Jairam Ramesh to rope in pvt profs for building naxal-affected districts

NEW DELHI: The rural development ministry is going to tap the potential in the Indian private sector and other quarters of organisations not in the ambit of the government to help implement and monitor rural programmes in naxal-affected districts.

For this, minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh has proposed a Prime Minister’s Rural Fellows Programme which will select 180 professionals seeking sabbatical from their current jobs to assist administrative work in 72 naxal-affected districts. The tenure of the fellowship will be two years extendable to another year based on performance. The programme is likely to be implemented by the next financial year. “The professional manpower available to the district collector in the Left Wing extremism-affected districts are next to nothing, severely limiting the ability of a motivated diligent collector from undertaking development work,” a draft proposal by the rural development ministry notes.

The institution of the district collector in these areas , the note adds, has to be supported in the form of qualified motivated young professionals, who will assist the collector in planning, implementation and monitoring. The fellows selected for the programme will be placed in special cells within the collector’s office to carry out their functions.

Ramesh, who had mooted the proposal at a day-long meeting of district collectors from naxal-affected areas held in September, had said that the fellowship programme will act as an agency to bring quality people from the private sector into the government system. “The inclusion of professionals is aimed to further finetune the implementation structure,” Ramesh had said last month at the meeting of the district collectors. "There are enough professionals in the private sector who want to work with the government. This programme can help absorb them," he had added.

The fellows are proposed to be given a monthly stipend of Rs 65,000 in the first year, Rs 70,000 in the second year and Rs 75,000 crore in the third year. A 5% discretionary performance-linked bonus is also proposed to be given for outstanding performance.