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The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has set up a Rural Business Hubs Council for overseeing the task of establishing Rural Business Hubs in Panchayats. An Executive Committee would also be set up to look into specific tasks regarding the thrust areas where Panchayats could be facilitated to set up such Rural Business Hubs. This was stated here today by Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Panchayati Raj while addressing a meeting of Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has written to all elected Panchayats whose representatives attended a National Presentation on developing Rural Business Hubs in the country last year, to indicate the areas of interest for industry and business to set up Business Hubs. The Ministry is in touch with experts and members of industry to conceptualize and carry out the initiatives of the Panchayats in setting up Rural Business Hubs by utilizing locally available resources or development of skills in creating handicrafts or rural art.
At a meeting held here last month under the Chairmanship of Panchayati Raj Minister with representatives of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), it was decided that the Ministry would facilitate establishing linkage between Panchayats and industries for the purpose of building Rural Business Hubs. Shri Aiyar has written to all the participants of the national presentation inviting responses indicating their interests to set up Rural Business Hubs, as this would become the basis for developing state wise approaches for promotion of Business Hubs in Rural Areas through Panchayats. Development models such as the Chinese `Towns and Village Enterprises’ and the Thailand model `One Tambon, One Product’ (OTOP) will be adapted for the development of `One Block One Product’ (OBOP) or `One Block One Skill’ (OBOS), the Minister informed.
The Ministry has mooted creation of an Empowerment Incentive Fund for Panchayats with the initial investment of Rs. 500 crore for encouraging Panchayats to be effective in its functioning within the framework of the Constitution. This would be an additional income to Panchayats besides funds being made available under SGRY, State Finance Commission and Eleventh Finance Commission at present. The Twelfth Finance Commission has made provision for more untied grants for Panchayats than what was given in the Eleventh Finance Commission. The Ministry has already prepared a plan for computerizing all the Panchayats at a cost of Rs. 1,000 crore which would help also in tracking the flow of funds allocated to Panchayats, the Minister added.
The meeting was attended by S/Shri Motilal Vora, (Rajya Sabha) S.G. Koli Patel, Baba Saheb C.P. Singh, Ramsevak Singh (Babu) and D.P. Saroj (Lok Sabha).
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