The Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta today chaired a High Level meeting of senior functionaries of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir to review preparations for ‘Fifth Phase of Back to Village Programme (B2V5)’ which is J&K Government’s flagship public outreach, participation and feedback programme. The meeting was attended by Administrative Secretaries of Finance, General Administration Department, Rural Development Department, Information Technology Department, Revenue Department and other senior functionaries.
It was announced that the B2V5 shall be conducted during the period of 7th November to 16th November, 2023. During the programme, Prabhari Officers shall visit their respective panchayats and interact with the public and undertake review of previous and current year deliverables, preparation of next year Gram Panchayat Development Programme with special focus with respect to improving e-services penetration, user experience for greater accessibility and usage by citizens at large besides feedback on various notable achievements of Departments recognized at the national level. The Chief Secretary observed that the previous editions of B2V have helped in collating the requirements of the villages, prioritizing works of public importance and helped the Government in ensuring last mile delivery of various Government services besides spreading awareness about various services and initiatives of the Government. They have also helped in identification of beneficiaries (especially youth and women) for availing skill development and self-employment schemes. In collaboration with banks, a substantial number of unemployed youth have been provided self-employment opportunities. Dr. Mehta stressed that this edition of B2V shall among others focus on saturation of self-employment schemes, progress on implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission, saturation of welfare schemes including old-aged pension scheme, sports, culture, progress on achievement of deliverables, availability of electricity in villages along with host of other parameters for which a booklet is being circulated to Prabhari Officers. The entire data will be collated digitally and will be analyzed for consequential action at the relevant levels of the Government. It was informed that the Rural Development Department shall provide requisite training to Prabhari Officers who will be undertaking this programme for the first time. Besides, Deputy Commissioners shall do the phasing of B2V in their districts as per their operational requirements. The Back to Village programme has come a long way and is now a component of Aspirational Panchayat Programme. The Panchayat Development Index is another innovation being implemented by the J & K Government. The key objective of the Programme is saturation of services and bridging the gap between Government and people. He appealed for overwhelming participation of the public in the B2V programme, as it serves as a true measure of the initiative’s success. Further, all officers were strongly encouraged to actively participate in B2V activities to achieve the specific objectives set for this phase.
