Two years after the launch of the ambitious Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM), the Government has decided to rope in India Inc to help it develop 'smart villages' under the programme.
The Union ministry of Rural Development recently invited expression of interests (EoIs) from the corporate and foundations owned by them to participate in the scheme that aims at developing 300 Rurban clusters in the five years (2016-2020) by provisioning of economic, social and physical infrastructure facilities.
A Rurban cluster is a cluster of geographically contiguous villages that is transitioning to an urban area and exhibits potential for economic growth. These are to be developed as 'smart villages' on the lines of the smart cities under the Government's Smart City Mission.
The move follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent meeting 'Champions of Change' with the young CEOs of the country where corporate urged the Government to involve them in the various schemes of the Government.
"We are looking for the business to act as a prime mover in these clusters. The India Inc can partner with us in various ways such as in the form of investments, by bringing in their techno-managerial expertise; or through CSR activities," a senior official from the RD Ministry said.
Private partners could help producer groups move up the value chain through better forward backward linkages, supply chain management, packaging and branding.
The private entities could provide leadership and mentoring to the businesses in the area or help in incubating new businesses based on the inherent economics potential of the cluster identified under SPMRM, the official added.
They could also start businesses in the cluster themselves. Such private entities should choose clusters that are either geographically proximate to their area of operation or having such economic drivers that are within their sectoral expertise or where their contribution would make a difference to the lives of people, said the official.
It may be recalled, six groups of young entrepreneurs had made presentations before the Prime Minister on themes such as - soft power: Incredible India 2.0; education and skill development; health and nutrition; energizing a sustainable tomorrow; and digital India; New India by 2022.
The cabinet had in September approved the project with an outlay of Rs 5,142.08 crore. The scheme was announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley while presenting the government's first budget in 2014.
The funding for rurban clusters will be through various schemes. The SPMRM will provide additional funding of up to 30 per cent of the project cost per cluster as critical gap funding (CGF) as part of the central share.
Through the development of rurban growth clusters, the scheme aims to catalyse the overall regional growth, which would benefit both rural and urban areas of the country, by strengthening rural areas and "de-burdening" urban areas-hence leading to balanced regional development and national growth, the rural development ministry says on its website.
For the selection of clusters, factors like demography, economy, tourism, pilgrimage significance and transportation corridor impact are identified.
The official, however, made it clear that said that no funding shall be provided by the Department of Rural Development to the organisations engaging in this process, but it would fill the critical infrastructural gaps in the cluster as part of the existing programmes and schemes.
In exceptional cases only, the department may provide support from innovation fund under SPMRM on a case to case basis, he added.