Guj govt prioritised welfare activities through urban development and people-centric governance: CM to Centre

He said the state government has given priority to welfare activities through well-planned urban development and citizen-oriented governance by ensuring the rapid development of cities. About 61 lakh farmers and cattle-breeders are covered so far, he said.To promote natural farming, the government has developed a curriculum for the state agricultural universities at the graduate and post-graduate levels beginning this year.

The Gujarat government has given a priority to welfare activities through well-planned urban development and citizen-oriented governance, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said on Sunday.

His remarks came at the seventh NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

''Gujarat has ranked first in various indices of the Central government on good governance, logistics performance, energy and climate, export readiness and sustainable goal under the guidance of PM Modi,'' Patel was quoted as saying in a release issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO). He said the state government has given priority to welfare activities through well-planned urban development and citizen-oriented governance by ensuring the rapid development of cities. Gujarat has prepared a three-tier urban development roadmap for cities. Speaking on the urban development initiatives, Patel said the Online Development Permit System (ODPS 2.0) helps in the speedy processing of the plan approval across cities. Around one lakh development clearances have been granted in the last two years under this initiative, he said. Gujarat has also achieved crop diversification in concurrence with the Centre's policy, which has been observed most markedly in horticulture. Coverage of horticulture crops in the state has increased from 4.80 lakh hectares to 20 lakh hectares in 25 years, Patel said. Gujarat has been implementing digital agriculture for various welfare schemes through the I-KHEDUT portal since 2014-15 to facilitate online applications to sanction and make payments to farmers. About 61 lakh farmers and cattle-breeders are covered so far, he said.

To promote natural farming, the government has developed a curriculum for the state agricultural universities at the graduate and post-graduate levels beginning this year. Training has been provided to 5.50 lakh farmers so far for natural farming, the CM said. The government has also started promoting the use of ''nano urea'' through drone technology in the agriculture sector, Patel said. The government aims to cover 1.40 lakh acres by using nano urea, out of which spraying will be done on 50,000 acres in collaboration with IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative). Gujarat has taken a lead by constituting task forces in the year 2020 for proper implementation of various recommendations made under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Patel said. He said more than 5.72 lakh children, including 1,775 children with special needs, were enrolled in schools during 2022-23.

In the use of technology in the education sphere, Gujarat has developed a data-driven Vidya Sameeksha Kendra since 2021 as per the NEP-2020 recommendation of a technology-based monitoring system. Patel also talked about the G-Shala App -- the first-of-its-kind e-content application- with Learning Management System in the Gujarati language.

A total of 22 universities and 467 colleges in Gujarat have been accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), he said. Many institutions of Gujarat have successfully made it to the top 100 in the NIRF (National Institute Ranking Framework) rankings as well, the CM added.