Plan panel invites activists to discuss poverty alleviation

On July 17, Singh had written to Rajagpal, the President of Ekta Parishad and Manjunath, the Working President of Bharat Nirman Pratishtan, for a meeting with the plan panel "to explore new ideas for eradication of poverty".

Earlier, Rajagopal, who is taking out a Jansatyagrah Samvad Yatra in the country on the issue of land reforms and poverty alleviation, had in a communication to the Prime Minister urged him to initiate a process of genuine dialogue to address these concerns.

Congratulating the Prime Minister for highlighting at the Rio conference the issue of poverty, the social activist had told him that he would be happy if he could meet and brief Singh about what he had experienced during his ten-month long Yatra covering 19 states.

"As you have expressed in Rio, poverty is a top-priority and we need to tackle this issue seriously. When the Council for National Land Reform was formed in back in 2007, I was hoping that in the intervening five years that you would be able to relook at the unfinished land reform agenda as a way to reduce poverty, migration and violence, but unfortunately we have not been able to develop any concrete action programs/policiesin this direction," he said in the letter.

Maintaining that their interest was "not to prevent the Government from finding a solution, but rather to assist in finding a reasonable response for reducing landlessness and poverty", Rajagopal said, "We are requesting that initiate a process of genuine dialogue so that when the march arrives in Delhi, people appreciate the steps taken by your Government."