 "Tata Trusts to develop 264 villages in Vijayawada LS constituency")
In a first of its kind, the Tata Trusts were planning to bring about grass-root level changes to 264 villages in Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency to influence the lives of almost 1 million people through a proper planning and development centered around their needs.
While the ground work for this massive project was initiated in April itself, the programme is slated for a formal launch on August 24, 2015 in the presence of Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu among others.
"The objective of this initiative is to build self sustainable and self driven villages with a focus on the well-being and happiness of the poor. Building the roads and infrastructure alone is not development," Vijayawada Lok Sabha member Srinivas Kesineni told Business Standard on Tuesday.
Srinivas, who is popularly known by his pet name Nani, was not only instrumental in bringing this project to the people of his constituency but was also working closely with Tata Trusts in designing and implementing the programme.
The entrepreneur turned politician had approached Ratan Tata seeking his collaboration to develop model villages in Vijayawada constituency under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana(SAGY) initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 11, 2014. He got a lot more than what he had expected. "Why only few villages," was Ratan Tata's response to his request.
That was how the project took shape covering the entire rural habitations of his Lok Sabha constituency, excluding just Vijayawada city and other urban areas.
On top of it, chief minister N Chanrababu Naidu had quickly endorsed the idea and promised to support the project by providing Rs 600 crore-Rs 700 crore or more funds in addition to what these villages can get under the normal governmental schemes, Vijayawada MP said.
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Under this programme Tata Trusts will be engaged in data collection, micro planning and village development programmes while bringing convergence among various Central and state government schemes, according to him.
Tata Trusts officials were not immediately available for comment though one of their spokespersons confirmed the proposed launch of the programme next week. "All the top people of the group apart from some international figures are heading to Vijjayawada to take part in the formal launch of the programme."
Tata trusts control 66 per cent of the shares of Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group. " The wealth that accrues from this asset is used to support an assortment of causes, institutions and individuals in a wide variety of areas," its web site states.
As soon as the project passed the drawing board stage, Tata Trusts recruited 1,400 volunteers from these villages and trained them for the job besides paying a remuneration of Rs 7,000 to Rs 9,000 per month.
Through them it has already collected the data of 2.5 lakh households across all the 264 villages by eliciting responses to a survey involving an elaborate questionnaire seeking 128 types of information from people, ranging from social, health and economic status.
Next course would be the preparation of village development plans based on this people data and these development plans would be implemented over a period of next 4-5 years, according to Vijjayawada MP.
"We also want to set up one industry in each village so that people will be able to find adequate employment and earning opportunities within their reach," Nani said.