Planning panel to chalk out proposals for voluntary sector

NEW DELHI: After consultations with over 900 NGOs and civil society groups, a steering committee of the Planning Commission is scheduled to meet on December 8 to give final touches to actions and strategies for the voluntary sector during the next Five Year Plan.

The steering committee on Voluntary Sector is headed by Plan Panel member Syeda Hameed.

"The steering committee will meet on December 8 where we shall give a final shape to the proposals for the voluntary sector, actions to be taken to increase its participation in the economy and also on mobilising resources for the segment," Hameed said while speaking at the launch of the United Nation's 'State if World's Volunteerism Report' here.

The Planning Commission had sought to bring the voluntary sector on board its national plan for the first time in a big way during the current 11th Five Year Plan as part if its policy of inclusive growth.

A report on the national policy for the voluntary sector was released by the Hameed-led steering committee in 2007.

"Even the government was late in coming out with a separate policy for the voluntary section. However, the voluntary sector finds mention in the Approach Paper to to the 12th Plan (2012-17)and we have consulted 900 organisations while forming our plans for the sector," Hameed said.

The UN report of volunteerism, the first of its kinds by the global body, was released in 80 countries across the world today.