Rural business hub to bridge rural-urban divide: Minister

Jaipur, Feb 20 (UNI) The concept of rural business hubs (RBHs) will act as an effective tool to curb the rural urban divide which is often called as Bharat and India, said the minister for rural development Kalulal Gujjar here today.

The minister while speaking at a conference on 'rural business hubs - partnering for growth' organised by the ministry of rural development and industry chamber CII criticised the poor percolation of development to the poor and rural areas called for integration of the poverty alleviation schmes with rural business hubs model.

Earlier speaking on the occassion Rural Development State Secretary the RBH as an important tool to ensure distributive justice.

He said, ''It is a win win situation for all the stake holders by creating market linkages with no scope of intermediaries, create and develop quality standards and improve infrastructure to rejuvenate rural economy.'' Mr R K Poddar, Co-chairman RBH council explaining the concept said, the key objective of rural business hubs is to involve industry to improve/refine the locally available resources and produce goods of quality and standards that are nationally and internationally acceptable.

The concept is based on the successful Thai One-Tambon-One product (OTOP) model with suitable modifications, he said.

The main thrust areas are agri business, handlooms handicrafts, and other tradtional pridcue, rural tourism and bio fuels.

He said the idea is to combine the inherent skills of people living in local communities and combine them with production capabilities of industry members, he added.

UNI