Chinese and Thai model rural business hubs will soon be part of the Indian countryside.
On the anvil are memoranda of understanding between panchayats and 30 public and private enterprises dealing in products and services ranging from diesel yielding jatropha to textile designing.
Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar says that these enterprises are inspired by the Chinese and Thai models of OBOP and OBOS or 'one block and one product' and 'one block and one skill' and are a tripartite partnership of public and private sectors and panchayats.
Aiyar, who has been moderating a three-day workshop of activists and writers on Panchayati Raj ending today, said that he had a list of 72 enterprises which were keen on entering into partnerships with panchayats.
"I have completed interactions with 50 of them and 30 will soon fructify into MoUs," he said, adding, "Later, more will join the list that has been provided by Confederation of Indian Industries."
The
ministry started the work to facilitate rural business hubs two years ago after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's call to emulate the Chinese town and village enterprises.
The 30 MoUs to be signed by enterprises with panchayats include Ramgarh in Uttaranchal with ITC, three in Haryana's Mewat, Faridabad and Yamunanagar districts for jatropha crop, and between National Institute of Fashion Technology and villagers of Bellari district for production of clothes stitched using traditional designs.
In Karnataka, the MoUs are to be signed with villages for billing and metering of electricity.
"We want to go from 'haat' to hyper-market," said Aiyar, adding that help was also being sought from resource providers who had played a role in rural economic revolution in Thailand.
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