Time to revitalise Gram Swaraj PVS Suryakumar Mar 31, 2022 https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/time-to-revitalise-gram-swaraj/article65277370.ece why go for a pilot Gram Swaraj? Individual farmer-oriented approaches have not delivered enough. Our administrative system is divided into several line departments but the recipient is one — the farmer. The optimal approach is considering the village as a unit for planning, by adapting the area approach.
Livelihoods must then be planned so that village(s) can specialise and have enough marketable surplus for produce aggregation. The infrastructure required must then be created to match actual requirements. Support from line departments is usually straitjacketed and cannot handle the area planning approach.
Hence, empowered project management units can only implement Gram Swaraj initially. When this idea gets grounded, the line departments can be re-engineered. The ‘One District One Product’ scheme essentially emphasises on specialisation, for economies of scale to work, right from production to marketing. The idea is to further refine it to the village level.