India will soon write to the International Labour Organisation seeking its help to combat the scourge of penury and bring down the poverty ratio to 19 per cent by 2007 from the present level of 26 per cent.
"By next week, we are going to send a detailed programme to the ILO to apprise them of our measures to reduce poverty and seek help for successful implementation of our steps to create additional employment and enhance income generation," Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma said on Monday.
Briefing reporters on India's participation in the recent ILO meet in Geneva, Verma said he mooted International Skill Development Fund with active assistance from developed countries for rooting out poverty in developing countries and apprised the director general of ILO Juan Somavia on the need for enhanced representation from developed countries in the apex labour organisation.
"We need to give the poor access to training opportunities at affordable costs. I, therefore, suggested setting up of an International Skill Development Fund," he said.
He said ILO could play a useful role in removing poverty through freer movement of people across national boundaries and added that trade liberalisation would be incomplete without free movement of natural persons.
The fund, under the aegis of ILO, could mobilise funds from the developed world to help the developing countries in their effort to enhance skill development and thus rooting out poverty.