Cricket icon and Rajya Sabha MP Sachin Tendulkar has selected Donja village in Osmanabad district for development under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna.

“We are happy that Tendulkar has picked Donja. We are sure this will inspire other villages in the region to emulate this model of development,” Osmanabad Zilla Parishad CEO Anand Rayate said.

Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, launched in October 2014, is a rural development programme focusing on development of villages which include social and cultural development, and spread motivation among the people on social mobilisation of the village community.

Osmanabad has been reeling under a serve drought over the last few years and has also recorded a steep rise in incidents of farmers’ suicide.

Donja is a village in Paranda of Osmanabad. As per 2011 census 582 families residing there. It has a population of 2,863 of which 1,508 are males while 1,355 are females.

In the village, population in the age group of 0-6 years is 319 which makes up 11.14 per cent of the total population.

The average sex ratio of the village is 899, which is lower than Maharashtra’s average of 929, while the Child Sex Ratio as per 2011 census is 910, higher than the state average of 894.

The literacy rate of Donja in 2011 was 72.17 per cent, lower than 82.34 per cent of Maharashtra. Male literacy rate stands at 78.75 per cent, while female literacy rate was 64.84 per cent.