NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday that the Government proposed a "specific financing window" for the Rs. 1.74 lakh crore Bharat Nirman programme through the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

He was inaugurating a national conference on "Bharat Nirman: Unlocking rural India's development potential through infrastructure creation," organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The function marked the formal launch of the programme.

Role of local bodies

Dr. Singh said the proposed model of delivery involved the panchayats and the private sector as partners.

The Planning Commission was working on ways to enhance the management of rural infrastructure programmes by panchayats. The State Governments and local bodies were critical to effective programme delivery.

Reiterating the Government's commitment to achieve the targets set under Bharat Nirman by 2009, he said it would provide a platform to build rural India's growth potential.

"Taken together with our initiative to guarantee rural employment through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the initiative to improve rural health through the National Rural Health Mission and the rural education programme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, it should be clear that our Government is indeed giving a new deal to rural India."

Danger to stability

Describing the divide between rural and urban India as "a major challenge of our economic reform programme," the Prime Minister said this gap was not filling; hence, it posed a danger to social, economic and political stability. "We have to reverse this trend, and bridge and ultimately eliminate this gap."

Planning Commission Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia said ten million hectares of land had to be added to the irrigated area, 67,000 villages had to be connected by road, 65,000 habitations had to be given water supply and 60 lakh houses had to be constructed.

"All this needs a massive investment, and the Centre and State Governments would have to come together to make this possible," he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail