Background
In 2008, to address and alleviate farmers' distress, the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (to be henceforth referred to as the “Tata Trusts”), initiated the comprehensive livelihood focussed 'Sukhi Baliraja Initiative (SBI)' having a total outreach of 25,600 households across 320 villages of the six distress districts of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and achieved a fair amount of success in its first year of operation. Concurrently, the Government of Maharashstra initiated a bilateral project, namely, 'Convergence of Agricultural Interventions in Maharashtra Programme (CAIM)' with the support of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), to address the issue of agrarian distress in the Vidarbha region and invited the Tata Trusts to participate within the programme.

Importantly, the overall goal of CAIM is in line with that of SBI, i.e. to contribute towards the development of resilient production, sustainable and diversified household incomes and on-farm / off-farm livelihoods, thereby enabling households to face production and market related risks without falling back into poverty and distress. The CAIM programme has a total outreach of 286,000 households across 1,200 villages, located in the same six distress districts wherein SBI is currently operating and hence, provided an opportunity to jointly scale up and intensify efforts in the region. The programme would be implemented over an 8-year period and has a total outlay of Rs5,470 million.

Launch
The Government of Maharashtra (GoM) has initiated a bilateral project namely, Convergence of Agricultural Interventions in Maharashtra Programme (CAIM), with the support of International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and the Tata Trusts, to contribute towards the development of resilient production, sustainable and diversified household incomes, on-farm and off-farm livelihoods, so as to mitigate production and market risks faced by the farmers.

With respect to the above, the Government of Maharashtra formally launched the CAIM programme on May 7, 2010 at Sant Gyaneshwar Hall in Amravati. Ashok Chavan, the chief minister of Maharashtra, graced the occasion on behalf of GoM. All the stakeholders of CAIM, including teams from Programme Management Unit (PMU) — CAIM, IFAD, and the Tata Trusts, cabinet ministers and secretaries of various departments under GoM, various government officials of the Amravati and Nagpur division, district collectors, and heads of district line departments were present for the occasion.

An exhibition of the current work done by the resource NGOs such as BAIF, SARG, Chaitanya, AFARM, Syngenta Foundation, KJBF, and DHAN Foundation was also put on display. Dr Goel, principal secretary, department of cooperation, marketing and textiles escorted Chavan through every stall and explained him the role of every NGO in the CAIM programme. The Tata Trusts had also put up the stall wherein the posters and brochures explaining the Trusts’ mandate and objectives for Sukhi Baliraja Initiative (SBI), Central India Initiative, Reviving Green Revolution, etc were displayed. Mr Chavan visited the stall of Tata Trusts as well.

Later, Mr Chavan formally inaugurated the CAIM programme by lighting the auspicious lamp. All the dignitaries present on the dais expressed their solidarity for CAIM and wished success for the CAIM programme to alleviate the agrarian distress of the farmers of Vidarbha. Everyone through their inspiring speeches motivated the personnel of CAIM and agreed to extend their full support for the success of CAIM.

Lastly, Mr Chavan launched the handbook of CAIM for everyone to refer to and get a clear understanding of the objectives and envisaged impact of the programme. The event lasted for around two hours, which gave the desired propagation and publicity for the CAIM programme in the six distressed districts of Vidarbha.