Paldev: A Madhya Pradesh village with hundred percent tribal population is set to be adopted by Union minister Prakash Javadekar with a special focus on education and sanitation.
The minister will soon adopt Khutiya in Chindwara district under the ‘Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana’ after working for two years with Paldev gram panchayat.
“After serving the Paldev gram panchayat, now I am moving to Khutiya, a complete tribal village in Chindwara district, bordering Maharashtra. At present, we are conducting an assessment of the region, and preparing a roadmap. Hopefully, by next month, we would adopt the village,” Prakash Javadekar said.
The Rajya Sabha member had taken up Paldev, situated on the border of Uttar Pradesh, in 2014 under the Prime Minister’s Adarsh Gram Yojana, whereby MPs work on raising growth parameters in the adopted village.
The minister, who recently visited Paldev, which falls under the Chitrakoot region of Satna district, and held a review meeting with officials there, emphasised that in his next stint as well, sanitation and education-driven development model would be followed.
“We worked on education and sanitation areas in Paldev and it bore fruits. And so, in the next adopted village too, our primary focus would be on education and sanitation. ‘Shiksha aur Swachhata‘ are the watchwords,” he said in an interview.
The sleepy hamlet of Paldev has seen a considerable improvement in its standards of education and sanitation, with Mr Javadekar asserting that it now “stands on its own feet”.
“Two years ago when I adopted it, the faces of the children in schools used to look so wilted. But, now look at them, all bright and enthusiastic. And, their attendance and performance has also gone up over these two years,” he said.
He said the performance of students has increased tremendously, especially after imparting pedagogical training
to teachers in Bhopal and Satna.
In Paldev, the pass percentage for classes X and XII were 11 and 28 per cent respectively in 2014. Last year, the corresponding figures increased to 51 and 82 per cent, while this year they have further risen to 77 and 86 per cent respectively.
“My top priority was education and cleanliness and in these two years I have tried to bring change here. The idea is not to equate development with funding only as a signal of growth but to make the village self-reliant. And, we would continue with the same model in Khutiya as well,” he added.
Mr Javadekar said he had adopted the village inspired by the legacy of Nanaji Deshmukh, who founded a number of institutes in Chitrakoot town.
Paldev gram panchayat is about 12 km from Chitrakoot town, a place steeped with history and the legend of Ramayana epic. It is inhabited mostly by people belonging to backward classes, followed by Scheduled Caste and other classes.
The gram panchayat has six villages inside it — Paldev, Jugalpur, Naubasta, Bansipur and Poslah and Rehmanganj, which has about 100 people from Muslim community.
