The Chief Minister said that the Mhara Goan, Jagmag Gaon is showing good results, which was launched to provide 24-hour electricity in the villages. Under the scheme, about 2,887 villages are being provided electricity 24 hours a day. All the villages in Panchkula, Ambala, Faridabad, Gurugram, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts are getting 24 hour power supply. He said that after 25 years, water has reached till the 300 tailends of different canals in the state. Seven-star rainbow scheme has also been launched to infuse the spirit of competitiveness among villagers. Haryana State Pond Development Authority has been constituted for the improvement and renovation of 15,595 ponds in the state. He said that the initiative introduced by Mr Mukherjee would be implemented in other villages by the state government.
- Managing Director, Pranab Mukherjee Foundation, Mrs Amita Paul said that a two-week Happiness course would be conducted in the Happiness Square in which training would be given to make the pleasant environment. This course would start in next one or two months. Mrs. Pal said that 100 villages have been adopted by Pranab Mukherjee Foundation, out of which 64 villages are working in the field of education and with the help of IFFCO, 15 centers have been opened in these villages where the villagers have started organic farming. Apart from this, organic farming has been started in 50 acres of land by IFFCO. Similarly, seven health centers have been opened in these villages and five water ATMs have been installed.
- Union Minister of State for Planning, Rao Inderjit Singh and Haryana Public Works Minister, Rao Narbir Singh also spoke on the occasion.