By IANS,
New Delhi: Helen Clark, the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) who will be on her maiden visit to India Friday, will visit the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) in Rajasthan to witness the change that it has brought about in peoples’ lives.
The NREGP guarantees 100 days of paid work to any household that demands it.
Clark, who will be on a five-day visit here, will go to Bhilwara district in Rajasthan and also meet the women Panchayat leaders there to witness the various changes in their lives. UNDP supports the Ministry of Panchayati Raj in capacity building of locally elected representatives.
A UNDP statement Thursday said: “She (Clark) will visit UNDP-supported projects within NREGP in Bhilwara, including functional literacy classes conducted for NREGP workers at worksites, skill-building training centre for workers, information kiosk and community radio programmes to enhance legal awareness about workers’ rights and payment of wages to workers through bank business correspondents”.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day March 8, Clark will release the UNDP-sponsored Asia Pacific Human Development Report -Power, Voice and Rights: A Turning Point for Gender Equality for Asia and the Pacific- in the capital.
She is also scheduled to meet S.M. Krishna, minister of external affairs, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the planning commission and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
Wrapping up her visit, Clark will deliver the key note address at a symposium on ‘Millennium Development Goals and Human Development in India: Achievements and Challenges’ March 9.