Sikkim dazzles at MGNREGA anniversary celebrations

District Development Officer, North District, Tshering Namgyal Bhutia,  receiving the “Excellence in District Administration in the effective implementation of MGNREGA” award from the Prime Minister at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 02 Feb 2011. [photo courtesy: IPR] 

Milan Kumar Chettri, Panchayat Secretary, Chuba Phong GPU, receiving the award for Best Performing Gram Panchayat. [photo: IPR]

A representative of the Voluntary Health Association of Sikkim receives the Rozgar Jagrookta Puraskar. [photo IPR] 

STATE RAKES IN HIGHEST HAUL OF 3 NATIONAL AWARDS

NEW DELHI, 02 Feb: Sikkim bagged three national awards at the fifth anniversary celebrations of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act [MG-NREGA], held in New Delhi at the Plenary Hall, Vigyan Bhawan today.

Sikkim was conferred the national award under the District category [received by Tshering Namgyal Bhutia, District Development Officer, North District], the best performing Gram Panchayat [received by Milan Kumar Chettri, Panchayat Secretary, Chuba Phong GPU] and in the NGO category to Voluntary Health Association of Sikkim.

Awards were handed out for the Best Performing Panchayats from across the country, District MGNREGA Teams and NGOs in recognition of their exemplary performance through the financial year 2009-10.

With this, Sikkim became the only State in the country to bag awards in all three categories.

Today marked the fifth anniversary of this national flagship programme and the Ministry of Rural Development put together a grand celebration which had the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh as the chief guest. He was accompanied to the awards ceremony by the United Progressive Alliance chairperson, Sonia Gandhi.

A press communiqué received from the Information & Public Relations Department holds up this national recognition as one of “special significance” since the implementation of this ambitious programme in Sikkim has been good enough to secure Sikkim mention among the top-10 districts and top-11 GPUs of the country.

The awardees were selected by a National Screening Committee appointed by the Government of India and followed several rounds of presentations and stringent field checks, IPR informs.

North District was selected under the category - “Excellence in District Administration in the effective implementation of MGNREGA” resulting in community-centric development in challenging physical environment.

Earlier the screening committee had carried out evaluation in North District from 22 to 24 Jan 2011 and had inspected the implementation of MGNREGA scheme at Kabi, Mangan and Dzongu. They were especially impressed with the level of community involvement in this remote district of the country with a high scheduled tribe population.

Milan Kumar Chettri, Panchayat Secretary of Chuba Phong GPU, in turn, was instrumental in transforming a village reeling under perennial drought by aligning the MGNREGA programme to the felt needs of the village. With full support from the DDO and the Block Administrative team comprising of the Namthang Block Development Officer, Robin Sewa, Assistant Engineer Ashok Chettri, JE Nirjal Pradhan TA Naresh Pradhan and the village team of Panchayat President Hem Kumar Chettri, Ward Panchayats and Gram Rozgar Sahayak Ms. Padma Tamang, 120 household-level water storage tanks of 10,000 litres capacity were constructed.

The villagers ingeniously filled these tanks from the running drinking-water supply during night time and used the overnight stored water during the day. With winters becoming increasingly dry, this investment in rural water security paid immediate dividends and the villagers were not only able to meet their drinking water requirements but also used the surplus water for vegetable farming and animal husbandry.

Also under the MGNREGA Dhara Vikas program, the Nagi lake at Namthang, which had dried up 30 years back, is now being revived and this initiative will further boost the natural ecosystem and ground water regime of the region.

Under the leadership of Milan Chettri, this village has effectively demonstrated climate-smart governance on how to adapt and mainstream climate change concerns in ongoing developmental programs, to transform the future of a village.

VHAS received the national award - Rozgar Jagrookta Puraskar (Employment Awareness Award) - recognizing its contribution as a civil society organization in the promotion of effective implementation of MGNREGA in Sikkim.

The awards program was attended by a large contingent from Sikkim comprising of the Bimal Dawari [Zilla Adhyaksha, East District], Pintso Doma Bhutia [Upadhyaksha, North District], AK Ganeriwala [Secretary, Rural Management & Development Department] along with other Gram Panchayats, DDOs, BDOs, ADPCs and select job-card holders.

Later in the day, the awardees called on Chief Minister, Pawan Chamling, who is currently in New Delhi, who further felicitated and congratulated them on bringing laurels to the State of Sikkim. 

[from a press communiqué received from the Information & Public Relations Department, Govt of Sikkim]