The Concept

Jayant Poverty Eradication Campaign is a well-chalked out & need-based initiative meant to help the poor families in Walwa block in Sangli district, Maharashtra. The programme attempts to reach out to families of people in the area registered as Below Poverty Line (BPL), create an information base in terms their current family income, social status, available vocational skills and education profiles and consequently plan concrete activities for their upliftment based on the needs expressed by them.

The information base will be computerized for further analysis and the families would be categorized under three heads, A, B & C, on the basis of their overall status to prioritize support activities.

To begin with the campaign will focus on working with families in C category by providing them need-based support in terms financial and material resources. This support could be in terms of loans with less or no interest, machines for small scale businesses, providing market opportunities for their products, educational help by waiving off fees and employment through Rajaram Group of Industries – just to mention a few. Intrinsic in these attempts is awareness on various Government Schemes meant for these families and help in order to access them. The campaign would have a dedicated team of qualified people managed by a Steering Committee under leadership of H’ble Jayant Patil. The whole focus of the Campaign is not on providing one-time help but to enable beneficiaries to sustain the process of development.

Despite several sincere attempts by the Government and also by the Civil Society groups Poverty in India still remains an unmet challenge. Poverty is one of the major issues, which in turn causes other social problems such as illiteracy, unemployment, degradation of health and thus perpetuates the vicious circle of deprivation and marginalisation. India being a democratic state has an obligation for the welfare of neglected, poor and vulnerable sections of its society. The Five Year Plans and various Government Schemes and legal entitlements are expected to bring desired equilibrium and justice in society. In addition, rigorous and localized attempts are called for to meet this unfulfilled agenda. Both, the Government and the Civil Society groups, need to work hand in hand to deal with poverty in a more planned and sustainable manner. The Bangala Graminna Bank is one of the models and a milestone in poverty eradication, which stands as a lesson for those who wish to work for the poor. Total 11000 families are registered to be below the poverty line (BPL) in Walwa block of Sangli district in Maharashtra. Besides these there are additional 4000 families, not registered as BPL but deserving similar support. Thus Jayant Poverty Eradication Campaign aims at reaching out to total 15000 families in the Walwa block for their comprehensive and sustainable development.