The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has initiated an action plan to establish rural business hubs for the overall development of rural areas. The thrust area identified for development involving Panchayats is based on utilization of local resource endowments, the felt-needs of the local population and the relative absorptive capacity. This was stated here today by Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Panchayati Raj after chairing a meeting on “Rural Business Hubs” organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). This was the first review of the National Presentation on Rural Business Hubs organized by CII last year for about 1000 elected members of Panchayats from all over the country which was addressed by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh.
Initially, the States identified for developing rural business hubs include: Punjab, Uttaranchal, Kerala, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The core areas identified are : processing of agriculture produce, development of handicrafts and handlooms, establishment of small power plants based on bio-mass and promotion of bio-fuels through the cultivation of jatropha for bio-diesel and sorgham and sugarcane for ethanol production.
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj will be collecting responses from States for creation of Rural Business Hubs to be followed by a second national presentation later this year. Separate Task Forces will also be set up for the development of agriculture produce, textiles, decentralized power generation and bio-fuels. This activity will be integrated into Ministerial level management with financial assistance from NABARD and technical collaboration from the Institution of Engineers. CII will be coordinating with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj for the development of Rural Business Hubs besides agencies like Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST). A working committee will also be constituted under Secretary Panchayati Raj with representatives from CII, field of art and culture, textile fashion industry and handicrafts and handloom sector., the Minister said.
The concept of Total Village Management (TVM) would be adopted for the development of Panchayats through participation of village Panchayats and industrial enterprises. The Thailand model development, “One Tambon One Product” will the adapted for the development of one block one product to suit the rural areas of the country in tune with the Chinese model rural business hubs.
The Ministry will soon be getting in touch with all Panchayats through State Governments to ensure their participation in the development of locally available resources by industrial houses with financial assistance from NABARD and technical know-how from Institution of Engineers, Shri Aiyar added.
SB/NSR
(Release ID :9854)