Baramati Social Venture Fund launched

Geeta Nair

Baramati, June 3: A US $50-million Baramati Social Venture Fund for the creation of socially responsible information technology was announced here on Saturday to guide innovators to develop sound business and project plans.

The fund was started by five Silicon Valley and India-based IT professionals with an investment of half a million dollars. Nationalist Congress Party president and chairman of the Vidya Pratisthan, Mr Shard Pawar said his organisation too would make a contribution to the venture fund. Mr Pawar made this announcement at the concluding session of the meet on "Achieving connectivity for rural poor in India" at Baramati.

The World Bank, the Vidya Institute of Information Technology and Digital Partners Institute, Washington had organised the meet. Apart from the venture fund, the conference also adopted the Baramati Initiative aimed at bridging the digital divide in society. Setting up of an annual Baramati Innovator Award and Baramati Student Innovation Awards and holding an annual Baramati Conference/marketplace were the other initiatives.

Mr Pawar expressed serious concern about the growing chasm between the digital world and those outside it. "If these issues are not addressed, the IT-BT revolution and its benefits would by-pass the rural poor," he said. In a web cast from the World Bank HQ in Washington DC, Motoo Kuskabe, vice president (resource mobilization and co-financing) said funding requirements for bridging the digital divide could be met through the Japan Social Development Fund, the Bank’s info-Dev programme and the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Fund.