RIL's CSR initiative focuses on 24 poorest rural areas

Reliance Foundation chairperson Nita Ambani made this announcement here. The programme started two years ago.

"Rural transformation can be achieved through self sustained agriculture, and that will help bridge the divide between rural and urban India," she said, talking to media during her visit to Selarpur village in Mangrol tehsil of Surat district.

Selapur is a part of the Netrang Cluster, one of the 24 clusters across 24 agro-ecological zones in ten states where Foundation is implementing its `Bharat India Jodo' (BIJ) initiative.

"Urban India is growing with such a fast pace and 70 per cent of India is living in rural India. Our concern is how that India can be brought into the pace of development," she said.

For the initial phase, 24 pockets across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were selected.

Ambani said, "A modest beginning was made by engaging almost 20,000 farming households across 200-odd villages. Over 15,000 hectares of land owned by the marginal farmers there has already been brought back into productivity".

After reaching this tribal village with population of 1,357, Ambani interacted with women. She was offered a ride on a bullock-cart, driven by 70-year old Kumiben Chaudhary.

"One year ago there was widespread malnutrition here. In their staple diet there was no nutritional food. They were only growing jowar and lentils...today they

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