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CNRI CALLS
FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A MINISTRY EXCLUSIVELY FOR NGO AFFAIRS
Confederation
of NGOs of Rural India – CNRI in a meeting with the Press today on
the eve of its 3rd Annual National Meet has put forward a
suggestion for the establishment of a Ministry exclusively for NGO
Affairs at the Central and State level. In its opinion the time has
now come for this special institutional arrangement as the NGOs are
increasingly involved in the implementation of a variety of
developmental programmes with substantial resources provided by the
Government at various levels.
CNRI is of the
view that the magnitude of responsibilities entrusted to this sector
calls for undivided attention from a single source of authority
which will facilitate the NGOs to work with greater zeal, commitment
and accountability. The single – window – clearance mechanism
characteristic of the industry sector requires to be extended to the
NGO Sector also in the interest of expeditious implementation of
socio-economic objectives of the Government at the grass root
level. In the absence of such an arrangement, a large number of
good NGOs are made to run from pillar to post with regard to every
one of their problems and in the process their own credibility comes
to be questioned for no fault of their own.
L.V.
Saptharishi, Co – Chairman, CNRI who was addressing the Press today
pointed out that the 3rd National Meet of CNRI being held
at Hotel Ashok on 25-27 April 2008 will chiefly focus on inclusive
growth for the establishment of an inclusive society. The Meet has
a large agenda dealing with a range of subjects such as value added
agriculture, role of NGOs in inclusive financial services as
business correspondents, Micro Credit, Micro Insurance, Village
Knowledge Centres and National Policy for the voluntary sector
covering aspects like CSR, RTI Act and public accountability of
NGOs.
The Conference
is being attended by over 2,000 member NGOs / SHGs of CNRI out of
its total membership of 6,000 all over the country. It will be
addressed by distinguished personalities from the Government and
Experts from different walks of life.
Dr. Raghuvansh
Prasad Singh, Union Minister for Rural Development will inaugurate
the Meet while the concluding session will be graced by
Smt. Pratibha
Devisingh Patil, Hon’ble President of India who will deliver the
Valedictory Address. Dr. Mohan Dharia, Chairman, CNRI, will preside
over the proceedings.
On the occasion
of this Meet CNRI will honor dedicated and committed Social
Activists and Workers, one from each State with the title “Servant
of the Poor”. Shri Sevai Govindaraju of Trichy, Tamil Nadu who has
done yeoman’s service for the poorest and deprived sections of
society over the last 35 years will be honored with the title
“Bharat Seva Ratna”.
One of the most
important sessions being organized during this Meet pertains to the
establishment of Knowledge Centres by CNRI in close collaboration
with IGNOU in different parts of the country particularly rural
India for creation of employment opportunities through social
entrepreneurs. It may be recalled that IGNOU and CNRI have a major
MOU on this subject and are in the process of establishing Gyan
Kendra’s all over India under their joint auspices. The target is
to establish 1,000 such centres during the financial year 2008 –
09. The whole objective is to reach through this inclusive
education process the large number of unreached sections of
society.
One of the
objectives of this Conference is to unite all sections of people at
the grassroot level under the umbrella of Jana Seva Manch which will
contribute towards the progress of all sections of society
irrespective of their caste, creed, colour, religion, language,
gender or region.
The
Press Conference was also addressed by Shri N. Balagopal, Executive
Chairman, CNRI and Shri Akshaya Bhai, Member Secretary, CNRI.
INDIA WILLING TO STRENGTHEN TRADE AND INVESTMENT LINKAGE
Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of
Commerce and Industry, has said that India is willing to strengthen
trade and investment linkages with its trading partners through its
knowledge advantage, its pool of skilled resources, its young
population, its potential of being a manufacturing hub and a base
for high-end R&D. India’s regional and inter-regional trading
agreements, partnerships and economic ties with other countries of
the South also form an important element in India’s development
diplomacy. This he said while addressing General Debate of the
UNCTAD XII Ministerial Conference at Accra (Ghana). “To further
promote the South-South trade, we are committed to work towards
exploring the full potential of the GSTP. We are looking forward for
a successful conclusion of the third round of negotiations which
takes into account the views of all its members”, the Minister
added. The Conference was also attended by Shri G.K. Pillai,
Commerce Secretary; senior officials from the Ministry of Commerce &
Industry, External Affairs and Ambassador & Permanent Representative
to World Trade Organisation/PMI-Geneva.
Shri Kamal Nath said that India is fully supportive of having a
focus on Africa which provides all of us with an opportunity to
highlight our contributions to the development of the continent and
our partnership with Africa for mutual benefit. “We would be willing
to work on developing present as well as future corpus of
projects/activities with Africa, not only with individual countries,
also with regional African Organisations as well”, he stressed. The
Minister stated that India and Africa are building a genuine
partnership based on the principles of mutual benefit, mutual
respect and equality.
While highlighting the market access initiatives, Shri Kamal Nath
stated: “We recognize that for the LDCs, especially those in the
Africa region need market access for ensuring the development
dimensions of international trade. It is in this regard that only a
few days ago, in the India-Africa Summit in New Delhi, which most of
the dignitaries present here attended, we announced our decision to
implement a Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme for all the LDCs on a
non-reciprocal basis. On 85% of the total items, we will be bringing
our duties to zero in a time frame of five years and on additional
9% items there will be fixed tariff preferences. This Scheme would
be implemented from 1st May, 2008 and we are sure that the African
LDCs would reap the benefit of this scheme to their advantage”.
On the multilateral trade front, Shri Kamal Nath said: “The Doha
Development Agenda is one of the most ambitious attempts at ensuring
that the issue of development is firmly at the core of the
multilateral trading system. The fundamental principles of the
multilateral trading system, namely, non-discrimination,
predictability, stability and transparency are fully supportive of
development. Since development issues lie at the heart of the
current Round of Negotiations, the key to the Negotiations,
therefore, should be, firstly, to ensure that this Round delivers
for development and secondly, helps developing countries to
integrate into the world trading system and take advantage of
opportunities since many developing countries also need assistance
in building up their capacity to make use of multilateral trade
liberalization. Given the present interface that exists between
national development strategies and international process and
disciplines, we firmly believe that there is a need for creating an
international enabling environment that is conducive to the growth
of developing countries in a manner that best suits their
circumstances and national priorities. Therefore, within the
framework of international disciplines, each country must have the
policy space to choose what is most appropriate for its
circumstances and for the overall welfare of its people”.
Earlier, Shri Kamal Nath had also had various bilateral meetings
with the Trade Ministers of UK, China, Pakistan, Argentina, Sweden,
Senegal, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Thailand and Mali and discussed
various matters including the bilateral relations and economic
cooperation. During the course of the discussions, he informed the
Ministers that FDI policies in India have been further liberalised
and many new sectors have been opened recently and added that
infrastructure sector in India is an opportunity for investment.
PROMOTING AGRO INDUSTRIES - PAWAR
The Ministry
of Agriculture recently organized a three-day Global Agro-Industrial
Forum (GAIF-2008) in collaboration with Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO). It was the first global gathering of senior
level policy makers from national and local governments, leaders of
food industries, UN technical agencies, civil society organizations
and agro-industry specialists involved in fostering the development
of competitive agro-partnership for future action. During the
three-day meet, GAIF discussed actions for improving agro-industrial
competitiveness in ways that can contribute to broad based economic
development and poverty alleviation. About 500 delegates and senior
level Government officials from 100 countries participated in the
GAIF – 2008.
Shri Sharad Pawar Union Minister of Agriculture, Consumer Affairs,
Food & Public Distribution while inaugurating the Global Agro
Industrial Forum urged the agricultural scientists to work for
suitable use of harvested biomass. Expressing concern over impact of
climate change on agricultural production, the Minister said there
is a concern worldwide about rising food prices and food security in
the coming years on account of declining production due to climate
changes, rising demand because of economic growth and pressure on
account of bio fuels. He expressed the hope that scientists would
overcome technological barriers to agricultural production even
under the new threat of climate change. The Government is launching
a pilot project with a budget of Rs. 40 crore to promote
agro-industries in rural areas and production catchments for
sustainable agricultural growth.
The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, addressing the Global Agro
Industries Forum thanked it for conferring the prestigious Agricola
Award on him.
Referring to the cooperation and support of international
organizations in achieving India’s food security in the past he
said, “India has had a long association with each of the
international organizations present here. India’s Green Revolution
would not have been possible without the active cooperation and
support of several international organizations as well as some major
developed countries, such as the United States of America”.
He further said, “today we are once again faced with a situation
where rising demand for foodgrains and other food items is running
into supply constraints – both domestically as well as
internationally… there is a persistent feeling that the first Green
Revolution has run its course. Modern technology has certainly
widened the options available to our farmers and planners. Yet, the
world seems to be facing the prospect of food shortages and rising
food prices. I believe that in the near future, this is going to be
one of the most urgent challenges of our times. Therefore, it is
important that the world community tackles this problem head-on. We
need a Second Green Revolution. We need new technologies, new
organizational structures, new institutional responses and, above
all, a new compact between farmers, technologists, scientists,
administrators, businessmen, bankers and consumers. The global
community and global agencies must fashion a collective response
that leads to a quantum leap in agricultural productivity and output
so that the specter of food shortages is banished from the horizon
once again”.
Speaking on the issue of farming increasingly becoming an unviable
business proposition for many rural households, he said,
“Collectivisation, corporatisation and land consolidation through
land alienation are neither possible, nor socially desirable. We
cannot therefore wish away the existence of economically unviable
farms. On the other hand, we must find ways in which farmers can
benefit from economies of scale in certain farm operations such as
provision of farm inputs, credit and marketing support while
retaining family-based small holders. Advances in technical and
related progress can have a major impact on the productivity and
well-being of small and marginal farmers.”
He emphasized that Institution building, capacity building,
empowering farmers through investment in their capabilities, were
the kind of interventions we must seek and emphasized that “we in
India wish to promote agro-industries and offer people living in
rural areas new avenues of employment close to the place they work
and live… In a labour surplus economy like ours, we need solutions
that increase producers’ incomes but also generate new employment
opportunities. The food processing sector must have these objectives
in mind.”
Giving voice to his conviction that our farmers and workers sought
incomes, not subsidies, he stated, “They seek markets and
employment, not hand-outs. While some subsidies are useful and
helpful, especially when targeted to those in distress, what our
rural households seek is higher investment in land development, in
water management, in seed technology, in output storage and in
marketing. They also seek investment in rural infrastructure.
Investment therefore is the key to development. We need much greater
global and national effort to increase investment in rural areas in
developing world, in agriculture and agricultural technologies, in
farm and off-farm economic activities.”
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