From A Correspondent
Tura, Oct 4: In an Entrepreneurship Awareness Programme that continued for the second day, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma doled out important business and entrepreneurship tips to hundreds of self-help group (SHG) members and Enterprise Facilitating Centre (EFC) partners at SMELC Building at Dakopgre on Wednesday.
The day-long programme was organised by the West Garo Hills District Administration & DRDA, in collaboration with IBDLP and line departments for SHGs and EFC partners, to create awareness on entrepreneurship and business opportunities under various schemes of the State government.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister reiterated that the biggest challenge before the government is that of providing jobs. He urged all stakeholders to identify spaces available for earning livelihood other than applying for jobs in the government sector. He said the first thing should be to change the mindset among the people, pointing out that SHGs are best partners to carry forward the government programmes of promoting entrepreneurship among the people.
Referring to queries on the number of missions being launched in the State, Sangma spoke of the number of programmes launched by the Central government one after the other, but which have “failed to deliver as they were mostly taken up on a piecemeal approach and not on a mission-mode”.
“If one intervention is not enough to achieve the desired objective, then something has to be done to ensure its fructification for the larger interest of all the people concerned,” he explained.
In this connection, Sangma referred to the Livelihood Intervention and Facilitation of Entrepreneurship (LIFE) project that was launched recently. He called this programme the most inclusive approach of the government, unlike many of the programmes launched by the Centre that are meant only for BPL families, to promote various income generating activities for economic prosperity of the people and urged the SHG partners to take advantage of the same.
The LIFE project is aimed at bringing all poor and vulnerable women into the SHG movement and is being implemented in line with the tiol Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) in the remaining non-NRLM blocks with an objective to support the community through the SHG formation and strengthening of the existing SHGs.
Dwelling on the number of livelihood opportunities based on the readily available tural resources in their backyard, the Chief Minister laid emphasis on the need to identify all the spaces available for earning livelihood, creation of value chain and generating demand for their products. He also laid stress on the need to inculcate the habit of saving and called for having fincial literacy programmes while promoting entrepreneurship in rural areas. He also urged the SHGs to use the money they save as seed money for taking up different business activities.
He urged the district administration and all line departments to continue with this kind of sensitisation programmes on entrepreneurship development at block levels with the help of partners like Bakdil, an NGO, and other organisations to give capacity building trainings for taking up entrepreneurship, including packaging and marketing solutions.
While appreciating the Chief Minister for conceptualizing the programme for promoting entrepreneurship among the masses, West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Pravin Bakshi assured that all departments concerned and blocks would be taking forward the programme to further reach out to the people in the rural areas.
In his brief speech, Bakdil Director Father Sunny called for strengthening of SHG movement in the next five years, saying that the only way to bring change in Garo Hills was through SHGs and also by developing the habit of saving.
In his key note address, West Garo Hills Additiol Deputy Commission and DRDA Project Director DD Shira highlighted the schemes for promoting and facilitating entrepreneurs, while Director, MBDA/MBMA Western Zone, Daniel J Ingty gave a presentation on MGNREGS and IBDLP with focus on entrepreneurship and self-employment opportunities.