Special plans for rural poor

Interview with Krishna Vasta, Rural Development Secretary.

One of the goals of the Maharashtra government is to halve the numbers living below the poverty line by 2010. The goal is nothing short of ambitious. While conceding this, Krishna Vatsa, Secretary for Rural Development, is positive that once the plan evolved to achieve this is put into action, the life of the rural poor will improve greatly. His answers to the brief questions posed by Frontline.

Most investments in the State will take place in the Special Economic Zones and in Mumbai. How will this help the very poor?

The very poor will not benefit from the thrusts given to industry or to agriculture. These are too indirect to help the poor. They require very special help. What is required is development with equity. Our plan is to target Self-Help Groups. They can have a great impact on development and need more inputs. We have managed to target only 20,000 SHGs. In the next two or three years, we will invest heavily in SHGs. We will give them more support, more marketing opportunities, provide them more infrastructure. We will mobilise them into federations at the panchayat, district and State levels. Then they will have more bargaining power. The other thing we need to do is to provide them more technical support so that they emerge as a pressure group.

What action has been taken to achieve this?

We have given the anganwadis to the SHGs to run. The mid-day meal programme is the next. Watershed management and other developmental activities, which provide services directly to local users, will also be handed over to the SHGs.

We want to set up a micro-finance institution at the State level in the next two to three months so as to lessen the rural poor's dependence on other banks. They need alternative sources of finance. What is also required is better rural connectivity. We're planning to reinvigorate the Prime Minister's Gram Sadak Rojgar Yojana, a project to improve the network of rural roads. If we are given a fraction of the money given to other sectors, we can change the face of rural Maharashtra.