Rural development fellows will get TISS degree with Rs. 75,000 stipend

There are people who are working in the rural areas to help the rural people and make their life better. Vikram Sharma, a computer engineer has been working in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh to help the poor people to improve their lives. He has worked with IT giants for almost two years before taking this step to go to the hinterland. He said, “I feel the two years (of corporate job) were a waste of time.” He said he is working for tribal and poor people and busy in developing an all women BPO and touch-based tablet for Anganwadi children.

Swasti Pachauri, a gold medallist in economics and post-graduate in development studies, said working in Seoni district in Madhya Pradesh has improved her ability to empathize with people.

These are only few examples, there are many people who are doctors, engineers, industry experts who left their jobs and working in villages as the PM’s Rural Development Fellows, where they use their experience and knowledge to help district collectors in rural welfare programmes.

Centre has decided to increase the duration of the fellowship to three years with a degree from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh declared the recruitment of the second batch of 140 fellows. He said, “We need to expand the pool of professional human resources to confront the challenge of poverty head on." The main objective of this scheme is to prepare students as a cadre of development facilitators, who will be in a position and good resource for rural development activities over a long term. These fellows will receive a monthly stipend of Rs. 75,000 who were selected in the first batch.

Ramesh said his ministry will collaborate with IIT Bombay to support five rural development fellows and extend funding to the Institute of Rural Management (IRMA), Ahmedabad to prepare a new bunch of skilled and professional human resource.