Hello and the warmest of welcome to the April 2010 edition of ‘REEDS NEWS’. We have had a satisfying 2009-10 financial year having able to reach out to more people with our interventions touching various spheres of rural life. With this confidence combined with our future plans, we rededicate ourselves to strive to help rural communities help themselves to build a stronger, productive, positive and inclusive India.

This task at hand, REEDS is concerned with the issue of inclusive growth with special attention on the rural communities. According to Human Development Report 2007 of United Nations, the poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global incomes while the richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income! Growth that is inclusive would mean a growth that not only creates opportunities, but ensures equitable access natural resources and other opportunities.

Still three quarters of the world’s poor, about 900 million people are in rural areas. The term rural development represents improvement in quality of life of rural people in villages. Traditionally and often, agriculture was the only source of income and livelihoods in rural areas; this is no longer the case in most of the countries with changing global economic scenario. Governments of developing countries and international development agencies, towards converging with the Millennium Development Goals, are shifting their policy emphasis towards a more holistic approach of inclusive rural development providing more emphasis on non-agricultural sources of income, employment and livelihoods for sustainable rural economies.

It is laudable that the Government of India is undertaking several concrete steps towards participatory development, catalyzing inclusive growth in the recent years creating local opportunities for development. In addition, the development priorities and programs are becoming more targeted and innovative in terms of forging partnerships for harnessing the expertise and resources available with the private sector. However, India needs a much greater fillip to create more livelihood opportunities and strengthen value chains for the rural populace. Forging private alliances in the fields of Information, communication and other technologies, financial inclusion, management of natural resources will be paramount in times to come and to move forward in transforming this vision into reality.

The organized sector of civil society can best contribute to inclusive growth because they are where the people really are. Many NGOs have proven efficiency and viability in their activities. We look forward for your continuous support to build innovative capacities for REEDS to be a more effective player!

Ravi K Reddy, May 15, 2010

As indicated to you earlier, the SKILLS2010 conference is getting encouraging response from all the quarters which you can notice from the composition of Committees for the conference and the organizations that are associated from www.skills2010.org the dedicated website to the Conference. Two more organizations - Sydney College of Business and IT [SCBIT], Australia and Australian Council for Private Education and Training [ACPET] have consented to associate with the event.

SCBIT is a reputed institution in Australian higher education industry and vocational sector providing high quality and relevant tertiary and vocational education to the Australian and Overseas students at Sydney. ACPET is the national industry association for independent providers of post-compulsory education and training, for Australian and international students. These prestigious organizations association with the event certainly enhances the level of the conference further.

We are looking forward for your valuable inputs, support and goodwill for making the conference a successful and productive event.

Padmabushan Dr. CK Prahalad, considered one of the world's top 10 management thinkers, died on 16 April 2010 at the age of 69. Many corporations in emerging markets follow his theory about the fortune at the bottom of the financial pyramid. It was Prahalad's proposition that businesses stop thinking of the poor as victims and instead start seeing them as value-demanding consumers sparking off a rural retail revolution.

REEDS welcome support and participation in any manner that suit one’s convenience. All the monitory contributions to REEDS qualify for deduction under section 80 G of the Indian Income Tax Act, 1961.

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