CB BureauDelhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has sought assistance from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for a project to build houses for the economically weaker population in the capital. ‘I don’t know whether the USAID will help us in this regard. But I would want them to assist in building houses for economically weaker sections of the society. There are shanties all over Delhi and we have to take care of them as well. We have to build them houses,’ she said.
US Ambassador to India Nancy J Powell was witness to the request made at a function in New Delhi to release a report on ‘Making Health Systems Work for Urban Poor’. Speaking to reporters, Powell said the USAID was looking at innovative ideas and programmes to help the urban poor in several countries and assured that the request by Dikshit on the housing project ‘could come in that’.
With reference to the Mission Convergence programme of her government which is being implemented with technical assistance from USAID, Chief Minister Dikshit said the programme reached out to vulnerable citizens for their inclusion in the governance process. She claimed that the programme has enabled the Delhi Government to create awareness among people about their health and dietary requirements. At the same time, she asserted that her administration was open to ideas that would improve health and wealth conditions of the urban poor. Dikshit also asked NGOs and others involved in the programme to work towards correcting the sex ratio, which was skewed, and listed the initiatives taken by her government to make women ‘an economically very viable commodity for the family’.
In her speech, Powell lauded the progress India had made in the past few years in healthcare systems but said many challenges remained in this sector. Since India has a ‘very vibrant private sector’, new products and processes should begin from this country and the USAID will help in this regard, she stated.