Rural Development Ministry signs $1 billion loan agreement with World Bank

New Delhi, July 18 (ANI): The Rural Development Ministry signed an agreement with the World Bank here on Monday for a $1 billion loan to implement a National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP) in the country.

Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh witnessed the signing of the agreement.

The distribution of funds among states would depend on the Below Poverty Line (BPL) population in each state.

The investment in one of the world's largest poverty reduction initiatives would help in building up a society by mobilising the poverty-stricken population, especially women.

This would also take care of their nutritional and financial needs.

"Today, we are signing this loan agreement. This is the second loan agreement to be signed between the World Bank and the Ministry of Rural Development in the last two months. The first one was for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), which was signed in the last week of May," said Ramesh.

Ramesh further said that about 30 million women were engaged in self-help groups and their target would reach 70 million in the next decade.

"I think it's the most important flagship programme that is being launched as part of the UPA-II. It was launched a couple of months ago in Rajasthan by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Chairperson of the UPA and it is a very ambitious programme because of what it does," said Ramesh.

"Today, roughly, 30 million poor women in the country are members of self-help groups and in the next ten years, we want to increase the coverage of 30 million poor women to 70 million," he added.

The NRLP would also assist in the management of various programmes as well as schemes under National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), by shifting the focus of expenditure-based allocation, to provide quality technical assistance and result- based financing.

The agreement would also aid in the development of partnerships with the private sector, civil society as well as other significant institutions in India.

NRLP would extensively support implementation of NRLM in 100 districts and 400 blocks of 12 high poverty states including Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, accounting for 85 percent of the rural poor in the country.

"The large part of NRLM, the core of NRLM is based on the experience of Andhra Pradesh and to a lesser extent Kerala. The two states, which have had the maximum success in women's self, help groups and I am delighted that one state that has really run forward with NRLM is Bihar," said Ramesh.

"What Bihar is doing is trying to replicate what Andhra Pradesh has done over the last 10 years. I am sure other states like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam, Jharkhand and Orissa would also follow suit," he added.

The NRLM is one of the world's largest poverty reduction initiatives aimed at reaching out to 350 million people, almost a quarter of India's population. (ANI)