After evaluating the rural development schemes in the State, the Rural Development and Migration Commission (RDMC) submitted its report to the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Thursday. The report also contains suggestions for strengthening the rural economy and mitigating migration.
Stressing on the importance of mitigating migration from the mountainous regions and developing public facilities there, Rawat said that this was a major challenge for the State. Appreciating the efforts of the RDMC in this direction, he said that the state government will work effectively on the suggestions given by the commission. “Extensive public awareness is necessary to ensure that our farms and villages are prosperous,” he said.
The RDMC vice chairman Sharad Singh Negi pointed out that among the suggestions in the report, it was stated that priority should be accorded to skill development of women so that they can also benefit as skilled workers. He said that crops being damaged by monkeys and wild boars is a problem being faced in the villages. Walls are being constructed to protect farms from wild boars in some blocks and this needs to be done in all the districts. A scheme should be made with the help of the forest department for necessary measures to protect crops from monkeys. He also stressed on work to tackle the shortage of drinking and irrigation water which has emerged as a major problem in rural areas. He further stated that though there is considerable scope for cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants in Uttarakhand, this has not yet emerged as a profitable activity so far. Efforts are needed to exploit the state’s potential in this field and turn such cultivation into a livelihood activity. Quality monitoring and certification should be ascertained for products made by self help groups as standardisation in this will open up the market. Online platforms should be developed for the marketing and retail of these products. A social media plan should also be developed. Self help groups can also be formed for making sanitary pads for which one unit can be set up in each district, the RDMC has suggested. It has also recommended more focus on districts showing lesser development.
The report also points out that the number of vacancies of village development officer in mountainous regions is more compared to plains. Steps should be taken to fill these posts. Principal secretary Manisha Panwar and other officials were also present on the occasion.
