Ahead of the 80th birthday of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, the Maha Vikas Aghadi gave a gift to the veteran politician and the coalition’s architect by integrating a rural development scheme.
At the weekly Cabinet meeting presided over by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, the Trimurti-alliance cleared ‘Sharad Pawar Gram Samruddhi Yojana’.
Pawar, one of the senior most politicians of India, turns 80 on December 12.
The scheme would be carved from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Maharashtra State Employee Guarantee Scheme (MSEGS).
The Department of Employment Guarantee will be the nodal department for the implementation of the scheme and the large goal is to bridge the rural and urban divide.
Pawar has played a key role in forming the MVA government and keeping BJP out of power in Maharashtra, sending a strong political message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister and then BJP President Amit Shah.