Ramesh's funds still go to self-help groups

Much before Jairam Ramesh threw his weight behind tigers and mangroves at the cost of irking corporate interests, he was an enthusiastic champion of the experiments in rural development being done by bureaucrats in Andhra Pradesh under the Indira Kranti Pratham, a movement for strengthening self-help groups (SHGs).

Hence, the SHG movement in the country, which has been a dud so far, can look forward to an impetus with Ramesh at the helm of affairs.

As a Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh since 2004, he has been putting all his MPLADS (Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) money in the SHG programmme in the state each year, and continues to do so. According to officials, the money associated with the programme goes to the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), a sort of an NGO created by the state government in 2001 to create livelihood options for SHGs in the state.

So far, Rs 34 000 crore has been provided in bank loans to SHGs in the state through the SERP, says its former secretary Vijay Kumar currently in charge of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) in the rural development ministry. The MPLADS money goes to creating schemes which SHGs demand in various places and are outside the general schemes under the programme.

Some SHGs may want programmes related to education or health care and are specifically created with additional funds, explains Kumar.

Officials in the rural development ministry agree that his arrival may certainly help push NRLM in states which have been reluctant and slow in implementing them.

NRLM is an attempt to refashioned the SHGs in the country on the model of Indira Kranti Patham and with SERP like institutions in every state.

As the rural development minister, Ramesh will also get to take part in the re-drafting of the Land Acquisition Bill, an issue which he had closely encountered as the environment minister amid rising tribal protests against land acquisition for projects to be developed by Vedanta and Posco.