LAMKA, March 11: General director Evangelical Congregational Church of India, rev LB Angam today inaugurate the “Improving access to information of public schemes in the remote areas and backward districts in NEI” at the Kuki Innpi CCpur, Tuibuang, Lamka.
The program was organized by the North East India Committee On Relief and Development (NEICORD) and Agency for Technical Co-operation and Development (ACTED) who along with three other NGO’s will act as the implementing agency under funding of the European Union (EU).
The district co-ordinator, NEICORD, M Khaihau haokip said that under the program, 25 backward districts have been identified in the country out of which seven are from the North East alone- two each in Manipur and Assam, one each in Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya.
He said under the program, emphasis will be given to 10 schemes to be taken up in four years. He identified the schemes as National Rural Health Mission, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Indira Awas Yojana, Mid Day Meal, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Scheme, Total Sanitation Campaign, Dependants’ Protection Scheme, National Pension System, Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana and Integrated Child Development Services.
The projects are funded by the centre and the state at the rate of 90:10. The two districts identified in Manipur are Chandel and Churachandpur. The project will be launched in Chandel on March 13, he said.
H Nongyai used a power point presentation to elaborate on the details of the policy.
The manner in which the project will be carried out needs to be studied further and the government departments, agencies, civil societies and philanthropic organisations will be taken on board. Community services will be set up at 45 locations, where the people can highlight their issues, he commented.
“The methodology of the project will be based on adoption of multi-sectoral, multi-state holding approaches, working with the existing setup etc,” Nongyai pointed out and said that the problem of accessibility will be taken up to these villages to be covered.
Altogether 200 villages from the seven districts of NEI states have been identified, he continued.
Meanwhile, clarifying on the selection of the implementing agency, especially on NEICORD which is Christian based non-denominational organisation, project manager, NEICORD K ROnglo said that the organisation is active in most parts of the NEI, and have been providing emergency response to flood victims as recently as in Majuli River Island of Brahmaputra River, NC Hills landslide in Assam and Bamboo flowering in Arunachal Pradesh.
