GUWAHATI, Jan 30 ? The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) will create 2.5 lakh jobs for the people of the NE region in the Tenth Five Year Plan period, its chairman Dr Mahesh Sharma said here today. Dr Sharma, straight from the two-day 513th meeting of the KVIC that ended at Itanagar yesterday, addressing a press conference. Most of these jobs targeted at, will be created in the village industry sector, he said, adding, the Commission has earmarked a fund of Rs 550 crore for the purpose. However, the accomplishment of the task will need an amount of Rs 1,000 crore, according to a rough estimate. And hence, to mobilise the rest of the funds, the KVIC has decided to request the Union Department for Development of North Eastern Region (DONER), the State Governments of the region and various agencies for funds, Sharma said.
Meanwhile, the Commission has formed a seven-member special working group with Sri Banwarilal Gaud as its head, for working out a special plan of 100 steps to generate job opportunities for the country?s unemployed and of these 50 steps will be specially designed for the NE States. By end of April next, the working group will meet at Guwahati and the detailed action plan for the purpose of creating job opportunities will be finalised at a workshop slated to be held simultaneously with the working group?s meeting, at the same venue, said Dr Sharma. The KVIC meeting at Itanagar had also identified the non-performance of the State Khadi Boards upto the expectation and lack of entrepreneurship among the youths as the two major constraints affecting khadi and village industry sectors in the NE region.
Against this backdrop, the KVIC has decided to focus on five areas like capacity building among the youths and women, marketing linkage, scientific and technical inputs, empowerment of youths and women and convergence among various industries of State and Central Governments working for the rural sector, to improve the situation, he said. Claiming that the KVIC recorded a growth rate of 11.92 per cent last year, Dr Sharma also boasted that the Commission was involving some of the best brains of the country ? like the scientists and experts of the IIT, Guwahati and the National Institute of Design, etc, in matters of providing scientific and technical inputs to the entrepreneurs.
Basing on the information provided by the State Khadi and Village Industries Board, he said that about one lakh persons in the State were engaged in the State?s Khadi sector. However, the problem in Assam, he said, was that the State Government here (along with the Bihar State Government) had not been extending counter-guarantee to the KVIC loans during the Ninth Five Year Plan.
?Our response in NE will depend on the proportionate involvement of the State Governments, in terms of monetary and administrative etc involvement etc,? he said.
The KVIC had created 14.4 lakh jobs in the country in the Ninth Five Year Plan and has already invested around Rs 2,000 crore. About Rs 10,000 crore is being invested by it in the coming days for improving the khadi and village industries sectors in the country, Dr Sharma said, adding, the commission is also working for a very meaningful cooperation with the panchayats.