The state government is looking to restart the stalled work of the Village Social Transformation Foundation (VSTF). (File)The state government is looking to restart the stalled work of the Village Social Transformation Foundation (VSTF), a non-profit company initiated during the tenure of then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, aimed at using funds through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to promote village development.
“The work of VSTF was affected by Covid-19 pandemic and also, fund crunch hit continuing ongoing programmes. Before presenting a proposal for new release of funds under CSR to corporates, we need to showcase the past performance under the initiative. The over two-and-half-year gap has made things difficult,” said an official from the deputy CM’s office.
The government will be connecting the new VSTF phase with Balasaheb Thackeray Agribusiness and Rural Transformation (SMART) Project as earlier. SMART aims to transform rural Maharashtra through “SMART” interventions in agriculture and livelihood sectors, assisted by the World Bank.
Under the VSTF, an independent Village Development Plan (VDP) of each village was envisioned which included economical as well as social development of that area. A number of other departments, such as Rural Development, Agriculture, Social Justice, Tribal Development, Forest, Irrigation and Water Conservation are part of it as works related to them are also included in the VDP. However, the VSTF project is unlikely to start immediately as discussions with a number of departments are currently on and their remarks have been sought.
Coordination among several departments is yet another task. “When Fadnavis was the CM, the CMO handled coordination work. In the present condition, that task too has become a bit arduous,” the official said.
Around 800 such villages were selected for this programme earlier which kicked off in January 2017. A fellow was appointed to each village to monitor the progress of the programme. The pandemic, however, disturbed the programme.