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Left-right: Peter Thawngneihchina, Avians Choudhary, Lithrongla G Chishi, and Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal seen here during the press conference at Hotel Saramati in Dimapur on Mon. Feb. 4.[/caption]
Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Feb. 4: A major conclave is being organised for Nagaland to bring together the central public sector enterprises (CPSE), industry associations, and the government to deliberate on steps that will be taken to fulfil the Public Procurement Policy mandate for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC; ST) entrepreneurs.
The National Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe hub (NSSH) will be organising a conclave named the ‘Nagaland state conclave’ for entrepreneurs from the SC and ST communities. The event will be at 9:30 am, on Tue. Feb. 5, at the Agri Expo Centre, at 4th Mile in Dimapur.
The NSSH is a central sector scheme of the ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME). It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It aims to create a supportive ecosystem for SC/ST entrepreneurs by assisting them in capacity building and enabling them to effectively participate in the public procurement process.
Speaking during a press conference that was conducted on Monday in Dimapur, the zone general manager of National Small Industries
Corporation Limited, Dr. Avians Choudhary said that the ‘scheme is organically linked to the Public Procurement Policy, 2012 of the government of India.’
The policy states that 25% of total procurement of goods and services by central ministries, departments, and CPSE, shall be made from micro and small enterprises (MSE) and 25% of such procurement (41% of total) from the MSE shall be made from SC and ST-owned MSE.
The National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), a mini-Ratna CPSE of the ministry of MSME, is the implementing agency for the NSSH scheme.
Choudhary said that the conclave was being organised to bring together CPSE, industry associations, and the state government to a common platform to deliberate on steps to take to fulfil the Public Procurement Policy mandate for SC/ST entrepreneurs.
The programme aims at coalescing efforts taken by all the stakeholders towards creating a supportive ecosystem for inclusive growth of SC/ST entrepreneurs.
Nagaland’s advisor for Industries and Commerce, Imnatiba, will be the special guest for the event. The commissioner-secretary for Industries and Commerce Lithrongla G Chishi will be the guest of honour.
The programme will aim to understand how the NSSH can collaborate with the state government and work together at the ground level to augment the capabilities of existing SC/ST entrepreneurs.
Likewise, the programme aims to hold interactions with industry associations and incubators to understand their expectations about the NSSH programme while also encouraging them to play a larger role.
The conclave will give a briefing on all ongoing activities and give a snapshot of the roadmap to related activities for the future.
Meanwhile, during the press conference, the commissioner-secretary for Industries and Commerce, Lithrongla G Chishi said: “This programme will be a good opportunity for the entrepreneurs. We have so many programmes, many department does the policies and scheme of the government of India but in reality the awareness and the actual trickles really does not go down where many of them are kept in the dark.
“It through this sort of awareness programme, campaign, and workshops that we get the people know what are the facilities that has been provided to the.”
The official hoped that at least 25% of entrepreneurs will take home ‘something and will be able to empower the economy that they are trying to do.’
Chishi requested the director and chairman of the scheme, and deputy commissioners of various districts to nominate entrepreneurs who are under ‘Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme’ (PMEGP) beneficiaries.
“There are many of them who starts their business but they have no market. People come to Dimapur or go to Jorhat and get what is available there,” she said. “As district connectors, we start a lot of programmes under PMEGP for steel fabrication and furniture making but there are no takers,” she added.
Also, the national working president of forum of SC and ST Legislators Parliamentarians, Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, spoke during the conference.
“Under the umbrella of the conclave, the vision of the prime minister is to empower the ST and SC of India. The procurement policy is there at the national level, now, the state policy is also under consideration and will be finalised soon,” he explained. He said that ‘after the announcement of the state policy, the entrepreneurs and vendors will eligible to get special benefits from the state government.’
“The scheme is not a political mission or it is not a political vision of any political party, it is merely a service provided by the government of India and Nagaland for the socio-economic benefits of the ST SC entrepreneurs,” Atwal asserted.
The official said that the NSIC was a nodal agency to promote the NSSH scheme across India.
The conference was presided over by the branch manager of NSSH, Peter Thawngneihchina.