478 villages from Vid selected for Village Social Transformation Mission
| Date :21-May-2019 |
By Kartik Lokhande:
Maharashtra Government has decided to implement Village Social Transformation Mission (VSTM) to increase green cover of the State. As many as 478 villages from nine districts of Vidarbha region have been selected for the Mission, which will be implemented jointly by VSTM Foundation and Forest Department. State Government had launched the Mission in 2017 with an objective to plant 50 crore saplings across Maharashtra. The objective was decided to increase green cover of Maharashtra from 20 per cent to 33 per cent on an average. This year, which will be the third and last year of the ‘Green Maharashtra Campaign’, as many as 33 crore saplings are planned to be planted.
These are to be planted through Government departments, Gram Panchayats, and social organisations. As many as 851 villages across Maharashtra have been identified for implementation of VSTM. Of these, more than half -- that is, 478 -- are from Vidarbha region alone. These villages are in all five districts of Amravati Division, and four districts of Nagpur Division barring Bhandara and Gondia. The highest 96 villages are from Amravati district, followed by 82 from Chandrapur district. The performance of villages will be assessed on the basis of defined indicators, and through District Self-Assessment System. Apart from greening, VSTM is aimed at transforming the lives of villagers by making available to them livelihood options, taking up water conservation works, implementing Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, etc.
The Government is mobilising funds for the mission through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of private and public sector enterprises, and financial institutions. Accordingly, initiatives of community and individual benefit are to be implemented under VSTM. The initiatives to be implemented through village-level committees include planting 3,200 saplings in the area under each Gram Panchayat in 2019 season -- from July 1 to September 30. Forest Department and VSTM Foundation will jointly carry out geo-tagging of sapling planted, digging pits, uploading survival rate of plants, etc.
At the level of Gram Panchayats, Biodiversity Management Committees have been constituted, to prepare Peoples’ Biodiversity Register. Besides, encouraging agro-forestry under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, creating permanent physical assets through Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan and taking up water conservation works, encouraging students of Class VIII and above to join Maharashtra Green Corps, constituting Eco-Clubs in all the schools covered under VSTM, enabling skilling and livelihood activities, taking up plantation on riversides, distributing 10 saplings including five of Teak and five of fruit-bearing plants to the family in which a girl is born. Also, the example of village Ranmala in Khed tehsil of Pune district is to be emulated in other villages, wherein a sapling is planted on every happy and sad occasion in any family in the village. The Government will provide requisite funds for these initiatives through convergence of schemes of various departments.