Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Ministry of Rural Development signed MoU with NGO Pradan for development in Naxal Areas

The Ministry of Rural Development on 6 August 2013 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pradan, a non-governmental organization. The NGO will serve as a resource and support organisation for the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), with specially focusing on Naxal-affected districts.
The scheme will be implemented in some of the Naxal-affected districts of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha in the first phase.
Rural development ministry identified three goals in order to help women farmers groups under the Mahila Krishak Sashaktikaran Yojana :
1)Increase their earnings by reducing input costs
2) Training SHGs by focusing on issues such as sanitation and setting up community kitchens to tackle malnutrition
3) Putting an end to trafficking of tribal women by providing them with livelihoods.
In the first project, 18000 families will get help through production and marketing of Tasar silk in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal in the next three years with a budget of 50 crore rupees.
The second project will be Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana and it will be implemented in Rajasthan, Odisha and MP with a budget of 20 crore rupees. The project is likely to be availed by 18000 families, where sustainable agriculture will be promoted through women headed households and it is calculated that there should be an increase of the income of the self help groups by 15 to 20 per cent after reducing the use of harmful chemicals and pesticides.
Third component of the programme will be training of the girls for alternative sources of livelihood.

Pradan’s help is needed in these areas since government agencies often find the in implementation of developmental projects because of threats from Naxals. Pradan, is funded by the Ford Foundation and Gates Foundation. It will extend its support and expertise in the field of livelihood generation. It will be called the NSO or the NRLM Support Organisation.

NRLM is a programme aimed at reducing poverty by promoting livelihood opportunities for the poor so that their access to financial services could be improved. NRLM presides over 25 lakh women Self Help Groups (SHGs). It aims at creating nearly 60 lakh SHGs over the next five years. The NSO will support State and Central NRLM missions to guide these SHGs.

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