The project is supported by the Council for Advancement of Peoples' Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) and will formally be launched during a training camp for model village project activists at Hazare's native Ralegan Sidhhi on January 16.

Hazare told The Indian Express that the five-point charter of kurhad bandi (ban on tree-felling), charai bandi (ban on grazing), nasha bandi (prohibition), nasbandi (family planning) and shramadaan (voluntary labour) he had framed for his dream villages would remain, although his schemes would differ from the State Government's on many counts.

The aadarsh gav yojana has now been ``completely governmentalised'', he rued, adding the fewofficials involved in the project were able to do very little. It has veered from its basic aim to build villages through building its people's characters, Hazare added.

An independent machinery set up through the Hind Swaraj Trust to monitor and evaluate the work done and train the activists has been a vital aspect of his scheme, besides a stress on shramadaan, Hazare said.

``The day villages forsake voluntary labour, they will be out of the scheme. Monitoring of the cost and benefit ratio -- this is where both the schemes (the one he is launching and the State Government's) differ,'' he said.

Referring occasionally to the issue of corruption in rural development, he said he aimed at making 75 per cent of the fiscal inputs to reach the fields, doing away with the traditional Government practice of spending colossal sums on administration. Fifteen per cent of the total budget would be spent on administration with 10 per cent more on education and awareness, he said.

A team of experts, includinga civil engineer, an agricultural engineer, an expert in animal husbandry/ forestry and a trained social worker would assist the villagers' committee, consisting of a woman and two male volunteers. The committee would elect a secretary who would monitor activities at the village level.

Ralegan Siddhi will host a two-day workshop beginning January 15 for representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) associated with his project, the members of village-level committees, he said. The workshop will be attended by the CAPART director-general.

He recently toured seven western Maharashtra and Marathwada districts to identify the villages. The urgency to include the villages in the scheme and villagers' preparedness to abide by the five-point programme where the major criteria, he said.

Hazare writes to Joshi

Continuing with his practice of writing to the Chief Minister, Hazare, in his latest letter has written about Ghotewadi, a small village in Ahmednagar distirct.

Commenting on thecost-benefit ratio of different developmental schemes, Hazare said billions of rupees were spent on water conservation in the past, and yet these failed to provide relief to parched areas.

This continued under the saffron alliance, Hazare said, adding Ghotewadi received eight percolation tanks, three cement bunds and a whopping 150 nalla bunds last year and still depended on tankers in summer. ``Hence, there has been a need for stringent control and monitoring.''