Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana in October 11, 2014 on the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan. Under this scheme every member of Parliament is expected to adopt and develop a village through the implementation of existing schemes, and certain new initiatives to be designed for the local context. The MPs are expected to adopt a village from the constituency that they represent and make it a model village by 2016.
But the much hyped scheme has not drawn the expected results. The reason for the failure is the MPs' lack of interest. In the first phase, most of them adopted a village, but for the second phase, less than 100 MP’s have adopted a second village.
It has been almost two years since the launch of the scheme, but it has failed to bring the desirable result, particularly in Uttar Pradesh which sends 111 MPs to both Houses of Parliament.
According to official figures, around 55 per cent of the MPs have not spent anything significant on the villages they adopted. This includes big names like Home Minister Rajnath Singh, veteran BJP leader M.M. Joshi , Union Minister Uma Bharti, Union Minister Kalraj Mishra, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and SP President Mulayam Singh Yadav. These leaders represent different parliamentary constituencies of UP, but most of the villages adopted by them do not have even basic civic amenities like roads, hospitals, sanitation, power and clean drinking water facilities.
But as an exception, PM Narendra Modi’s adopted village Jayapur in Varanasi parliamentary constituency has seen considerable development. Bio toilets, solar lights, banks and other basic facilities have come up here and as per official figures, Rs 80 lakh have been spent for various development works. "Development has started coming to our village, though the pace is slow things are taking shape," said Lalji Pandey from Jayapur.
But Nagepur, the second village adopted by PM and situated 10 kms away from Varanasi, is yet to see significant development. In the name of development, the village park was adorned with an Ambedkar statue and couple of toilets were built in the area. Nothing else seems to have changed. The village headman Parasnath Rajbhar said, "The village does not have a health centre or hospital, roads are in bad shape and the drainage system is chaotic. These are the most essential things that should be developed first."
In Chandauli, the village Jharkhor Kalan was adopted by BJP MP Mahendra Nath Pandey. But the village lacks basic facilities promised in the scheme like toilets, drains, roads and solar lights. "Our MP is also a minister, but our village has got nothing. The attention seems to be else where," commented a villager.
Though Union Minister Rajnath Singh visited Benti village in Mohanlalgunj parliamentary constituency after adopting it under the scheme, nothing in the line of development has happened here. About Rs 60 lakh were spent on construction of toilets during the first phase of the scheme, but nothing else seems to have come up in the village.
The Congress chief Sonia Gandhi adopted Udwa village (Jagatpur block) in Raibareli, while Rahul Gandhi adopted Deeh (Jagdispur block) of Amethi. Sonia has not visited the village since its adoption and not much has been spent from the MP’s development fund. Though some schemes were proposed, the work is yet to begin. Rahul’s village also faces the same situation.
The SP chief Mulayam Singh, who adopted Tamuli village in Azamgarh, visited the village once. He announced over 250 projects worth Rs 1,000 crores for the entire district which have remained as promises on papers.
The BSP chief Mayawati, who adopted Mall village in Mahlihabad constituency, has not visited the village since the adoption.
