The Nanaji Deshmukh Best Gram Panchayat Award, given at the national level by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India, to Gram Panchayats that work effectively in rural development, has been announced for this year to Manyachiwadi Gram Panchayat in Patan taluka of Satara.
Also, Manyachiwadi has become the recipient of the Gram Urja Swaraj Special Award. This Gram Panchayat will be honored by the President of the country, Draupadi Murmu, in New Delhi on Wednesday. Due to this double bang at the national level of ₹2.5 crore, the villagers celebrated by filling each other’s pockets.
Pioneering work by Manyachiwadi
Manyachiwadi Gram Panchayat in Patan taluka has done pioneering work by implementing various activities in rural development. The Ministry of Panchayat Raj, Government of India, announced various village level awards given by the Ministry of Panchayat Raj, Government of India. In this, the Gram Panchayats made successful efforts to create villages of sustainable development by working specifically on the nine concepts of sustainable development: poverty-free villages, healthy villages, child-friendly villages, water-rich villages, clean green villages, self-sufficient villages with infrastructure, social justice and socially safe villages, good governance villages and women-friendly villages.
The Ministry of Panchayat Raj, Government of India, examined the Gram Panchayats at the national level for these awards. In this, the State Government recommended Manyachiwadi Gram Panchayat to the Central Government for the Nanaji Deshmukh Best Panchayat Sustainable Development Award and the Gram Urja Swaraj Special Panchayat Award. Accordingly, the Ministry of Panchayat Raj, Government of India, after verifying the issues implemented by the Gram Panchayat for these awards, the Best Gram Panchayat Award of ₹1.5 crore was declared to Manyachiwadi Gram Panchayat. The first number of Gram Urja Swaraj Special Award worth ₹1 crore has also been announced for becoming the first solar village in the state and for doing effective work in non-conventional energy generation. The villagers expressed their happiness by supporting each other as their village received two of the best awards at the national level at the same time. For these awards, YASHDA Deputy Director General Dr Mallinath Kalshetty, Chief Executive Officer Yashini Nagarajan, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Archana Waghmale, Group Development Officer Savita Pawar, Anil Waghmare, State Coordinator Anil Bagate, Shridhar Kulkarni, Amir Sheikh, Santosh Sakpal, Balasaheb Borate, Jyoti Patil, Madhukar More etc. were given guidance.
“For twenty-four years, all sections of the village have created a people’s participation movement in the village. They have seen many ups and downs in this. Sometimes they have succeeded and sometimes they have failed, but they have never given up. The torch of village development has been kept burning with the cooperation of the people and under the guidance of the officials. The fact that a small village with a population of four hundred has won the award of the best Gram Panchayat at the national level is all due to the unity of the villagers,” said Sarpanch of Manyachiwadi village, Ravindra Mane.
