With Rahul Gandhi’s focus on the 2012 Assembly polls in the state, the project that connects him with the poor — particularly Dalits and the OBCs — is spreading out of Amethi and Rae Bareli.

Besides Sultanpur and Rae Bareli, the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana (RGMVP) has already reached 10 districts of the state — Jhansi, Lalitpur, Fatehpur, Unnao, Pratapgarh, Lucknow, Bahraich, Barabanki, Shrawasti and Faizabad.

Incidentally, the Congress had won the Lok Sabha seats of Jhansi, Unnao, Pratapgarh, Barabanki, Behraich, Shrawasti and Faizabad. The plan now is to take the project to the Bundelkhand region.

Though the RGMVP aims for the empowerment of women in rural areas by organising them in Self Help Groups (SGH), it also creates awareness among women about their political rights.

The groups function as a medium to get microfinance from banks. The RGMVP makes arrangements for the women’s training in various industries — fruit and vegetable preservation, leather works, dairy activities and preparation of vermin compost. The marketing of the products is also arranged by the RGMVP.

It is an initiative of the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust that works in close collaboration with the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. The project has the support of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP).

The project’s activities started in Rahul Gandhi’s constituency Amethi and Sonia Gandhi’s constituency Rae Bareli in 2002 and 2005. It expanded its work areas in one or two blocks of the remaining 10 districts around May 2008. “In the 10 districts, the project is still in its nascent stage,” a source added.

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