Setting up of the Bharat Rural

Livelihood Foundation

(BRLF)

Rabindra nath Nayak

The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal for setting up of the Bharat Rural Livelihood

Foundation (BRLF) as an independent charitable society under the Societies Registration Act 1860 to

facilitate and upscale civil society action in partnership with Government for transforming

livelihoods and lives of rural households with an emphasis on women particularly in the Central

Indian Tribal Region

It will provide financial grants to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to meet their human resource

and institutional costs for upscaling of proven interventions invest in institutional strengthening of

smaller CSOs and capacity building of professional resources working at the grassroots

Projects supported by BRLF would be able to reach 10 lakh poor families by the end of the fifth year

BRLF would also have supported the capacity building of 1000 CSO professionals and institutional

strengthening of a significant number of smaller CSOs within the above time frame

Even though BRLF will have an India wide mandate the initial focus of the organization will be on the

Central Indian Tribal Region centered on blocks having significant tribal population across 170

districts in the States of Odisha Jharkhand West Bengal Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh Andhra

Pradesh Maharashtra Rajasthan and Gujarat

Rs 500 crore will be released for creating the corpus fund of the new Society in two tranches The

society will be constituted as a partnership between Government on the one hand and private sector

philanthropies private and public sector undertakings (under Corporate Social Responsibility) on

the other hand

The proposal was earlier considered by Cabinet on 18th April 2013 and referred to a Group of

Ministers under chairmanship of the Finance Minister The GoM in its meeting held on 21st August

2013 has recommended the proposal

The Congress-led United progressive Alliance (UPA) government has approved the establishment of

an independent society for ldquotransforming livelihoods and lives of rural households with an emphasis

on womenrdquo in tribal areas

On Tuesday the cabinet approved a proposal to set up the Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation

(BRLF) with a corpus of Rs 500 crore in partnership between the government and private sector

philanthropic organizations besides private and public sector undertakings under their Corporate

Social Responsibility initiatives

This is aimed at ensuring the ldquosmooth flow and utilization of government funds to rural communities

and poor households under the centrally-sponsored schemes for promoting livelihoods of the

poorrdquo the government said

Once it becomes operational the BRLF would have reached 1 million poor families

The UPA won back-to-back general elections in 2004 and 2009 by promising to ensure that rural

areas and the poor receive their fare share of the dividend from Indiarsquos rapid economic growth

It has put in place an entitlement-based regime including the recently passed food security law that

will provide subsidized foodgrain to 67 of Indians and a programme promising 100 days of manual

labour to at least one member of every rural household

The next general election is due to take place by May 2014

The BRLF proposal was passed by the cabinet committee on economic affairs along with two other

programmes to boost employability and increase availability of low-cost homes for the urban poor

According to a recent cabinet note prepared by the rural development ministry that was reviewed

by Mint tribal communities in Odisha Chhattisgarh Jharkhand Andhra Pradesh West

Bengal Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Maharashtra and Rajasthan have not received their share of the

dividend from Indiarsquos economic growth and ldquoperform poorly on every indicator of well-

being whether it be economic well-being health or educationrdquo

The 12th five-year plan ( 2012-17) emphasizes faster more inclusive and sustainable growth and the

government is investing large amount of resources in these areas the note says

But the ldquofull benefits of these legislations plans and schemes can only be realized by the poor when

they especially the tribal communities are organized are aware of their rights and entitlements

and have the requisite capacities to plan and implement livelihoodrdquo it says

The support provided to civil society organizations (CSOs) will be both financial and non-financial or

facilitation support the cabinet note says The BRLF will fund broadly three kinds of interventionsmdash

human resource and institutional costs of CSOs institutional strengthening of smaller CSOs and

building a large pool of development professionals the cabinet note says

Planning Commission member Mihir Shah will be president of a ruraldevelopment ministry-initiated foundation that will support proposalsfrom non-governmental organizations seeking to leverage funds throughexisting government programmes for their implementation

The Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF) which will be set up as anautonomous registered society following the Cabinetrsquos approval on 3September plans to support availability of funds for projects bycombining funding from the government financial institutions andcorporate social responsibility (CSR) budgets of companies

ldquoPrivate philanthropies public and private sector undertakings andothers will be encouraged to partner with the BRLFrdquo said the letterinviting Shah to lead the society in his private capacity

The new company law recommends spending 2 of corporate profits onCSR

It asks companies with a net worth of more than Rs500 crore orrevenue of more than Rs1000 crore or net profit of more than Rs5crore to spend 2 of their average net profit over the three precedingyears on CSR activities

The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal for setting up of the Bharat Rural Livelihood

Foundation (BRLF) as an independent charitable society under the Societies Registration Act 1860 to

facilitate and upscale civil society action in partnership with Government for transforming

livelihoods and lives of rural households with an emphasis on women particularly in the Central

Indian Tribal Region

It will provide financial grants to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to meet their human resource

and institutional costs for upscaling of proven interventions invest in institutional strengthening of

smaller CSOs and capacity building of professional resources working at the grassroots

Projects supported by BRLF would be able to reach 10 lakh poor families by the end of the fifth year

BRLF would also have supported the capacity building of 1000 CSO professionals and institutional

strengthening of a significant number of smaller CSOs within the above time frame

Even though BRLF will have an India wide mandate the initial focus of the organization will be on the

Central Indian Tribal Region centered on blocks having significant tribal population across 170

districts in the States of Odisha Jharkhand West Bengal Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh Andhra

Pradesh Maharashtra Rajasthan and Gujarat

Rs 500 crore will be released for creating the corpus fund of the new Society in two tranches The

society will be constituted as a partnership between Government on the one hand and private sector

philanthropies private and public sector undertakings (under Corporate Social Responsibility) on

the other hand

The proposal was earlier considered by Cabinet on 18th April 2013 and referred to a Group of

Ministers under chairmanship of the Finance Minister The GoM in its meeting held on 21st August

2013 has recommended the proposal

The Congress-led United progressive Alliance (UPA) government has approved the establishment of

an independent society for ldquotransforming livelihoods and lives of rural households with an emphasis

on womenrdquo in tribal areas

On Tuesday the cabinet approved a proposal to set up the Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation

(BRLF) with a corpus of Rs 500 crore in partnership between the government and private sector

philanthropic organizations besides private and public sector undertakings under their Corporate

Social Responsibility initiatives

This is aimed at ensuring the ldquosmooth flow and utilization of government funds to rural communities

and poor households under the centrally-sponsored schemes for promoting livelihoods of the

poorrdquo the government said

Once it becomes operational the BRLF would have reached 1 million poor families

The UPA won back-to-back general elections in 2004 and 2009 by promising to ensure that rural

areas and the poor receive their fare share of the dividend from Indiarsquos rapid economic growth

It has put in place an entitlement-based regime including the recently passed food security law that

will provide subsidized foodgrain to 67 of Indians and a programme promising 100 days of manual

labour to at least one member of every rural household

The next general election is due to take place by May 2014

The BRLF proposal was passed by the cabinet committee on economic affairs along with two other

programmes to boost employability and increase availability of low-cost homes for the urban poor

According to a recent cabinet note prepared by the rural development ministry that was reviewed

by Mint tribal communities in Odisha Chhattisgarh Jharkhand Andhra Pradesh West

Bengal Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Maharashtra and Rajasthan have not received their share of the

dividend from Indiarsquos economic growth and ldquoperform poorly on every indicator of well-

being whether it be economic well-being health or educationrdquo

The 12th five-year plan ( 2012-17) emphasizes faster more inclusive and sustainable growth and the

government is investing large amount of resources in these areas the note says

But the ldquofull benefits of these legislations plans and schemes can only be realized by the poor when

they especially the tribal communities are organized are aware of their rights and entitlements

and have the requisite capacities to plan and implement livelihoodrdquo it says

The support provided to civil society organizations (CSOs) will be both financial and non-financial or

facilitation support the cabinet note says The BRLF will fund broadly three kinds of interventionsmdash

human resource and institutional costs of CSOs institutional strengthening of smaller CSOs and

building a large pool of development professionals the cabinet note says

Planning Commission member Mihir Shah will be president of a ruraldevelopment ministry-initiated foundation that will support proposalsfrom non-governmental organizations seeking to leverage funds throughexisting government programmes for their implementation

The Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF) which will be set up as anautonomous registered society following the Cabinetrsquos approval on 3September plans to support availability of funds for projects bycombining funding from the government financial institutions andcorporate social responsibility (CSR) budgets of companies

ldquoPrivate philanthropies public and private sector undertakings andothers will be encouraged to partner with the BRLFrdquo said the letterinviting Shah to lead the society in his private capacity

The new company law recommends spending 2 of corporate profits onCSR

It asks companies with a net worth of more than Rs500 crore orrevenue of more than Rs1000 crore or net profit of more than Rs5crore to spend 2 of their average net profit over the three precedingyears on CSR activities

The Congress-led United progressive Alliance (UPA) government has approved the establishment of

an independent society for ldquotransforming livelihoods and lives of rural households with an emphasis

on womenrdquo in tribal areas

On Tuesday the cabinet approved a proposal to set up the Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation

(BRLF) with a corpus of Rs 500 crore in partnership between the government and private sector

philanthropic organizations besides private and public sector undertakings under their Corporate

Social Responsibility initiatives

This is aimed at ensuring the ldquosmooth flow and utilization of government funds to rural communities

and poor households under the centrally-sponsored schemes for promoting livelihoods of the

poorrdquo the government said

Once it becomes operational the BRLF would have reached 1 million poor families

The UPA won back-to-back general elections in 2004 and 2009 by promising to ensure that rural

areas and the poor receive their fare share of the dividend from Indiarsquos rapid economic growth

It has put in place an entitlement-based regime including the recently passed food security law that

will provide subsidized foodgrain to 67 of Indians and a programme promising 100 days of manual

labour to at least one member of every rural household

The next general election is due to take place by May 2014

The BRLF proposal was passed by the cabinet committee on economic affairs along with two other

programmes to boost employability and increase availability of low-cost homes for the urban poor

According to a recent cabinet note prepared by the rural development ministry that was reviewed

by Mint tribal communities in Odisha Chhattisgarh Jharkhand Andhra Pradesh West

Bengal Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Maharashtra and Rajasthan have not received their share of the

dividend from Indiarsquos economic growth and ldquoperform poorly on every indicator of well-

being whether it be economic well-being health or educationrdquo

The 12th five-year plan ( 2012-17) emphasizes faster more inclusive and sustainable growth and the

government is investing large amount of resources in these areas the note says

But the ldquofull benefits of these legislations plans and schemes can only be realized by the poor when

they especially the tribal communities are organized are aware of their rights and entitlements

and have the requisite capacities to plan and implement livelihoodrdquo it says

The support provided to civil society organizations (CSOs) will be both financial and non-financial or

facilitation support the cabinet note says The BRLF will fund broadly three kinds of interventionsmdash

human resource and institutional costs of CSOs institutional strengthening of smaller CSOs and

building a large pool of development professionals the cabinet note says

Planning Commission member Mihir Shah will be president of a ruraldevelopment ministry-initiated foundation that will support proposalsfrom non-governmental organizations seeking to leverage funds throughexisting government programmes for their implementation

The Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF) which will be set up as anautonomous registered society following the Cabinetrsquos approval on 3September plans to support availability of funds for projects bycombining funding from the government financial institutions andcorporate social responsibility (CSR) budgets of companies

ldquoPrivate philanthropies public and private sector undertakings andothers will be encouraged to partner with the BRLFrdquo said the letterinviting Shah to lead the society in his private capacity

The new company law recommends spending 2 of corporate profits onCSR

It asks companies with a net worth of more than Rs500 crore orrevenue of more than Rs1000 crore or net profit of more than Rs5crore to spend 2 of their average net profit over the three precedingyears on CSR activities

The next general election is due to take place by May 2014

The BRLF proposal was passed by the cabinet committee on economic affairs along with two other

programmes to boost employability and increase availability of low-cost homes for the urban poor

According to a recent cabinet note prepared by the rural development ministry that was reviewed

by Mint tribal communities in Odisha Chhattisgarh Jharkhand Andhra Pradesh West

Bengal Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Maharashtra and Rajasthan have not received their share of the

dividend from Indiarsquos economic growth and ldquoperform poorly on every indicator of well-

being whether it be economic well-being health or educationrdquo

The 12th five-year plan ( 2012-17) emphasizes faster more inclusive and sustainable growth and the

government is investing large amount of resources in these areas the note says

But the ldquofull benefits of these legislations plans and schemes can only be realized by the poor when

they especially the tribal communities are organized are aware of their rights and entitlements

and have the requisite capacities to plan and implement livelihoodrdquo it says

The support provided to civil society organizations (CSOs) will be both financial and non-financial or

facilitation support the cabinet note says The BRLF will fund broadly three kinds of interventionsmdash

human resource and institutional costs of CSOs institutional strengthening of smaller CSOs and

building a large pool of development professionals the cabinet note says

Planning Commission member Mihir Shah will be president of a ruraldevelopment ministry-initiated foundation that will support proposalsfrom non-governmental organizations seeking to leverage funds throughexisting government programmes for their implementation

The Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF) which will be set up as anautonomous registered society following the Cabinetrsquos approval on 3September plans to support availability of funds for projects bycombining funding from the government financial institutions andcorporate social responsibility (CSR) budgets of companies

ldquoPrivate philanthropies public and private sector undertakings andothers will be encouraged to partner with the BRLFrdquo said the letterinviting Shah to lead the society in his private capacity

The new company law recommends spending 2 of corporate profits onCSR

It asks companies with a net worth of more than Rs500 crore orrevenue of more than Rs1000 crore or net profit of more than Rs5crore to spend 2 of their average net profit over the three precedingyears on CSR activities

Planning Commission member Mihir Shah will be president of a ruraldevelopment ministry-initiated foundation that will support proposalsfrom non-governmental organizations seeking to leverage funds throughexisting government programmes for their implementation

The Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF) which will be set up as anautonomous registered society following the Cabinetrsquos approval on 3September plans to support availability of funds for projects bycombining funding from the government financial institutions andcorporate social responsibility (CSR) budgets of companies

ldquoPrivate philanthropies public and private sector undertakings andothers will be encouraged to partner with the BRLFrdquo said the letterinviting Shah to lead the society in his private capacity

The new company law recommends spending 2 of corporate profits onCSR

It asks companies with a net worth of more than Rs500 crore orrevenue of more than Rs1000 crore or net profit of more than Rs5crore to spend 2 of their average net profit over the three precedingyears on CSR activities

Dr Mihir Shah

Member Planning Commission

Government of India

Tel No (Off) 23096756

2309 66209690 Extn 2619

(Fax) +91-011-23096774

Email mihir[dot]shah[at]nic[dot]in

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in-adivasi-districtsarticle3315406ece