The Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar today inaugurated the 4th Anniversary celebration of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi. The Mission was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 21st February 2016, with the vision to deliver catalytic interventions to rural areas on the threshold of growth. The objective is to develop the clusters in a holistic manner by providing all the basic amenities, infrastructure as well as economic development opportunities in an integrated and time bound manner.Addressing the gathering after lighting the ceremonial lamp, Union Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar congratulated all the participants on the 4th Anniversary of the Mission and said that the Rurban mission embodies the spirit of Indian culture and tradition which is that of community living. Shri Tomar said that the community perspective has to be kept in mind for holistic development of a region and cluster approach is very fruitful in that regard. The Minister urged that people should be dedicated towards achieving the objective of ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’ and work towards development of villages and rural India with a community spirit. He said that when the community spirit and effort increases then Centre and State will work together for development of clusters and all schemes will be made convergent towards that objective.The Union Minister said that the amount of funding given to this scheme is mostly for gap funding but the Central and State government funding together can have a good impact on development of clusters.
Narendra Singh Tomar said that any project in its nascent stage faces a lot of hurdles or difficulties but when all the people decide to work together in unison then development will definitely be achieved. The Minister hailed the efforts of all involved with the SPM Rurban Mission and urged all to work harder for making this mission a success and increase the overall level of development especially in Rural India.Secretary, Department of Rural Development Shri Rajesh Bhushan hailed the positive interventions and success stories under the Rurban Mission and welcomed all the participants from various States and Panchayati Raj institutions to share their experiences and difficulties faced so that others can learn from them and improve overall implementation. Shri Bhushan highlighted the achievements under the mission and said that 300 clusters have been allocated so far by the Ministry out of which 296 have been approved.Talking about the importance of the Mission, the Secretary said that this mission leads to convergence of the schemes of Union Government and the State Governments which leads to overall development of the region in a planned and organized manner. Shri Bhushan said that the critical gap funding aspect of the mission leads to further convergence and improves efficiency in overall implementation by providing financial assistance for various projects. He further informed that the mission provides good employment opportunities, basic as well as urban facilities to rural India such as waste management, smart classrooms, piped water supply, Roads, Agro processing and value addition to primary produce etc and therefore is critical for holistic development.