Excelsior Correspondent
SHILLONG (MEGHALAYA), Jan 29: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has called for entrepreneurship through textile in Northeast.
Addressing the two-day “North East Investors’ Summit” on Textiles beginning today, Dr Jitendra Singh said, time has come to explore the unexplored areas of revenue generation coupled with self-employment through entrepreneurship. In this context, he said, Northeast textile and handicraft is one area which has remained under-utilized as far as promotion of trade, business and entrepreneurship is concerned.
An MoU was also signed on the occasion between the North Eastern Council/ Union Ministry of DoNER and Union Ministry of Textiles in the presence of the concerned Ministers namely Smriti Irani and Dr Jitendra Singh. Also present were Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Mukul Sangma and Vice Chairman of Niti Aayog, Arvind Panagariya.
Dr Jitendra Singh referred to projects which come under the North-East Region Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS) and said, these aim to develop entrepreneurship through various capacity building measures and also train people to work efficiently on high-end garment machines. Each Apparel and Garment Making Centre set up under this initiative is estimated to generate direct employment for at least 1200 people, he said. The Centres in Tripura and Nagaland have already started, he informed, while work is in progress in the remaining six states of the North-Eastern region.
The Ministry of DoNER, in the last two years, Dr Jitendra Singh said, has undertaken a series of innovative initiatives to promote Northeast textile and craft in the rest of the country. Citing instances, he mentioned “North-East Textile and Craft Shopping Mela” which was jointly organized by Ministry of DoNER and Ministry of Textiles at the heart of union capital at Janpath on December 3, 2016. Earlier, an exhibition-cum-sale of handicraft and handloom products from North-Eastern States was organized in New Delhi on May 30, 2016, he added.
The textile and handloom products from Northeast have a unique and original value, said Dr Jitendra Singh, but there are less number of takers because the people outside the region are not fully aware of it. To overcome this constraint, he said, the Ministry of DoNER, last year, set up a permanent stall/ outlet called “Purbashree” at the prestigious “Dilli Haat” which showcases unique textile and handloom products from the region. It has proved very successful and is, on daily basis, attracting visitors from all parts of India and even abroad, he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the creation of Venture Capital fund for Northeast region with North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd (NEDFi) is meant to provide capital for “Startups” in North-Eastern region and to attract investors. For this initiative, he said, a fund size of Rs 100 crore has been set up. This is a new breakthrough because it will attract young Startups not only from the region but from across the country, he added.
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