Jharkhand Foundation Day was celebrated by organizing a morning procession and a special village meeting in a few panchayats in the Ranchi district that highlighted the attention of the government to rural development and an active involvement of people in accordance with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). The event was meant to highlight the success of the scheme and invite participation of the community in enhancing the level of governance at the village level.
A day started with a procession of villagers, MNREGA workers, women self-help groups, and local officials; a procession known as Prabhat Pheri (morning procession). The participants took placards to create awareness related to rural employment, the need to conserve the environment and the need to work collectively to develop the village. The rally was a vibrant event that brought the villagers together on the theme of self-reliant and sustainable rural development.
After the procession came a special Gram Sabha (village meeting) in every panchayat. The meeting was attended by the MNREGA workers, women who had been employed on the work and completed 100 days of work and the job cardholders, employment service workers, junior engineers and the local representatives. At the meeting, authorities went through current MNREGA projects and how more jobs and infrastructure development would take place in rural communities.
Outstanding MNREGA workers, women leaders, horticulture volunteers and engineers who helped a lot in the execution of the projects were given recognition certificates. The program was meant to encourage rural labour and to appreciate their efforts in the construction of community resources like irrigation wells and plantations, the check dams, as well as the rural roads.
At the event, Assistant Conservator of Forests Manoj Gupta stated that the youth and workers of Jharkhand are the people who can bring out the change. He has said that, with effort, they are creating the story of the state’s development. The status of the MNREGA was reported by the Block Programme Officer, Sanjay Tirkey, who noted the development of thousands of man-days of employment and the increasing number of women workers in the last few years.
Yet another authority, Dhananjay Kumar, called upon the people in the village to not only celebrate Jharkhand Foundation Day but also ensure they reaffirm their resolve to make progress. He underlined that an active involvement in MNREGA and local governance may speed up rural change and empower the communities.
The morning rally, which was accompanied by the village meeting, was an indicator of the renewed interest of Jharkhand in inclusive and participatory development. With the MNREGA successes still being tallied by the state, the initiatives such as these still enshrine the role of community involvement in the development of a self-reliant and successful rural Jharkhand.
