NEW DELHI: The President of India presented the National Panchayat Awards in New Delhi on Monday. She also inaugurated the National Conference on the Incentivization of Panchayats during the event.
President Droupadi Murmu mentioned that inspite of the rapid urbanisation over the past few years, a large majority of the Indian population still resides in the villages of the country. And even those who live in the cities maintain some connection to the villages in recent times, she added during her speech.
Mentioning that the development of Indian villages is essential for the development of the country as a whole, she mentioned the villages of the country should be able to decide on the model as well as the way of implementing these models of development of their villages.
The President also mentioned that the Panchayats are not just organisations to implement government programmes and initiatives. By adopting the best practices of one panchayat in the others, rapid development can be achieved at the grassroots level and encourage the creation of new leaders, planners, policymakers and innovators right from the village level of the country.
She also emphasised the mutual cooperation and trust among the citizens, right from the village lever to ensure the overall development of the country. While all community work should be done with mutual agreement whenever possible, the President called a village an extension of the family.
President Droupadi Murmu also spoke about the need for the participation of women in the community to ensure the holistic development of society and that this should begin at the family and the village level. She also expressed her happiness about the fact that out of the 31.5 elected representatives of the local rural bodies across the country, about 46 per cent are women. She urged active participation from women at the Gram Panchayats and appealed to their families to give full support to these endeavours.
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