Leh, Aug 27: Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla will inaugurate Parliamentary Outreach Programme for the Empowerment of Panchayati Raj Institutions of the Union Territory of Ladakh today.

Besides Shri Birla, Union Minister of Heavy Industries, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey; Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Mansukh Mandaviya; Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of Ladakh, Shri Radha Krishna Mathur; MoS Ministry of Home Affairs, Shri Nityanand Rai and MoS Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH)  Dr. Munjapara Mahendrabhai; Chairperson of Parliamentary Committees, Members of Parliament, Chairman of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh and Kargil and other eminent dignitaries will grace the occasion.

The parliamentary outreach Programme for the Empowerment of Panchayati Raj Institutions is a unique initiative of the Lok Sabha Speaker, Shri Om Birla. A first of its kind programme, it is intended to strengthen the institutions of governance and planning at the grass-root level.

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The first such Outreach Programme was organized at Dehradun, in the State of Uttarakhand, on 8 January, 2021. The Programme was physically attended by 445 Panchayat representatives. In addition, approximately 40,000 Panchayat representatives and officials were connected to the programme online via web link.

The second Outreach Programme was organized at Shillong on 26 February, 2021 for the State of Meghalaya and other North Eastern States. Around 115 members of the local bodies of North Eastern States physically attended the programmes. Besides, a large number of participants from all of the North Eastern States were connected to the programme online via web link.

The third such programme is being organized for the grass root level institutions of the Union Territory of Ladakh today. The theme of the programme is “Parliamentary Outreach Programme for the Empowerment of the Panchayati Raj Institutions”. Around 195 representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions are likely to physically attend the programme.

The broad objectives of the Programme are:-

i. Create mass awareness/mass participation
ii. Create self confidence/self respect for the ground level leaders
iii. Creation of sense of ownership of the assets that have been created
iv. Fuelling the ambitions for grass root political leaders for democratic values
v. Creating the awareness about the various schemes and the doorstep delivery – opportunities for development work
vi. Opportunity to develop a network and push the aspirational level of the ground level leadership.

Shri Birla would also visit Pangong Lake and Nubra Valley to meet the Panchayat representatives.

Delegates have arrived in Ladakh for the programme.