HAMIRPUR: Himachal Pradesh has since the mid-2000s, grown marginally faster than the rest of the country and has the best development indicators—road, drinking water, poverty headcount, health care services and education—these have made the state one of India’s leading states in terms of human development indicators. Credit goes to Prem Kumar Dhumal, two-time chief minister under whose able leadership state has initiated a slew of measures, which have heralded a new dawn of development in the rural areas.
During his chief minister ship various welfare and development schemes have been implemented for the development of rural areas with special emphasis on socio-economic uplift of the ‘Bharat’ that has succeeded in narrowing disparity between ‘Bharat’ and ‘India’ prevailing in the State. An area of the State had been called ‘Kalapaani’ by the then chief minister of united Punjab Pratap Singh Kairon and suggested to rehabilitate people some other parts of the state.
Dhumal turned ‘Kalapaani’ area into a livable habitate with his sheer commitment of road connectivity of roads, brining drinking water at the doorsteps of the people and accessible health care services. Talking to cross section of the society of the area remembered the development done in the area by Dhumal’s government . State has the lowest migration rate in the country.
In the implementation of MNREGA has been applauded at the national level. So far, more than 9.50 lakh families have been benefitted from this scheme which is around 80 per cent of the total rural families of the State. To ensure transparency in payment under MNREGA, a total of more than 6.70 lakh accounts have been opened and the money is directly credited to their accounts.
Dhumal’s government has also launched a comprehensive strategy to tackle the sanitation problem especially in rural areas through total sanitation campaign (TSC). It paid dividend to the state government when the state has been declared total sanitation free. It shows a remarkable increase in rural sanitation coverage from less than 30 per cent in 2001 to 100 per cent now. Nirmal Gram Panchayats have been awarded to the tune of more than Rs 6.50 crore. Besides, school water harvesting scheme has been introduced in all schools of the state under MNREGA as a part of total sanitation scheme.
State wallowing in illiteracy, poverty and ignorance showing the state’s poor and ignorant face, has now overtaken both the urban and rural areas in the matter of development. Himachal Pradesh is now rubbing its shoulders with its big cousins—Punjab and Haryana. Under the Dhumal leadership the government acting on the time-tested premise that industrialization shall be the key engine of economic growth was given top priority to rapid and balanced industrialization with main objective of creating employment opportunities and economic development on a sustainable basis.
Dhumal government has formulated industrial policy that ensured setting up of pollution free, employment generating and income oriented industries. At present, around 38, 790 industrial units are registered in the state with an investment of Rs16, 287 crore providing employment to 2.67 lakh locals. During the last stint of Mr Dhumal as a chief minister, as many as 5467 industrial units with an investment of Rs 18, 280 crore and an employment potential of 2.11 lakh have been approved. More than 8, 000 bighas of land has been included in the land bank in the eight districts namely Hamirpur, Sirmour, Kangra, Una, Mandi, Bilaspur, Solan and Shimla.
An information technology park has been developed in an area of about 65 acre near Waknaghat in district Solan at a cost of Rs 500 crore. It provides space to over 2500 IT professionals to run their business and generated employment to 25, 227 persons.
“Self dependent” seems to be the new buzzword among women in village. They are more self-assured and definitely more assertive. Self-help groups have been one of the main driving forces in the state and around 5000 groups are actively managing several of the developmental works and scripting success stories globally. In village after village of Himachal, women are unleashing a silent revolution for change. Fact is also admitted by the World Bank.