Bhubaneswar: In a move to ensure inclusive growth of minerals-bearing areas of Odisha including livelihood programmes, experts have suggested floating of a micro-enterprise fund with Rs 200 crore to the state government. This fund would be utilised to ensure the tribal population’s access to credit and grants for setting new businesses as part of their alternative livelihood options. With large-scale mining, the tribals are losing their livelihoods, and the state government is mulling to float such a fund, out of which Rs 50 crore would be grants and Rs 150 crore would be guarantee fund. The money would be used for guaranteeing non-repayment by tribals of credit amount assessed from banks of the Micro Finance Institutions. The first concept paper prepared by BASIX, a consulting services firm in the country, for the proposed Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with a Rs 800-crore budget has outlined the financial viability of the SPV. The state forests and environment department has invited concept papers on floating of the SPV. Out of the state’s 30 districts, 11 districts have major quantities of minerals whereas addressing the negative impact of mining through the SPV would be taken up in nine districts, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Angul, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Rayagada and Koraput where mining activities have a negative impact on livelihoods of indigenous people, the experts pointed out. A high-powered committee has decided that the SPV would operate in the blocks which have contributed Net Present Value (NPV), official sources said. The NPV is the discounted sum of rupee values of ecosystem goods and services that would flow from a forest over a period of time net of costs incurred. It does not capture the value of forest wealth or possible change in it due to mining. Apart from a micro-enterprise fund, it has also been suggested that at least 40 per cent of the Rs 800 crore needs to be utilised for development of infrastructure in these nine districts where mining activities are at their peak. On the infrastructure front, development of mining corridors, linking village roads to nearby markets, providing electricity to all the villages, development of village markets, development of educational and health centres are on the agenda. For the first time, skill development of the youth of these mining zones has been suggested with a spending of Rs 200 crore.Tribal youths are engaged as mine workers and they hardly have skills; so, keeping this in view, expenditure on long-term skill training and related stipend and stay expenses would be borne by the SPV, an official said.