The Hindu Business Line : Rural business hubs will get adequate funding: PM

THINK GLOBAL, ACT INDIAN: The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, at the Global Logistics Summit-2006 at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Others (from left) are the ISB Chairman, Mr Rajat Gupta, the Andhra Pradesh Governor, Mr Rameshwar Thakur, the Hero Corporation Chairman, Mr S.K Munjal, and the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. — Satish H.

Hyderabad , Dec. 5

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has assured that the rural business hub initiative, which is being taken up in public-panchayat-private model, would get adequate funding in the upcoming 11th Plan.

He was responding to a suggestion made by Mr Sunil Kanth Munjal, Managing Director of Hero Corporate Services, at the inaugural of the two-day Global Logistics Summit being organised at the Indian School of Business (ISB). Speaking on the rural business hub initiative, Mr Munjal pointed out that the hubs needed financial support from the Government.

For rural infrastructure

Delivering the plenary address at the summit, here on Tuesday, the Prime Minister called for investments to develop rural infrastructure in order to make the farming community tap the emerging opportunities in global and domestic markets.

Stating that the Bharat Nirman programme was aimed at providing urban amenities in rural areas, he called for efforts to build a "new India where urban-rural divide is no longer visible and where farmers can rub shoulders with corporate India and feels as an equal in wealth creation"."We need to achieve this in our lifetime," he said.

It was a paradox that agriculture contributed just 20 per cent to GDP (Gross Domestic Product), but supported two-thirds of country's population. "Logistics can play a key role in integrating rural and urban India, contributing to employment creation and income generation," he said.

Citing the examples of Amul and ITC's e-choupal in bring about agrarian transformation, he called for finding new pathways to prevent degradation of land and water resources.

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