"A concept note that the rehabilitation should be funded from the NPTF has been endorsed," said Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Rakam Chemjong, speaking to Republica about financing the rehabilitation of combatants. [break]
As of now, a technical committee is working on packages to be offered to Maoists combatants who opt for rehabilitated in their respective communities.
A draft rehabilitation package -- which the Maoists are yet to agree to-- says that combatants who opt for rehabilitation will be offered six options: formal education, vocational training, skill-based training, domestic and foreign employment, small income-generating enterprises and others.
The number of combatants to be rehabilitated and the kind of rehabilitation package to be developed will determine the size of the funding required.
Minister Chemjong said the government will approach other donors -- those that have not joined the NPTF yet -- if the funds available at the NPTF turn out to be insufficient for the rehabilitation project.
The government has contributed about Rs 5 billion to the NPTF while five donors - Denmark, Finland, Norway, Switzerland and the UK -- have poured approximately Rs 3 billion into the fund that has been supporting implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and subsequent agreements related to the peace process.
The European Union and Germany are also joining the NPTF by the end of the year.
Asked whether the government is planning to give out the rehabilitation work to some other agency much in the way the rehabilitation of disqualified combatants was given to the United Nations Development Program, Chemjong said, "The government itself will do the job."
NPTF board approves fund for secretariat
A board meeting of the NPTF on Thursday approved a budget for setting up a 12-member secretariat that will carry out integration and rehabilitation of over 19,000 Maoist combatants.
Peace and Reconstruction Secretary Dhruba Prasad Sharma said the total expenses of the secretariat will depend on its work plan, which is yet to be finalized.
The board headed by Minister Chemjong also decided to run health services at the Maoist cantonments.
UNMIN provides combatants´ details
Acting on a government request, UNMIN on Thursday provided a soft copy of details of all combatants to the government, according to Secretary Sharma.
"We forwarded the details to the Special Committee on Thursday," Sharma told Republica, adding that UNMIN has pledged to share a hard copy of the details very soon.
The Special Committee last Saturday directed the government to request UNMIN for the details that the Committee needs for the proposed integration and rehabilitation.
Meantime, Sharma said that the number of combatants living in UNMIN-monitored cantonments has come down to 19,532, which is 70 less than the total verified by the UN in December 2007.
The new figure came to the government´s notice after the Office of Cantonment Management registered only 19,532 combatants to receive their salary last month.
kiran@myrepublica.com
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