Cash-rich GSEDS poor in social work

The Gujarat Socio-Economic Development Society (GSEDS) is proving to be a big disappointment. The state government had created the development society in March 2008 despite intense opposition from different quarters.

The government had earlier decided that Gujarat-owned public sector enterprises (PSEs) should contribute 30% of their profits to social welfare projects and the GSEDS was created to implement the projects.

The society has received Rs80 crore from different PSEs during the 18 months after it was created, to implement ‘social development projects’. Yet it is only now that it is getting ready to take up its first project.

The state government has chosen, as the development society’s first project, a health department scheme for increasing the nutrient-level of the food consumed by children and women in the state.

Highly placed sources said the health department’s nutrients project is ready and awaiting formal approval.  “It is currently with the chief secretary waiting for his approval,” a source said. “Once the CS clears  the project, it will be sent to the Union government for tax exemption under the provision for PSE-funded projects.” The source further said that around 7-8 projects had been identified by different government departments for the GSEDS to work on at a later stage.

“If the development society takes them up, state PSEs who have contributed to the GSEDS’s kitty will become eligible for tax exemption.’’ Another source explained that the GSEDS was set up under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950, to get funds from the government-owned PSEs.