The Government of Maharashtra and Tata Trusts have come together to launch multiple interventions in Chandrapur district in the areas of livelihoods, digital literacy, data driven governance and child protection. The Trusts will facilitate the district administration to advance community development indicators in the district, by improving existing projects and aiding administrators in facilitating multi-sectoral development, said a statement.
“Chandrapur is a remote district and for the inclusive development of the region, the Government sought technical and financial support from Tata Trusts. I must thank Mr. Ratan N Tata for this. From E-Learning to Bamboo-related research and training, Tata Trusts has always provided a helping hand in developing Chandrapur into a leading district on the state map,” said Maharashtra minister for finance, Sudhir Mungantiwar.
The different developmental interventions that the state government and Tata Trusts will jointly work upon include village level micro planning for e-governance. A village level micro planning exercise – Data, Evaluation, Learning, Technology and Analysis (DELTA) which was launched in 3 blocks – Mul, Pombhurna and Jivti — earlier will now be expanded to the entire district. Besides that, DELTA Plus programme will be launched to help on-ground implementation of village development plans that emerge out of the micro planning exercise.
Tata Trusts will be partnering with the Center for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) to work with the Chandrapur Administration for district-level budget analysis and streamlining fund flow. This project is being taken across 5 districts in 5 Indian states, of which Chandrapur is one. These areas will be – agriculture, education, health and nutrition, rural development and social welfare.
The Education Department in Chandrapur and Tata Trusts will be introducing 10 Mobile Computer Literacy Buses through the “Palak Mantri Sanganak Prashikshan Prayogshala” project for a year, to boost literacy indicators and make the education programme robust. The 10 literacy buses will span the entire district, with each bus reaching out to 15 schools once a week, targeting students from class 5 to class 10.
Tata Trusts will also focus on POCSO compliance. In this effort, Chandrapur will emerge as the first POCSO Act-enabled district in India, where children are safe from abuse in schools, communities and home. This is an innovative project and first of its kind attempt in India to strengthen the system and mechanism at district level that responds effectively to any incidence of abuse. The learning from this project will help in replicating this model.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed to establish a business eco-system for growth of small-holder poultry and demonstrate small-holder poultry farming (broiler poultry) amongst marginalized women and collectivize them into producer organizations for economies of scale and maintain quality and competitiveness with timely supply.
Tata Trusts will work with the District administration, Health department, Gram panchayats and the community, for elderly care in Chandrapur, based on the needs. Additionally, an announcement of setting up of a bamboo based toothpick making unit in Chandrapur was made; in order to generate bamboo based employment opportunities, and empowering individuals and communities with knowledge and experience, and sustainably developing the economies of marginalized communities. The technology used has strong forward and backward linkages and its implementation will benefit a wide range of people involved in all stages of toothpick production.
Earlier this year, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Bamboo Research and Training Centre in Chandrapur to establish a Centre of Excellence to promote bamboo-based micro, small and medium enterprises in the state by mobilizing the local skill base to enable sustainable growth in the sector as a result of strong institution building and market linkage. Furthermore, in order to bridge the digital gender divide in the district, the Trusts have also implemented Internet Saathi, a digital literacy initiative in partnership with Google India, which aims to create awareness among rural women on the benefits of the Internet. So far, the programme has reached 400 villages where 140 saathis have been trained and 31, 600 beneficiaries have been impacted.
