Urging CSOs associated with the PACS Programme to participate in this effort, the minister said that the goal implied doubling the number of SHGs in the country from the present number of approximately 26 lakh groups.

Each of these groups would have to have a bank account in its name, and members should have the capacity to take up income-generation activities like small dairy operations and goat-rearing, he said.

Only CSOs could help the government achieve this goal, he stated. If implemented through bureaucrats, the effort would only result in ruin, he added.

The minister commended the PACS Programme for addressing the core needs of the poor through its rights-based approach for realisation of entitlements. “Wherever you go in the country, all poor people have the same demands, though expressed in different languages,” he said. “The poor say, we don’t have a house, we don’t get rations, we don’t get pensions, etc.” The PACS Programme addressed these very expressions of need, he observed.

However, a lot more was required to be done to alleviate poverty, he said. Large-scale employment-generation in rural areas was the only long-term solution to the problem of poverty, he said. Every poor rural household should be able to earn at least Rs 3,000 a month through self-employment avenues.

It was in this context that SHGs were a crucial tool. The nation needs an “SHG andolan,” he exhorted.

The minister noted that SHGs had other empowering aspects. Women SHG members gained the confidence to directly talk to local government and bank officials, and their awareness about the world outside their homes increased enormously, he said.

Speaking on vast employment opportunities emerging for the rural poor, the minister said that the construction sector was expected to throw up demand for 1 crore skilled labourers. Likewise, huge labour demand was expected to emerge in the textiles and food processing industries.

This demand could be met by initiating short-term skill development courses, he said. While government would do its best, industry should also chip in as “it is in everyone’s interest to eliminate poverty”. In a speech peppered with jocular remarks, the minister said if all the poor people in the country started to use toothbrushes, the entire toothbrush manufacturing industry would not be able to meet the demand!

Referring to the PACS Programme as an “alliance”, like the ruling central government, of DFID, PACS Management Consultants and CSOs, the minister said he had himself witnessed the strong advocacy efforts of the programme in the context of the draft rural habitat policy.

Formulation of the draft policy was facilitated by the PACS Programme through consultations in all project states, and the central government is being urged to implement the policy through a postcard campaign. Around 45,000 postcards have already been received and the union rural development minister was presented a large-size postcard sample at the inaugural session of the ‘What it takes to eradicate poverty’ conference.

Accepting the symbolic presentation of postcards, Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh extended his full support and good wishes to the PACS Programme.

A number of other Government of India representatives addressed various sessions of the three-day conference, including Union Minister for Panchayati Raj Mani Shankar Aiyar, Union Ministry of Rural Development Secretary Dr Subas Pani and Panchayati Raj Ministry Joint Secretary Aditi Mehta.