Address at the Inauguration of the Inter-ministerial Summit, New Delhi

Rural Prosperity Through Integrated Actions

Connectivity is Prosperity

I am indeed delighted to participate in the inauguration of the Inter-Ministerial Summit of the Afro-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO). AARDO is a good example of South-South Co-operation in the area of rural development in the Afro-Asian region. I am happy that AARDO is devoted to developing understanding among members for better appreciation of each others experiences for executing the mission of eradicating poverty, promoting literacy and creating a disease free world. I understand that based on the discussions held in Hyderabad, a number of recommendations have been made on poverty alleviation, best approaches and practices in rural development, role of women in rural development and role of national and international agencies in promoting rural development programmes.

My greetings to all the Ministers and representatives from different countries assembled here on this occasion. Since I am in the midst of Ministers and Executives concerned with rural development, I would like to share our experiences on integrated rural development in India. This sustainable rural development programme is for a nation of a billion people, which may have some relevance to partner nations who need similar solutions. Let me discuss with you on the topic "PURA: A Vehicle For Sustainable Development".

Ambience In The Nation

In Indian history, very rarely has our nation come across a situation, all at a time, an ascending economic trajectory, continuously rising foreign exchange reserves, reduced rate of inflation, global recognition of our technological competence, energy of 540 million youth, umbilical connectivities of 20 million people of Indian origin in various parts of the planet, and interest shown by many developed countries to invest in our engineers and scientists including setting up of new Research & Development Centers. The distinction between public and the private sectors and the illusory primacy of one over the other is vanishing. India as the largest democracy in the world, has a reputation for its democracy and for providing leadership for one billion people with multi-cultural, multi-language and multi-religious backgrounds. Our technological competence and value systems with civilizational heritage are also highly respected. Foreign Institutional Investors are finding investing in India attractive. Indians are also investing abroad and opening new business ventures. The Indian economy is growing with an average annual GDP growth rate of 8%. Very soon, we will be reaching the target of 10% GDP growth rate.

Economic Development: Transforming India Into A Developed Nation

However, there is a need to lift up the economic condition and lifestyle of over 220 million people out of our one billion plus population. If we have to uplift the 220 million people living below the poverty level and provide them with improved quality of life, we have to ensure that the overall GDP growth rate has to be increased to 10% from the existing 8% and then maintain it for a decade. For this, employment generation, particularly in rural areas is very essential. This necessitates the spread of the development process to the rural sector. That is what PURA (Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas) programme involving 4 connectivities namely physical, electronic and knowledge leading to economic connectivity envisages. Hence, the entire country should have 7000 PURAs encompassing over 600,000 villages. The theme of PURA, apart from concentrating on reinforcing agriculture, will emphasize on agro processing, development of rural craftsmanship, dairy, fishing, silk production, so that non-farm revenue for the rural sector is enhanced, based on the core competence of a region. Also the rural economy will be driven by renewable energy such as solar, wind, bio-fuel and conversion of municipal waste into power. In this approach, the aim is to provide sustainable development using the core competence of the rural sector.

In India, the development of the rural sector is very important. The government, private and public sectors have been taking up rural development in parts. For example, starting educational institutions, starting health care centers, laying roads, building houses, building marketing complexes, giving communication links in particular rural areas have been taken up in the past as individual activities. During the last few decades, it is our experience that these initiatives start well, just like heavy rains resulting into multiple streams of water flow. As soon as the rains stop, few days later all the streams become dry because there are no water bodies to collect surplus water and store it at the right place. For the first time, PURA envisages an integrated development plan with employment generation as the focus, driven by provision of habitat, health care, education, skill development, physical and electronic connectivity and marketing.

Hence, I would like to concentrate today's discussion on how to implement PURA in the Indian setting for the consideration of this audience.

Profile of PURA Mission

I would like to share with you the sequence of actions needed to realize a PURA cluster from the intention of an individual, NGO, industry, educational institution, financial institution or consortium of institutions to its completion.

Based on the terrain and climatic conditions there could be four types of PURA in India. They are: - Plain Terrain PURA, Hill PURA, Coastal PURA and Desert PURA. The population in the Plain Terrain and Coastal Region PURA may be in the region of 20,000 to 100,000 in a cluster of 20 to 30 villages, whereas the Hill or Desert PURA may have a population of 7,500 to 15,000 people in a cluster of 30 to 50 villages or hamlets.

PURA Realization ? Flow Sequence

The flow sequence for realization of PURA is described.

As soon as a decision is made to create a PURA, there is a need to identify the PURA cluster with the villages which are to be included in it. Simultaneously, consultation must commence with Panchayat Members and government on the existing scheme, opportunity resource mapping and the envisaged growth with the business community. This consultation will lead to a PURA Development Plan with emphasis on employment generation through an industrial engine. Parallely, the Government can consider development of physical, electronic and knowledge connectivity through a public-private partnership. Integrated action in all the areas is the key to the development of PURA as a business proposition.

A. Steps involved in the creation of PURA

1. An institution such as educational / industry /societal transformers / financial institutions / small-scale enterprise / government, intends to create a PURA cluster.

2. The desiring agency identifies the groups of villages in the district that are suitable for creation of an economically empowered PURA cluster.

3. Consultation with the members of the local government (Panchayat), resource mapping, envisaged growth path and study of planned existing government schemes in the area are carried out in parallel.

4. The institution determines the industrial engine for the PURA development based on the core competence and natural resources of the region.

5. Simultaneously, the institution works out the funding requirement including the funds, which have been catered for in the government's development schemes envisaged in the area.

6. The industrial engine plans the services and the rural enterprises and determines the total employment generation potential of the PURA complex both during commissioning and subsequently during its operation.

7. The economic empowerment of PURA is supported by the establishment of ideal physical connectivity, electronic connectivity and knowledge connectivity for the entire complex.

8. District authorities discuss the entire PURA plan with the intending institution and arrive at an implementation plan which may include the following: -

(a) The government will be responsible for provisioning of land required for the complex in consultation with local bodies.

(b) The government may make funds allotted for the regional developmental schemes available to the implementing agency to enable implementation of the PURA programme as a turnkey project with single point responsibility.

(c) The implementation agency will create all connectivities envisaged for the cluster and establish financially viable enterprises leading to provision for planned employment opportunities.

(d) The implementation agency will also take the responsibility for continuous provisioning of quality health care and education to all people living in the PURA complex. The Government will be required to provide the subsidy element to all eligible categories of people.

B. Assessment of initial conditions

1. Survey land availability and land use patterns, housing conditions, roads, drinking water systems, water bodies, energy systems, population characteristics including skills availability, schools, vocational training centres, primary health centers and existing occupational opportunities in the proposed PURA Cluster.

2. Establish development indicators for the PURA Cluster for various socio-economic parameters such as poverty, safe water, infant mortality rate, permanent housing, literacy, formal education, life expectancy and per capita expenditure.

3. Examine availability of higher educational institutions including engineering colleges in the proposed PURA Cluster, which can take a lead role in implementation. Existing sanctions by central and state governments for common facilities in the village cluster such as roads and other infrastructure facilities.

4. Identify native strengths such as availability of unique raw material, special skills and craftsmanship that have the potential to become a wealth generating enterprise with the infusion of technology and marketing opportunities.

5. Establish optimum grouping of villages relating potential strengths or core competence. 6. Create awareness and consensus among the people of the cluster of villages about the proposed PURA in the region with local government (Panchayat) participation.

7. Finalize a lead agency such as an educational institution to plan and implement the PURA.

C. Content of the Master Plan for PURA

1. Master Plan ? will include defining gross land use pattern, plan for physical connectivity, plan for electronic connectivity and plan for knowledge connectivity and a plan for creation of enterprises including a business plan.

2. Village level layout plan ? will include specification of residential areas, institutional areas (hospitals, schools, police stations, offices, Village Knowledge Centers) rural industrial areas, commercial areas, parks, recreational areas etc., through Community Mobilization Procedures.

D. Thrust areas for PURA

Thrust areas for PURA would be the following: -

1. Creation of employment opportunities for all employable people, particularly youth.

2. Capacity building in education ? school, value added employable skills and knowledge.

3. Provision of quality health and timely health care, safe drinking water, quality reliable electric power, energy and water efficient permanent houses.

E. Evolution of PURA Project Report

1. Based on the PURA Development plan, evolve the PURA Project report.

2. Identify nodal village and its cluster villages.

3. Specify development objectives based on development indicators and means for achieving that objective as given in the Master Plan.

4. Interact with possible funding agencies and specify funding methodology.

5. Prepare a management structure for implementation of the PURA cluster specifying linkages with agencies including NGOs, financial institutions, local bodies, district authorities and other government agencies.

II. PURA as a Business Model

It is a business proposition of Rs. 100 crore ($20 million) with public and private partnership over a project period of 5 years. The Government (Bharat Nirman Programme, Rural Development Ministry, Prime Minister Sadak Yojana, Prime Minister Rojgar Yojana, Sampoorna Graha Yojana, Navodaya Schooling, 100 Days Employment Guarantee Scheme and State Government Employment programmes), Banks- NABARD, ADB, WB, UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO, Venture capitalists can fund PURA components. However, initially the Rural Development Ministry is planning to create 2 PURA clusters in each of the 600 districts of India with seed funding. This may attract public- private participation for providing value added services in the three sectors of the economy and run as sustainable business propositions. Already states like Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, and Kerala have taken up PURA as a programme for implementation as government initiatives and also certain private initiatives have established working PURAs in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

Typical Working PURAs

It is possible to get an insight into PURA by studying a few operational PURAs, which are functioning in different parts of the country. They are: - Periyar PURA, Loni PURA, Chitrakoot PURA and Byrraju PURA. Let me highlight some of the operational PURAs.

Periyar PURA (Tamil Nadu):

The Periyar PURA complex pioneered by Periyar Maniammai College of Technology for Women, Vallam, Tanjore is functioning near Vallam having a cluster of over 65 villages in Tamil Nadu, which involves a population of 100,000. This PURA complex has all three connectivities - physical, electronic and knowledge - leading to economic connectivity. The center of activity emanates from the women's engineering college that provides electronic and knowledge connectivity. Periyar PURA has health care centers, primary to post graduate level education and vocational training centers. This has resulted in large-scale employment generation and creation of a number of entrepreneurs with active support of 850 self-help groups. Two hundreds acres of waste land has been developed into cultivable land with innovative water management schemes such as contour ponds and water sheds for storing and irrigating fields. All villagers are busy with cultivation, planting jatropha, herbal and medicinal plants, power generation using biomass, food processing and above all running marketing centres. This model has emanated independent of any government initiative. Committed leadership has been provided by the engineering institution. Recently, 5 Periyar PURA villages have been connected through Wi-MAX Wireless, having minimum 4 mbps connectivity with the Periyar PURA nodal centre. It provides sustainable economic development in that region.

PURA: Loni Model (Maharashtra):

In the Loni PURA in Maharashtra a participative model of integrated rural development has come up among 44 villages with the population of 80,000. The Loni PURA model has been pioneered by the Pravara Medical Trust. It is improving productivity of the rural people through improved quality of life with health care, education and employment. The concept is people centric development for social transformation. The thrust area of development has been on comprehensive medicare, particularly for women and children, need based health education and e-connectivity to farmers. The complex has created 27 educational and vocational institutions consisting of schools, colleges, polytechnic and ITI including medical and engineering colleges. They have created a sugar factory, biogas plants, chemical plants and power projects. They have a large number of self-help groups for providing low interest loans for weaker sections of society. Due to the co-operative effort of the people, literacy in these villages has gone up from 63% to 83%, birth rate has come down, infant mortality rates have decreased to 35 per 1000 from 70 per 1000 and the standard of living has gone up by over 20% compared to other villages in neighbouring areas.

Byrraju PURA

Byrraju Foundation of Satyam near Bhimavaram has undertaken the mission of establishing 32 Ashwini Centers benefiting 116 villages with a population of around 500,000 people. It has provided electronic connectivity through wireless (512 kbps to 2 mbps), knowledge connectivity in cooperation with the National Academy of Construction, Hyderabad and other domain experts, thereby creating economic connectivity in these villages.

Economic Connectivity: During the last 4 years of its operations, it has skill enabled and knowledge enabled in areas such as construction, tailoring, garment production, IT and spoken English skills. This programme resulted in 3000 jobs with minimum earning of Rs. 3000 per month; this is 3 times that of the earlier earning potential of those employed. A rural BPO Gram IT, established at the Jallikakinada Center has trained unemployed graduates in IT skills and spoken English and employed 100 people for BPO operations such as transaction processing of Human Resource data of Satyam Computers as back office processing; data processing of one million self-help-group members of Andhra Pradesh such as financial data, accounting data, spending patterns, cultural aspects under the programme of ?Mapping the bottom of the Pyramid?. This Gram IT BPO has effected the 10% reverse migration from Hyderabad to Bhimavaram. This model can be replicated by many of India's IT companies in the rural sector to create PURA clusters and bring rural transformation.

Technology Driven PURAs

In all four operational PURA?s, technology and application of scientific methods of working have played a very important role. For example, power through bio-gas and solar energy is used for household lighting and also for farms; vermi composting; check dams and water purification plants; jatropha plantation to extraction and esterification; medicinal and aromatic plant cultivation, extraction and manufacturing health care products through self-help groups; low cost housing using alternative building blocks; dairy farming; health care and education services; connectivity using wireless and Wi-MAX technologies and enabling sustainable development and business processing among village clusters. In all these operational PURAs, employment generation was the focus, using technology experiences from colleges and educational institutions and through assessment of markets that can absorb products and services. With the emergence of PURA Clusters, in different parts of the country, what is now required is the establishment of linkages to PURA clusters by setting up of Domain service providers through PURA Nodal Knowledge data centers.

Conclusion: PURA in 2012

The PURA complex has got a potential to transform into a dynamic rural complex with focus on employment potential for all families of the PURA cluster with all connectivities. These PURA complexes will have their umbilical connectivity with the nearest university. Let us visualize how the PURA cluster will transform into, by the year 2012, based on the experiences of the operational PURAs we have discussed. The PURA system will lead to the realization of the following: -

a) Dwelling units to all village citizens with clean water supply and sanitation facilities.

b) The village complex will have 100 percent literacy.

c) Apart from upgrading existing schools, the complex will have a few colleges, world class vocational training institutions in construction, carpentry, welding, natural art, computer maintenance and services, IT Enabled Services, BPO and a Call Center. The "Sakshat" programme - a one stop education portal will be used through Internet for capacity building in this region.

d) People in the PURA complex will be able to get quality health care through tele-medicine and also through mobile clinics via Primary Health Centres. They will be brought under a corporate medical health care scheme such as the Yeshasvini scheme which is functional in the state of Karnataka,

e) Each PURA village complex will be free from diseases like polio, TB, leprosy and malaria and other waterborne diseases. The infant mortality rate will be less than 10.

f) The PURA complex will promote horticulture and floriculture products, apart from agriculture in collaboration with nearby agricultural universities and research institutions.

g) There will be agro-processing industries in each PURA complex for value addition to horticulture produce.

h) Dairy and fish farms in each PURA complex for providing additional non-farm revenue to farmers, which can also produce other dairy products.

i) Revival of all existing water bodies in the PURA and creation of water bodies in the cluster and inter-connecting them, leading to drought and flood free conditions.

j) Provision of employment to all employable people of the village through additional jobs in dairy, agro-processing, construction, handicraft and tourism enterprises.

k) Overall, per capita income of individuals in the PURA cluster should increase at least by three times and people living below the poverty line should come down to near zero.

Of course to achieve the above mentioned performance, a dynamic, empowered PURA management board structure is very vital. This has to be evolved with active participation of State Governments, district authorities, societal transformers, educational institutions, small-scale industries or an enterprise in association with the local government (Panchayat). Finally, it will be managed as a viable and sustainable business proposition through local entrepreneurship.

I would request the participants of the Inter-Ministerial Summit of the Afro-Asian Rural Development Organization to study the applicability of PURA to your nations. You may consider implementing PURA with suitable experiences, their needs and core-competence.

With these words, I inaugurate the Inter-Ministerial Summit of the Afro-Asian Rural Development Organization and my best wishes to all the participants in their mission of eradicating poverty, illiteracy and disease by evolving the PURA, based on the experience of a particular nation and its core competence leading to employment generation.

May God bless you.