Rs 1,000cr corpus for civil society
Fight against the spread of Naxal ideology and violence appears to have got a major push, with Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee proposing to set up a National Rural Livelihoods Foundation on the lines of the Public Health Foundation on public-private partnership mode.
With the Union Budget proposing a `500-crore corpus for first two years, which will be matched by the private trust and state governments, the Centre is looking forward to the civil society to play a major role in the heart of central India where the government agencies have failed to reach the tribals.
With a corpus of `1,000 crores, the civil society and the NGOs can look forward to get a boost of `100 crores a year to carry out their developmental activities in the tribal heartland, which has seen a deep and entrenched penetration of the Naxals.
“It’s a fact that the government agencies have failed to reach out the tribals in these 170 districts of the country. However, it’s the civil society like the Ramkrishna Mission who have been doing great work. These organisation will benefit from the `100 crores interest amount to be generated from the `1,000 crore corpus each year,” said Union minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh.
The Centre is counting on trusts of corporate houses to come forward and take part in the initiative. The civil society working in these 170 districts would be encouraged to take up work on watershade management, water supply, capacity building, education among other activities, added Mr Ramesh.
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