'Jeevika' gets $63 mln IDA soft loan from World Bank

New Delhi, June 15 (UNI) The World Bank today approved a credit of 63 million dollars by its concessionary lending arm - International Development Association (IDA) - for funding Bihar government's rural livelihood project 'Jeevika'.

IDA's loans has 35 years of maturity and a 10-year grace period.

Aimed at enhancing social and economic empowerment of rural poor people in the state, 'Jeevika' will be implemented in 4,000 villages in Nalanda, Gaya, Muzzafarpur, Madhubani, Khagaria, and Purnea districts.

The project is expected to directly benefit about 29 lakh people belonging to 5,90,000 households, a World Bank statement said.

Bihar is a predominantly rural state with 89 per cent of the population living in rural areas. About 44 per cent of the rural population is poor, one of the highest ratio in India.

Poverty is heavily concentrated among the landless or near landless agricultural households, which accounts for 70 per cent of the households in the state. Disparities are also evident along gender and caste lines, with scheduled castes accounting for one-fourth of Bihar's landless poor.

''Effective targeting of the poor, especially the most vulnerable groups, is absolutely critical to make growth more inclusive,'' said Isabel Guerrero, World Bank country director for India.

''This project will contribute to empowerment and livelihood enhancement of the rural population, focusing on women and vulnerable groups so that they become active partners in Bihar's journey out of poverty.'' It will help organise women from poor and disadvantaged households into vibrant and self-managed institutions of the poor (self-help-groups).

These groups will be federated into village organisations, which will receive project investments for various activities through a participatory micro-planning process, the statement added.

The project will finance Community Investment Funds, designed to transfer financial and technical resources to the community organisations on a demand-driven basis through a participatory micro-planning process. The village organisations are expected to use this resource as a revolving fund to finance various self-help groups in the villages.

''These communities will be provided skills and tools to develop social accountability mechanisms to enable transparency and good governance within the institutions of the poor. This will also help in building effective service delivery partnerships with local governments,'' said Parmesh Shah, World Bank lead rural development specialist and project team leader.

UNI