‘Back to Village’ Programme in J&K

‘Back to Village’ programme in J&K

Keeping in view the success of two editions and improving upon the same, the Rural Development Department has directed its field officers to adopt new ideas for the improvement of the B2V program in Jammu and Kashmir.

What is the Aim of Back to Village programme?

The aim of the programme is to create opportunities to strengthen self- governance processes, build the institutional capability of the village level institutions and create a platform for them to exercise their constitutional rights. It also aims to energize Panchayats and direct development efforts in rural areas through community participation.

Significance of the Back to Village programme

The Back to Village (B2V) programme in Jammu and Kashmir is a grassroot level initiative of the Government to involve people in a joint effort in achieving equal development through greater convergence and community participation.

There are four main goals of this programme

• energising panchayats.
• collecting feedback on the delivery of government schemes and programmes.
• capturing specific economic potential.
• undertaking assessment of needs of villages.

The programme seeks to revive the declining rural economy and improve the living conditions in all villages of the state. The objective is to enhance the capacity of rural communities to plan, conduct and manage rural development projects and to provide impetus for overall socio-economic reform in villages.

Phases of the programme

• Phase I: To understand people’s grievances and demands.
• Phase-II: It focused on the devolution of powers to panchayats and tried to understand how these panchayats are functioning and what are the grievances and demands
• Phase-III: It has been designed on the format for grievance redressal.

Way Forward

India is the largest democracy and rural India plays a predominant role in elections. It has been observed that people of rural areas are more sensitive to development. Rural development is the key to the economic growth of any nation. The Back to Village (BTV) programme is a forward-looking vision of connecting rural citizens with their Panchayat leaders, and administering rural development in an effective and inclusive way.