India Development Coalition of Amercia (IDCA)in collaboration with International School of Informatics & Management and Rotary Club Jaipur hosted the ‘9th North India Regional Conference on Innovative Practices to Mitigating Poverty and Climate Change in India’.  The conference, was hosted on 25 February in the presence of Dhiraj Kumar, Commissioner of Rajasthan Foundation; Arvind Thanvi, Founder and Chief Mentor – Mohini Foundation; Mohan Jain, Trustee & Founder President IDCA, who were the key speakers at the conference.

Informing on the Rajasthan government's commitment towards the issue, Dhiraj Kumar, Commissioner of Rajasthan Foundation, apprised upon the vision of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for the development of renewable energy in the state. “Implementation of the new Rajasthan Solar Energy Policy, 2019, the Wind and Hybrid Energy Policy, 2019 and the budget announcements for developing district headquarters and urban areas as ‘green energy cities’ are the key areas where Government of Rajasthan has developed the best infrastructure considering the climate change."

Dhiraj Kumar, while elaborating on the relation between climate change and poverty stated that the consequences of climate change hits the most vulnerable more badly than others and according to the World Bank it could force another 100 million people to extreme poverty. The challenge stands tall for India, threatening agriculture and food security. 

Dhiraj further shared the seven resolutions of the state government declared in the budget and suggested students to look for opportunities of innovation for mitigating the poverty and serving society in the areas highlighted by Honorable CM Shri Ashok Gehlot.

He narrated the key focus areas, which were announced in the state budget by the Government of Rajasthan - Nirogi Rajasthan, Sampann Kisan, Mahila, Bal aur Vriddh Kalyan, Saksham Mazdoor, Chhatra, Yuva Javan, Shiksha ka Paridhan, Pani- Bijili aur Sadkon ka Maan and Kaushal and Taknik Paridhan.

“If you have a social enterprise idea, you can start with iStart,” Dhiraj said, inspiring the gathering at the 9th North India Regional Conference held at Jaipur on Tuesday. A budget announcement for extending iStart to premiere education institutions has laid foundation of India’s largest government-run incubation network. The program has reached out to BITS Pilani, MNIT and IIT Jodhpur and assures to help aspiring entrepreneurs. The initiative to promote startups is also promising of social transformation through social enterprises. 

The conference also had key note address delivered by Arvind Thanvi and Dr. Mohan Jain who exemplified on various initiatives to improve upon education processes in government schools initiated from Rajasthan in year 2012 and is now present in more than 1800 schools across four states.