Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said that Khap Panchayats did a commendable job in making Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao (BBBP) a mass movement.
Addressing Sarpanchs, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad members of Palwal and Faridabad districts at Palwal today, the CM said the Khap Panchayats established since ancient times have also done commendable work from time to time. Panchayats also played a significant role in making the Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao program a mass movement, he added.
Khap-Panchayats are social- political groups, which usually comprise elderly men from the Jat community. Khap Panchayat regulates the Khap formed under the same gotra (clans or sub-caste) families in the area it covers.
The BBBP programme was launched in 2015 to address issues with gender inequality and women’s empowerment. Under it, the main objective of the Haryana government is to ensure a visible decline in the incidence of female foeticide in order to boost the sex-ratio of the state.
Meanwhile, the CM exhorted the representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) to develop a corruption-free, transparent system. With the use of technology, radical changes have been brought to ensure the reach of benefits of every welfare scheme to the last mile citizen or ‘Antyodaya’.
Khattar said in order to make Panchayats autonomous, it has been decided that Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad will be able to prepare their own budget every year and use the funds themselves for the development of their area. The government will not interfere in this work.
To encourage this policy, the Haryana government also transferred Rs 1,100 crore to the accounts of Panchayati Raj Institutions, he added. The CM said the present government has done many things in the direction of making Panchayats autonomous.
“We have also started the system of literate Panchayats and this time 50 percent representation has been given to women in panchayat elections. Because of this step, this time, a large number of daughters have been elected in the panchayats,” he added.