Gram Sevaks will now be called ‘Gram Vikas Adhikari’

Jaipur, September 18. on Saturday the state assembly passed the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill 2021 by voice vote. By this, the designation of ‘gram sevak’ working in gram panchayats has now been changed to ‘Gram Vikas Adhikari.

Shri Shanti Kumar Dhariwal the parliamentary affairs minister introduced the bill in the house for the discussion. In his reply, Shri Dhariwal said that the post of gram sevaks mentioned in clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 89 of the act, 1994 does not exist in Panchayati raj institutions. So, the provision is also being removed. Till date, no separate recruitment has been made for the post of gram sevika. The reservation system for women will be in force for this post.

He told Rajasthan Staff Selection Board has issued a notification for recruitment to 3896 vacant posts of village development officer in the department of Panchayati Raj. It is important to have a certificate of RSCIT course for graduation and computer proficiency. The preliminary examination for recruitment to be conducted in December 2021 and the main examination in February 2022.

Shri Dhariwal said that computer efficiency qualification has been regular for the current and upcoming recruitment examinations. Also, such village development officers already working in gram panchayats are trained to work online and the system will be smooth.

The Affairs Minister said that gram sevaks are panchayat raj workers at the gram panchayat level in the state. The grade pay of gram sevak is 2400 and in the 7th pay commission, they are in L-6 and the initial salary is rs.21500. The promotion beyond gram Vikas Adhikari is 3600 grades pay of assistant development officer, grade pay of additional development officer is 4200 and grade pay of development officer is 5400.

He said that the first promotion of gram sevak, which needs 20 years. The second promotion is on the additional development officer which takes 6 to 7 years. The process of making rules for the third promotion is still underway. He said that DPC for promotion to the post of the officer was on 2nd July 2021 for the period 2016-17.

The first installment of the State Finance Commission, out of the fifth amount of 1387 crores, 1287 crores are kept for rural development and Rs 100 crores for honorarium to Panchayat assistants. The second installment of Rs 1380 crore will be given soon. He said that now an honorarium of Rs 6600 is given to the Panchayat Assistant.