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Sriganganagar (Rajasthan), July 23 (ANI): The ‘Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana’ (PMAGY) was launched in Rajasthan’s Sriganganagar District on Friday.

Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik launched the scheme at Village 18 BB, Block Padampur here.

Mukul Wasnik read out the Message sent by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on this occasion.

In his message, Dr Singh said that the scheme, which aims at the integrated development of one thousand villages where a majority of the population belongs to the scheduled castes, through a convergence and gap filling mechanism, represents a significant initiative towards the development and empowerment of deprived sections in our society.

Speaking on the occasion, Wasnik called upon the functionaries of the State Government and Panchayati Raj institutions to work in a coordinated manner to realize the vision of an “Adarsh Gram” in all the 225 selected villages of the State.

He commended the preparatory work done by the State Government to ensure that the PMAGY takes off successfully in Rajasthan.

“The successful implementation of the Pilot Phase of the scheme in Rajasthan would pave the way for its successful execution in all the 44,000 Scheduled Caste majority villages of the country,” said Wasnik.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot presided over the function that was also attended by Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj C.P. Joshi.

The pilot scheme has been taken up for implementation in five States of which four are Bihar, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu (225 villages in each state) and Assam (100 villages).

PMAGY aims to achieve all-round, integrated development of selected villages primarily, through convergent implementation of all relevant Central and State schemes in them, and by meeting needs through provision of “gap-filling” funds for which central assistance will be provided at Rs. 10 lakh per village, with State Government also expected to make a suitable, preferably matching, contribution. (ANI)