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CM Lotha (centre) along with SDO (C) Changtongya and resource persons after a National SC-ST Hub awareness programme at Changtongya Town Hall on October 25.[/caption]
Our Correspondent
Changtongya (Mokokchung), Oct. 25 (EMN): An awareness programme on National SC-ST Hub for SC-ST entrepreneurs was held at Changtongya Town Hall, about 50 kilometre away from Mokokchung district headquarters on October 25.
The National SC-ST Hub was organised by Nagaland Industrial Development Corporation Limited (NIDC) in collaboration with the Industries & Commerce department under the National SC-ST Hub schemes of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India.
CM Lotha, managing director of NIDC, in his speech said the National SC-ST Hub has been set up to provide handhold professional support to Scheduled Castes (STs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) entrepreneurs to fulfil the obligations under the Central government’s procurement policy for Micro and Small Enterprises order 2012, adopt applicable business practices and leverage the stand-up India Initiatives.
He informed that the Hub is implemented by the Ministry of MSME through National Industries Corporation (NSIC), a public-sector undertaking under the administrative control of the Ministry of MSME. He added that total estimated budget for the scheme is INR 490 crore for the period 2016-17 to 2019-20 and INR 4.532 crore has already been spent in 2016-17 under National SC/ST Hub scheme.
Lotha said that public procurement policy for Micro & Small Enterprise (MSE) order mandates four percent of annual procurement of goods and services by central ministries, departments and public sector enterprises from SC-ST MSEs; however procurement from SC-ST MSEs was less than one percent.
In this connection, he asserted that to scale-up the objective of the Hub, several special schemes have been earmarked for SC-ST Enterprises, and to accelerate and provide necessary impetus, the Central government has collaborated with the state governments and Union Territories.
As implementing agency of SC-ST Hub schemes in Nagaland, he said NIDC has drawn up action plans to organise activities such as awareness campaign, vendor development programme, district-level conclave, exhibition and trade fare etc. in the district headquarters. He added that free skill development training will be imparted to interested SC-ST entrepreneurs at NTTC Dimapur on various sectors.
While announcing that a food processing unit is in the pipeline for Changtongya, Lotha asserted that that all the investment being put into infrastructure development will be a waste of fund if entrepreneurship is not developed.
The inaugural programme was followed by technical sessions where resource persons from Industry, Veterinary, KVIC, MSME, Horticulture and Agriculture departments, and funding agencies like SIDBI, SBI and NABARD sensitised the participants about various schemes.
Some of the schemes for micro, small and medium enterprises implemented across India include National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP), Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), schemes for Khadi and village industries and coir, international cooperation schemes, performance and credit rating schemes (PCRS), marketing assistance and technology up-gradation (MATU) schemes, Credit Guarantee Fund for MSEs scheme etc.