The Hindu Business Line : Minister stresses on rural upliftment schemes thru strong SHG movement

Mr Aiyar urged the Chambers of Commerce to take up programmes to impart technical skills and partner the tribal population to achieve value-addition in forest products.

Our Bureau

Kolkata, Sept. 3 Calling for equitable sharing of wealth generated from export of non-timber forest produce (NTFP) by the corporate sector with the disadvantaged sections of the populace engaged in the actual collection in the forest areas, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, Union Minister for Development of the North-east Region (DONER), Panchayati Raj, Youth Affairs and Sports, today urged the rural poor (particularly women) to form into self-help groups (SHGs) to demand their due share. Calling for greater inclusiveness to advance the cause of the rural poor, he suggested multiplication of the product-specific value chain.

Explaining the true essence of the Panchayat movement as enshrined in the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act (PESA) to members of the Shellac and Forest Products Export Promotion Council (SHEFEXIL) and Calcutta Chamber of Commerce, the Minister said changes have to be brought about in rural uplift programmes through a strong SHG movement under the Gram Sabhas.

He suggested “federating of the SHGs through Panchayat institutions, as accelerated growth without inclusiveness is not desirable.”

Mr Aiyar also urged the captains of industry to enter into a proper business relationship with disadvantaged groups through creation of rural business hubs, as enunciated by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, recently. Pointing out that PESA would be of great help here for the SHGs to extract what is due to them, hemade it clear that both were interdependent and needed to work together for the country’s comparative advantage in world trade for such NTFP.

Biggest challenge

According to him, the biggest challenge was to maintain quality while keeping the costs down, and for this, “We need to have more and more buyer-seller ties, for integrating the business process with those who generate the forest wealth with the help of the proposed rural business hubs.” He also urged the Chambers of Commerce to take up programmes for imparting technical skills and partner the tribal population to achieve value-addition in forest products (such as bamboo, tendu leaves etc) for greater export competitiveness, as being done in China.

Lauding the work being done by Shefexil (now designated as nodal agency for exports from the North East) through various programmes involving tribal population in the backward districts, the Minister said the council should ensure that rural beneficiaries earn proportionately more as exports generate more and more income for industry.

Satellite offices

The council, now planning to set up satellite offices in all the NE States, with the main office in Shillong, Meghalaya, has proposed two major projects which were still under consideration of the Ministries of Commerce and Panchayati Raj. These involve products such as bamboo (in Tripura and Mizoram) and botanical herbs in Upper Subansiri district of Arunanchal Pradesh and Tuensang and Workha districts of Nagaland.

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