Though quickly urbanizing, India is still predominantly rural. Rural India is yet to completely come out of vicious cycles of low productivity, low income, less profitability, debt and poverty. Although Indian growth story of post-liberalization is still intact, the challenges posed by multiple dimensions of poverty and vulnerabilities puts serious question marks on the lop-sided model of developm
ent. There is a need to take up appropriate unit of development by NGOs, Foundations and CSR organizations to compliment the effort of government and in this synergetic partnership with all stakeholders evolve a right kind of model of development. Such model needs to have scale and speed to address the problems. On this backdrop, Desh
Bandhu and Manju Gupta Foundation (DBMGF) launched a district development initiative on November 1, 2010, called as ‘Change India Programme’. Operational in Dhule district, the programme aims at poverty alleviation and empowerment of rural community through enhanced income. The area has high incidence of poverty and with more than 50% families living under poverty line. The district has also been categorized into lowest quartile for human development indicators. Built on 26 years of operational experience of Lupin Human Welfare
and Research Foundation (LHWRF), success of
the programme is expected to spawn a model of development for the backward districts of India.
