Team Herald
MARGAO: Mission Antyodaya, under the Ministry of Rural Development, collected data from 1,10,765 villages across the country in 2017 and conducted an assessment of village level infrastructure facilities and amenities related to infrastructure, human development, and economic development.
The findings with regards to Goa’s gram panchayats show a wide gap between villages in the east and west of Goa in terms of overall development.
Overall, the overall score of Goa fails to impress. Being one of the States with the highest literacy rate and per capita income, of the 186 gram panchayats where the Mission Antyodaya data has been processed, none of the villages have scored above 80 only 6 villages have scored between 70-80, 52 have scored between 60-70 and 79 between 50-60.
The best performing village is Candolim (Bardez) with a score of 79 and an all India rank of 21 followed by Quela in Ponda with a score of 78 and ranked 23. The worst performing State is Querim in Sattari with a score of 29 and ranked 72. Sanvordem in Sattari is the second worst state with a score of 31 and a rank of 70. Sattari has the lowest overall ranking with 7 among the 10 villages with the lowest ranking in North Goa. In South Goa, 4 villages in Sanguem taluka were among the bottom 10.
The preliminary report based on data has been received from all 384 villages in Goa shows that the State has very good infrastructure but very poor agriculture facilities. Electricity, water, telephone, roads and public transport are available in more than 85% of villages in Goa. However, on the agricultural front, only 9 villages have soil testing centres, 15 villages have seed centres and 38 villages have fertiliser shops.
Vocational training is available in only 12% of villages. 85% of villages are not yet defecation free and 84% of villages lack a clinic.
At the national level, States such as Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have dominated the overall rankings while Chattisgargh and Bihar have lagged behind.
The Mission Antyodaya is a convergence framework for measurable effective outcomes on parameters that transform lives and livelihoods. Mission Mode Project envisaged by the Ministry of Rural Development is a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness at gram panchayat level. Ministry of Rural Development has taken up the task of collecting comprehensive information on the gram panchayats.
