AP govt launches village secretariats, modelled after Gandhi's concept

The Andhra Pradesh Government has launched its ambitious village secretariat system on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the scheme from Karapa village in East Godavari district. The village secretariat system, also known as AP Grama Sachivalayam, is modeled on the lines of Gandhiji's Grama Swarajya concept which aims to decentralize democracy and provide more power to villages. These secretariats will render 500 services at the doorsteps of people in all villages across the state.

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Modus operandi of village secretariats

AP Grama Sachivalayam is the brainchild of CM Jagan Mohan Reddy. During his record 3,648 km padayatra across Andhra Pradesh before the elections, people lamented about the difficulties they were facing in drawing pensions, ration and getting caste and other certificates. As a one stop solution, Jagan formulated village secretariats where village and ward volunteers will strengthen the public delivery system of welfare schemes.

A total of 11,158 villages secretariats and 3,786 ward secretariats have been established across the state. Every village secretariat will have 11 to 12 volunteers. Each volunteer will be incharge of
50 households in villages and 100 households in a municipal ward in urban areas. These volunteers will promote the state government's welfare schemes for every family in the state.

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The volunteers will also deliver monthly ration to the doorsteps of the beneficiaries. They will also assist the gram panchayat for mobilization of resources including the collection of taxes, ensuring sanitation and its effective functioning. The aim of village secretariats will be to fulfill the promises made by the YSRCP in its manifesto. The Chief Minister will monitor and review the village secretariat works from the camp office. 

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New record in employment in India: AP govt

Jagan Mohan Reddy claimed that his government created a new record by providing four lakh jobs in four months of his government. The Andhra CM said 10-12 new jobs were provided to each village through the village secretariats. Officials said 19.56 lakh candidates had appeared in the exams conducted early this month for 1,26,728 posts - 95,088 rural and 31,640 urban posts. The results were declared last week. The government claims this to be the single biggest initiative of mass recruitment. The government has also appointed nearly 2.8 lakh village and ward volunteers.

"Village volunteers are dedicated people who will be voluntarily working with service motive and are not the sanctioning authority but are only part of the delivery mechanism of welfare schemes of the government," the AP government said.

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