STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The RD&PR Division of NITI Aayog, in collaboration with the Golap Borbora State Institute of Panchayat & Rural Development (GBSIPRD), Assam, organised a national workshop on 'Viksit Panchayat: Connecting People, Places, Resources and Opportunities' in Guwahati on Monday.
The workshop was inaugurated by Assam Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Atul Bora and NITI Aayog Member (RD&PR) Dr R Balasubramaniam in the presence of Assam Chief Secretary Ravi Kota, NITI Aayog Programme Director Dr Neelam Patel and Ministry of Panchayati Raj Director Dharmendra Kumar, among others.
Bora stressed the need to develop self-reliant and sustainable panchayats by 2047 and highlighted efforts to strengthen Panchayati Raj Institutions and capacity-building initiatives through GBSIPRD.
Balasubramaniam called for a shift from sectoral to spatial planning, stronger local self-governance and greater use of technology for convergence in Panchayati Raj planning. He also stressed the need to move towards regenerative development.
Kota highlighted the importance of institutionalising the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) to enable integrated and decentralised planning at the grassroots level. Rohit Kansal, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, highlighted reforms under VBGRAM-G and stressed employment generation, connectivity, safe drinking water, sanitation and climate-resilient villages. He also called for greater participation in Gram Sabhas and convergence planning.
Additional Chief Secretary of the Panchayat and Rural Development Department B Kalyan Chakraborty highlighted a bottom-up approach and identified spatial planning, capacity building, digitally enabled panchayats, village master plans and village-level industrialisation as key pillars of Viksit Panchayats.
The workshop featured sessions on constitutional provisions for decentralised and spatial planning, grassroots capacity development, priority sectors and integration of spatial planning into the GPDP process.
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