Tata Trusts plans to invest Rs. 500cr to elevate tribals
Tata Trusts, the philanthropic arm of Tata group, will spend over Rs. 500 crore for the betterment of tribals in four states over the next five years. This will be overseen by its flagship scheme, Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (Cini). Rs. 25 crore, of the Rs. 119 crore, which was earmarked for the first phase of this project, has already been deployed. Here's more.
The fund allocation
The executive director of Cini, Ganesh Neelam said that over the next five years, the organization plans on investing close to Rs. 500 crore to support more such endeavors. A portion of this amount will be raised by charity. The initiative will cover 1,01,000 tribal households across Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Gujarat and by 2020, treble their incomes to Rs. 1.2 lakh per annum.
Areas of allocation
Seven blocks in five districts of Jharkhand, two blocks in one district of Odisha, eight blocks in three districts of Gujarat and two blocks in two districts of Maharashtra are covered under Cini's project. Out of the Rs. 65,000 that Cini wants to invest into each tribal household, Tata Trusts will provide Rs. 20,000 and the rest will be collated from different agencies, grants.
Project strategy
Neelam said, "Nearly half-way into the project, we've already created 15,000 lakhpati kisans across these four states." He also informed that this livelihood enhancement initiative, of trebling the income of tribal households, is based on a four-pronged strategy, which consists of high-value farming, rearing of livestock (mainly piggery and goats) and non-timber forest products, such as lac and horticulture.
