The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : $120-million World Bank aid for poverty reduction project in Tamil Nadu

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 14, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Others

$120-million World Bank aid for poverty reduction project in Tamil Nadu

Special Correspondent

Programme targeted at 12 million poor

NEW DELHI: : The World Bank on Wednesday approved a $120-million credit to the Tamil Nadu Government for implementing a comprehensive empowerment and poverty reduction programme.

The State has a population of 62 million, of which 20 per cent, or 12.4 million people, live in poverty. The objective of the project, `Puthu vazhvu', is to create opportunities and build social capital in poor communities, involving the communities themselves in designing and implementing the changes.

Tamil Nadu, according to a World Bank statement here, has achieved significant development outcomes in the past decade. Yet, over 12 million people live in poverty, especially in rural areas where agriculture is vulnerable to drought, and caste and gender disparities exclude the vulnerable.

The aim of the project is to make an impact on the livelihoods of the poorest including the disabled, destitutes, widows, the elderly, orphans and tribes. According to World Bank Country Director Michael Carter the project is in support of the Tamil Nadu Government's strategy for reducing poverty among the rural poor and other vulnerable groups who are outside the reach of most development interventions. "The emphasis on the symbiotic relationship between empowerment of the poor women, on the one hand, and the creation of viable livelihoods for them in the villages, on the other, is critical. The `village livelihood programme', or `Puthu vazhvu', is designed to fulfil these objectives."

The project has three components. The first component — village livelihood programme — is designed to support and develop sustainable community organisations that will help to improve livelihood. Communities will be helped in planning and managing their funds and will be given access to resources for investment. The ultra poor, especially women and unemployed youth, will be linked with potentially productive investments, capable of generating employment.

The second component, `District and state support to village livelihood programme, is aimed at developing competent staff and agencies at the local and State levels to support village institutions.

The third component, `project management', will facilitate coordination, implementation and monitoring of the project at the State and district levels.

The credit from the International Development Association, the World Bank's concessionary lending arm, carries a 0.75 per cent service fee, a 10-year grace period and a maturity of 35 years.

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