Golden Jubilee Year celebration of Gujarat State

Posted: Jan 10 2011

On the occasion of the Golden Jubilee Year celebration of Gujarat State, Hon. Chief Minister Shri. Narendra Modi launched an ambitious campaign by the name MISSION MANGALAM. The objective is to organize the poor into Self Help Groups / Sakhi Mandals, link them with banks, build capacities in them and lead them towards sustainable livelihoods.

To implement this mission a company was formed in April 2010 by the name Gujarat Livelihood Promotion Company Limited (GLPC). This company has initiated a major program of Corporate-Business Partnerships to conceptualize and implement projects in rural areas which would generate more than a MILLION LIVELIHOODS, to be realized in the next 3 to 5 years.

This initiative has got overwhelming response from some of the biggest industries and business houses in the country. Till now more than 32 companies have expressed their commitment to sign MoUs with GLPC during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, 2011, held this week.

It is estimated that these MoUs would trigger projects which would generate and augment livelihoods in the rural areas of Gujarat to the tune of 12 lakhs i.e. 1.2 million in the next 3-5 years. The total financial commitments to enable the above would be exceeding Rs. 20,000 Crores.

These MoUs would be signed during a seminar organized under the aegis of Rural Development Department by GLPC upon the theme INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SOCIAL BUSINESS ENTERPRISES. This seminar would be addressed by eminent thinkers and practitioners. Dr. Usha Thorat, former Deputy Governor, RBI would give the financial perspective and Dr. Bibek Debroy, eminent economist and academician would present the economist’s perspective during the Seminar. Mr. B.K. Sinha, IAS, Secretary, Rural Development, Government of India would be the Chief Guest in the Inaugural session.

Mr. Kishore Biyani, Chairman Future Group would give the key note address in the seminar and would sign one of the biggest MoUs to link 100,000 members of Sakhi Mandals with livelihoods over the next 3 to 5 years. Future Group would make Gujarat the hub of their backward integration and procurements. Future Group with the assistance of GLPC would identify the activities and the beneficiaries, impart skill training, facilitate financing from banks, manage production systems and buy back of the entire production.

Another major MoU signatory is the National Spot Exchange Ltd. (NSEL) whose M.D. and CEO, Mr. Anjani Sinha would also be speaking on ‘Empowering Small and Marginal Farmers through Transparent Market Mechanisms’in the seminar. NSEL with the assistance of GLPC would expand its operations in Gujarat and focus on the most backward talukas and the small, BPL and marginal farmers and would reach out to 500,000 farmers in the next 5 years by ensuring transparent, fair and rewarding market linkages.

Other major companies who are entering into MoU include the Canadian company McCain, ITC, Arvind Group, Vivante Pure Foods, Abellon Clean Energy, Godrej AgroVat, Jain Irrigation Systems, Fab India and Ashima Group.

Jaipur Rugs, the biggest Indian exporter of carpets would be signing MoU to link 50,000 people with different processes in carpet making over the next 5 years. Founder CMD, Mr. N. K Chaudhary would be a Guest during the seminar and would be signing the MoU.

One of the innovative projects envisaged in collaboration with Tata Motors is regarding strengthening the rural transportation system engaging SHGs. It is estimated that about 25,000 livelihoods can be generated through strategic interventions in this sector which would be jointly explored by Tata Motors and GLPC in the next 3 months. The objective is also to complement the interventions under other MoUs of GLPC which would require a strong backbone of rural transportation.

GLPC is also focusing on empowering the AGARIYAS (Salt Pan Workers) and the SAGAR KHEDUS (Fishermen Community) through various interventions. GLPC and SABRAS Pvt. Ltd. would be forming a Producer Company of salt-workers, where the salt-workers would be the share holders and co-owners of the company. This would empower the salt-workers and help in easy financing, technology up-gradation and marketing.

One of the notable achievements of the efforts of GLPC is that the skill training component of all the ventures has been agreed to be borne by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) of Government of India. The Chairman, Mr. M.V. Subbiah and CEO, Mr. Dilip Chenoy would be attending the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2011 to sign the MoU.

The initiative has also got overwhelming support from Banks and Financial Institutions and GLPC has got MoU offers of more than Rs. 15,000 Crores from the Banks to finance the above projects. SBI would be the largest contributor with Rs. 5,000 Crores earmarked for these projects over the next 3 to 5 years. Dena Bank and Bank of Baroda would be signing MoU for Rs. 3,000 Crores each. NABARD would also be signing MoU to strengthen the whole initiative.

Mr. D.L. Rawal as Chairman of State Level Bankers’ Committee would sign the MoU on behalf of all the bankers of the State assuring that all the 2,00,000 SHGs of Gujarat would be linked with a minimum of Rs. 50,000 as Micro Finance through Cash Credit within the next 12 months. This would ensure liquidity of more than Rs. 1,000 Crores directly assisting 25,00,000 members of the Self Help Groups and thereby impacting more than 1 Crore population of the State. This would be the biggest Microfinance intervention in the country till date.

Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM-I) has applauded this concept and the initiative. Mr. N. Ravichandran, Director, IIM-I would be signing the MoU to make this initiative an exemplary case study in their curriculum. Over the next months senior faculty members, research fellows and students of different management programs would be attached with GLPC to study and document the above interventions. IIM-I would also enable training and capacity building of senior GLPC managers and implementers of the livelihood initiatives.

Several institutions have come forward to join the initiative and sign MoUs during the Summit. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), headed by Nobel laureate Dr. R. K. Pachauri would be signing MoU with GLPC to be a resource and knowledge partner in many of the above interventions. KVIC, GIDR, EDI, EDC and all the Agricultural Universities of Gujarat are signing MoUs to partner with GLPC. The global consultancy firm Ernst & Young is assisting the entire intervention as a knowledge partner.
 

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