rediff.com: AP to launch World Bank aided project in June

An ambitious Rs 24.50 billion World Bank assisted poverty alleviation programme would be launched in Andhra Pradesh on June 1, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Aimed at providing financial support to rural poor through community participation, the project would be implemented in 500 'most backward mandals' spread over 16 districts in the state for five years, Naidu told reporters after a Cabinet meeting which approved the scheme.

Christened as 'Velugu' (light), the project is a sequel to the Rs 5.94 billion Poverty Reduction Programme already under implementation in 180 mandals, covering six districts, with assistance from World Bank.

The components of the proposed project include capacity building of the organisations of the poor to address various dimensions of poverty through self-help and participation in the on-going government programmes, specially designed interventions to fill critical gaps in primary health and nutrition, and providing access to lands through purchase and lease, Naidu said.

The performance of AP in terms of poverty reduction was the best in the country with the state succeeding in bringing down the poverty from 22.19 per cent in 1993-94 to 15.77 per cent in 1999-2000, he said adding the all India figures stood at 35.97 per cent and 26.10 per cent respectively.

A total of Rs 41.44 billion would be spent in the next five years on anti-poverty programmes to achieve the target of improving living standards of 4 million BPL (below poverty line) families over a five-year period, the chief minister said.



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