Make development visible in reality: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy

VIJAYAWADA:  Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday emphasised the need for making development visible in reality in the State rather than in digits. Taking stock of the progress in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a review meet with senior officials, he said village/ward secretariats should play a crucial role in achieving the goals.

He underlined the need for evolving a monitoring mechanism for village/ward secretariats’ performance at the mandal level and directed the officials to come up with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in this regard. “How do we effectively make the SDGs a reality will be dependent on how effective are village and ward secretariats. They should become the focal points of monitoring and updating data. Only then, we will be in a position to have absolute control over SDGs,” he asserted.

Jagan said the village and ward secretariat system should be such that in case anaemic conditions are reported in a village that particular village secretariat should be able to identify 6-7 people who are anaemic and upload their details along with Aadhaar card numbers. “Solution to the problem should start from there itself. In case of anaemic patients, they should be provided Sampoorna Poshana Plus and other nutritional supplements instead of Sampoorna Poshana,” he elaborated.

Heads of departments should visit village/ward secretariats at least twice a month, which will ensure proper guidance to the functionaries and make them work more efficiently. The district collectors and joint collectors should closely monitor how the recording of data pertaining to various issues is being done in village and ward secretariats, so the process of achieving goals set before the State will be more effective. Supervisors for village and ward secretariats should be appointed at the mandal level at the earliest to ensure their effective functioning. The officials should also focus on environment and sanitation, which are part of the SDGs, he stressed.

Mentioning that the State government is spending more on agriculture, education, health, women and child welfare and other key sectors like no other State in the country, he directed the officials to ensure details pertaining to the SDGs are mandatorily updated every month. He even suggested that the officials utilise latest technologies like Artificial Intelligence for the purpose.

Jagan made it clear to the officials that he does not want to hear any reports that children have dropped out of school.  “I don’t want to hear reports of school dropouts. Let village and ward volunteers closely monitor and alert the higher ups about the children who discontinue studies. In case any student is absent for more than three days, the officials should visit the house of that student to know the reason and SMS should be sent to the parents whenever students are absent,” he insisted.

The Chief Minister exuded confidence that the reforms brought in the education sector will certainly yield good results in the coming days.Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Special Chief Secretary (Finance) SS Rawat, Special Chief Secretary (Village and Ward Secretariats) Ajay Jain, Principal Secretary (Health ) MT Krishna Babu and others attended the meeting.