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In order to meet the requirement of Capacity Building and Training (CB&T) of over three million Elected Representatives and Functionaries associated with the three tiers of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the country, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been continuing its efforts to strengthen the traditional training institutions alongwith this Ministry has been exploring the option of outsourcing the training programmes to suitable agencies as well. As a first step in the direction of outsourcing, the Ministry organized a PRI CB&T Business Meet on 7th January 2010. More than 230 participants, representing over 100 Service Providing Organisations attended the event. Also, over 40 officials represented 23 States/UT-specific Panchayati Raj Departments/Organisations. Since then, the Ministry has been encouraging States to consider adopting the option of outsourcing for PRI CB&T to deliver under its programmes. Ministry has published a Reference Guide for Outsourcing PRI Capacity Building & Training Related Activities which is also available on the Ministry website. As of now, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Jharkhand, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have engaged the services of Service Providing Agencies (SPAs) for undertaking various CB&T activities.

Besides, there is a Central Sector Scheme called Rural Business Hubs (RBHs) being implemented by this Ministry, which is based on the principle of Public-Private-Panchayat-Partnership. This Scheme is applicable in all the BRGF districts and all the districts in the North Eastern Region. Till date, 77 numbers of projects have been sanctioned under the RBH Scheme. During twelfth five year Plan, it has been decided to taper off the RBH scheme.

This information was given by the Minister of Panchayati Raj Shri V. Kishore Chandra Deo in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

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PKM/DB
(Release ID :90185)