Caritas India renders Rs 100 crore to improve governance

Caritas India, the premier Catholic aid agency in the country, has endowed Rs 100 crore to help improve governance.

Addressing a press conference, Caritas India executive director Father Varghese Mattamana, said the program, one of the highest ever non-governmental intervention in India, will bring awareness on Right to Information and active participation of people's organisations to improve local governance.

Its sixth National Assembly of diocesan Directors in Bangalore began yesterday and is scheduled to conclude on January 20.

To bring about the awareness, Caritas plans to execute it through its 350-odd partners in India. There would be a special focus on Karnataka, Mattamana said.

The program also aims to improve social equity through by creating awareness on right based development, Climate change and people's participation, according to a Catholic news agency.

The aid agency has over 400 programmes running across India. During the National Assembly, the agency with its 160 plus partners will reflect on the Panchayat Raj Institutions and building alliances for Good Governance.

"We shall workout strategies for implementation at local, regional and state levels. Caritas India thus re-commits itself towards the process of Nation Building," it said in a statement.

Established in 1962, Caritas India has been in the front, in rendering social service, poverty eradication, disaster relief and rehabilitation. It is spread over 163 countries across the world, under the body of Caritas Internationalis.