Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 26: The Narendra Modi government’s plan to rope in bureaucrats for a countrywide mega rally on the eve of the 2024 Parliamentary elections has hit a roadblock for the time being with the Election Commission of India banning the yatra in five states where elections are due next month.
The Centre had asked ministries to name senior officials — joint secretaries, director and deputy secretary — from every district of the country to act as “district rath prabharis (special officers)” for the Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra.”
The Election Commission pointed out on Thursday that the Model Code of Conduct has already come into effect in five states — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana going to the polls in November. “In view of the foregoing, Commission has directed that the aforesaid activities should not be taken in the constituencies where Model Code of Conduct is in force up till 5th December, 2023,” the Commission said in its order.
Meanwhile, following controversy over the deployment of civil servants as “Rath Prabharis” during Vikasit Sankalp Yatra programme across the country, the government on Thursday clarified that the use of such a term was not proper and that the officials would instead be addressed as nodal officers.
The Congress had raised an objection, asking how the officials could be told to do such a pre-poll “political propaganda” for the government. Through an October 17 letter, all the departments were earlier told that Joint Secretaries, Directors, and Deputy Secretaries would be deployed as “Rath Prabharis” to coordinate for the preparations, planning, execution and monitoring of the programme.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the yatra on November 15, on the occasion of “Birsa Munda Jayanti – Jan-jaati Gaurav Diwas” by flagging of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) vans at Khunti in Jharkhand. The vans will be visiting the tribal districts initially and the remaining districts from November 22 onwards till January 25, 2024.
On Thursday, Information and Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra said the programme would not be launched in the poll-bound States till the Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct was in place. He said the programme’s objective was a nationwide outreach and awareness campaign to ensure that every eligible person was covered under 20 Central schemes.
Around 2.6 lakh gram panchayats (rural) and over 3,700 urban local bodies having around 14,000 locations (urban) would be covered during the campaign, other than the election-bound States. The teams would include field experts for training purposes, including the use of drones in farming. They would also interact with the beneficiaries of government schemes for feedback. Facilities such as on-the-spot registration under various schemes would also be provided.
People would be apprised of the schemes covering benefits such as sanitation facilities, essential financial services, electricity connections, access to LPG cylinders, housing for the poor, food security, proper nutrition, reliable healthcare, clean drinking water and quality education.
“IEC vans would be branded and customised to enable dissemination of information through audio visuals, brochures, pamphlets, booklets and flagship standees in Hindi and regional languages showcasing the major schemes, highlights and their achievements in national and in the respective States/regions,” Mr Chandra said.
In the gram panchayats, the activities would include experience sharing by beneficiaries of the schemes; on-spot quiz competition; virtual question-answer session with the Prime Minister; provision of on-spot service such as health camps, Aadhaar enrolment, “MY BHARAT” volunteer enrolment, etc.; and activities such as drone demonstration, interaction with progressive farmers on Soil Health Card and natural farming.
“The entire campaign would be done in a ‘whole of government’ approach in the spirit of ‘Jan Bhagidari’ and with active participation and involvement of the State governments, district authorities, urban local bodies and gram panchayats,” said Mr Chandra. A communication in this regard would be sent to the respective States, urban local bodies and gram panchayats, he added.
