The ministry of rural development (MoRD) released the latest state-wise performance report for the financial year 2023-24.
According to the report, Kerala held 33 DISHA meetings in 13 out its 14 districts, achieving the highest 59 per cent mark as compared with other states in the country in holding such programmes, the MoRD report claimed adding that the number of expected meetings in the state was 56.
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Haryana also organised 49 out of expected 88 meetings in its 20 of 22 districts. It achieved the second highest 56 per cent mark, next to Kerala, showing its interests in monitoring and evaluating the implementations of various national schemes during 2023-24.
There was no meeting in West Bengal by the district development coordination and monitoring committee (DISHA).
Pradip Majumder, state panchayat and rural development minister, was not available for comment.
According to the MoRD sources, the ministry aims to uplift the quality of life in rural India by implementing a range of transformative programmes that cater to the diverse needs of rural communities.
These programmes include Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (MGNREGS) to ensure wage employment, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) for providing housing, the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for rural connectivity, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana and several others national schemes.
The role of the state governments is crucial in the successful implementation of these programmes, the sources said.
It was in March in 2022 when the then Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had urged the central government to bring in a provision for withholding of funds if the DISHA committee did not regularly hold its meeting in states.
“But, I am sorry to say that despite pleading for it in this House again and again, there was no meeting of the DISHA committee in my district for the last 12-13 years, even when I was the chairman,” Chowdhury had said.
