Eco Village Programme

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Eco Village Programme

By Dr Arvind Kumar

According to a recent media report, the Government of Maharashtra has embarked on an ambitious programme of establishing Eco villages under the Eco Village Programme which includes tree plantation and rural sanitation, combined with planned development of villages. Launched on 2 October 2010, the programme could cost the State Rs. 450 crores. To qualify under the eco village programme, each village has to achieve the target of “one person one tree,” at least 60 per cent of the families have to build toilets and avoid open defecation, and tax collection should be around 60 per cent. About 14,000 gram panchayats are set to qualify for the eco village programme and funds will be allotted to them for further development, depending on the size of their population. The motivation to qualify is the extra funds.

According to Ajit Pawar, the Rural Development Minister of Maharashtra, who has embarked on a whirlwind tour across the State, the formula is simple - “think globally, act locally”. Each person in the village has to plant at least one tree; that was the initial programme that preceded the eco village concept. Ajit Patil's interactive speeches are full of climate change references, humourous appeals to build toilets, and the audience is responsive. This programme is reportedly showing good results and rural people are responding to it enthusiastically. This Eco Village programmes should be emulated by other states for better management of indigenous resources and climate change.

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