Union Government launches Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhayay Vigyan Gram Sankul Pariyojana

Dr. Harshvardhan, the Union Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Environment, Forest & Climate Change, on 22 September 2017 launched the Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhayay Vigyan Gram Sankul Pariyojana.

The Project aims at formulating and implementing appropriate Science and Technology (S&T) interventions for sustainable development through cluster approach in Uttarakhand.

Key highlights

• The project has been inspired by teachings and ideals of Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhayay whose birth centenary falls in the year 2017.

• The Department of Science and Technology (DST) conceived to adopt a few clusters of villages in Uttarakhand and transform them to become self-sustainable in a time bound manner through the tools of S&T.

• The key deliverable in this approach is to utilise local resources and locally available skill sets and convert them in a manner using science and technology, that substantial value addition takes place in their local produce and services which can sustain the rural population locally.  

• Under the project, the local communities are not compelled to migrate from their native places in search of jobs and livelihoods. Once this concept is validated in the few selected clusters, it can be replicated across large number of village clusters in the country.

• Four clusters at Gaindikhata, Bazeera, Bhigun (in Garhwal) and Kausani (in Kumaon) have been selected for the intervention through a series of dialogues held among officials of DST and Uttarakhand State Council of Science and Technology (UCOST), Gramodaya Network, Surabhi Foundation and Uttarakhand Utthan Parishad, and other experts.

• About a lakh of people would benefit directly or indirectly through this project in four identified clusters of 60 villages in Uttarakhand for pilot phase, which are located at different altitudes.

• As the living conditions and resources available at different altitude is relatively different, the adopted strategy would help in creating models that are appropriate for different altitudes and could then be replicated in other hill states as well.