January 25, 2008

Top 20 rich Indians earn as much as 30 cr people

Top 20 rich Indians earn as much as 30 crore people in the country, former Reserve Bank Governor Bimal Jalan said on Friday, while launching the high-profile NGO Public Interest Foundation in New Delhi.

Pointing out that income disparities in the country have risen significantly, Jalan said the Foundation would endeavour to facilitate replication of best practices and success stories in social sector to the benefit of the deprived sections of the society.

The high-profile NGO, launched on the eve of 59th Republic Day, will have cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra, CII mentor Tarun Das and noted industrialist Suresh Neotia as members of the governing council, which will be headed by Jalan.

The other members of the governing council will include chairman of UTI Bank [Get Quote] Trust Arun Maira, advocate Shayamanand Jalan and industrialist Harshavardhan Neotia. Former chairman of Telecom Commission Anil Kumar will be the director of Foundation.

"It is very critical to address the gap to improve the efficiency of public delivery system and that is the aim of the Foundation," Jalan said while elaborating the objectives of the NGO.

The former RBI chief also underlined the need for introducing a system of fixing accountability for implementation of the welfare schemes of the government. He further said that the state governments should be given some freedom to modify the centrally sponsored schemes to suit local conditions. The Foundation, which will initially function for a period of three years, will run on interest of Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) provided by the Neotia Foundation.

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