Team News Riveting
Guwahati, January 16
Chief Minister of a village! Probably not heard of, but a village in Assam is drawing everyone’s attention to the new system of better governance.
Unlike other villages normally government by gram panchayats and sarpanch (village head), Halda village in Assam’s Darrang district has a different set up. The village has a full cabinet headed by Chief Minister for governance. And it had delivered effectively.
About 45 kilometres from Guwahati and approximately 27 kilometres from the nearest town of Mangaldai, Halda is probably the only village in the country with 16 departments, with 26 ministers and deputies besides office bearers such as Chief Minister, Agriculture Minister, Finance Minister and others.
The village first came hogged the headlines on October 2, 2017, when the district administration acknowledged Halda as the cleanest village in Darrang district. The cabinet was constituted on the same day when several residents were assigned roles and responsibilities to carry out the development initiatives.
The initiatives also caught the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who spared no time in sharing the same on his Twitter profile. Lauding the efforts of the villagers, especially the womenfolk, prime minister wrote, “Our Nari Shakti is adding valuable momentum to Swachh Bharat Mission.”
On August 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi again took to twitter to laud the initiatives of the residents and womenfolk of the village.
The village is also popular for its agricultural reforms. Farmers here have been practicing multi-cropping to make effective use of inputs such as soil, water, fertiliser etc. This has resulted in increased output with greater returns to the farmers.
“For the past three years, we have been cultivating potatoes without ploughing the fields, which has become quite popular. We have been able to cultivate up to 35 quintal of potatoes per bigha of land,” says Bhaskar Jyoti Das, “Chief Minister” of Halda.
They are also cultivating mustard alongside in a similar manner. Their focus has been on development through livelihood and technological reforms,” he adds.
Over the years, development initiatives and cleanliness drives have become a part of the daily routine of most locals. The village is now eyeing to become an enchanting tourist hotspot.
