Non-resident Indians in the United States will adopt 500 villages in India with the highest rate of farmer suicides in order to develop the rural areas of the country.
Overseas Volunteer for Better India, an organisation of NRIs will announce the initiative next month at the Big Ideas for Better India conference in Silicon Valley.
The OVBI said spiritual leader Ravi Shankar will be the keynote speaker at the even and 1,000 influential members of the Indian diaspora will attend it.
The NRIs will adopt the villages that are in urgent need of help to stop farmer suicides, declining water table and saving young girls from human trafficking.
"We are bringing together geoscientists, agricultural experts and entrepreneurs to help double the income of farmers by 2022," news agency PTI quoted the OVBI president Satej Chaudhary as saying.
The forum will seek to address some of the most challenging and intractable issues facing India.
It aims at making a difference in regions of India with the highest rates of farmer suicides by teaming up with geoscientists, agro-scientists and farmers, to help raise water table where it is depleting rapidly.
It will also look to help farmers restore the fertility of land destroyed by toxic pesticides, and increasing yields through organic farming techniques.
The conclave will also deliberate on ways to work towards improving governance in India and taking on alleged nepotism, money power and caste equations in politics. It proposes to establish a premier national institute of governance for preparing the next generation of selfless and ethical leaders.
