The Hindu Business Line : CAPART in for makeover — Plans series of regional meets from today

THE Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), responsible for the implementation of rural enhancement projects and encouraging the adoption of appropriate technologies for rural areas, is in for a major makeover to meet the challenges of globalisation.

The 18-year old organisation, under the Ministry of Rural Development, is holding a series of regional forum meetings from Thursday in Jaipur. Similar conventions are planned in Patna, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bangalore and Tiruvanathapuram.

The new Director-General, CAPART, Mr L.V. Saptharishi, told Business Line that even as the organisation completes two decades of rural development services across the country, it needed to evolve its strategies to function as "the representative of the Government in Action with NGOs for transformation of rural India".

CAPART's series of interactive sessions will involve all NGOs previously assisted, beneficiary groups, monitoring institutions and State Governments, to ascertain from them the re-engineering of the organisation in the changing context of the WTO regime.

CAPART should move forward, Mr Saptharishi said, and a line-up of innovative rural schemes were on the anvil to ensure its progress forward in the current scenario of trade liberalisation.

He added that based on the feedback obtained from the regional meetings, a brainstorming session would be held in the capital on December 28, and it will be presided over by the Minister of Rural Development and President, CAPART, Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.

A press release of the forthcoming meetings described CAPART as playing a proactive role, functioning closely with the Ministries of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture, and Rural Development on all matters relating to WTO and improvement of the rural masses.

This sort of involvement and close cooperation with the respective government bodies is significant from the accountability angle and also in keeping track of the performance of the NGOs receiving assistance from CAPART.

As the organisation is currently solely dependant on government funding, efforts would be made to garner outside support particularly from the corporate sector and from banks, financial institutions and charity organisations. The proceeds from these contributions wouldbe utilised for specific schemes and projects.

Alongside, efforts would also be made to increase marketing opportunities for the rural areas and their products not only within the country but also abroad. NGOs would be actively sought to pitch in with international marketing efforts.