Local group to run USAID project

The state has agreed to transfer the US Agency for International Development (USAID) "" sponsored Participatory Rural Energy Services in Karnataka (PRESK) initiative to a new cell to be specially created for the purpose within a local organisation, the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Energy and Development.

It will assume responsibility for replicating the PRESK initiative in Karnataka.

PRESK, started in 2002, is focused on the inter-related problems of poor power quality and supply, rural sector subsidies, water resources and farming practices.