Govt Holds Special Focus on Hilly, Border Areas for Better Implementation of Khadi & Village Industry Activities

Khadi and Village Industries Commission's (KVIC) chairman, Manoj Kumar on Monday said that the institution's top priority is to increase employment opportunities in the nation through various initiatives and programmes to realise the Prime Minister's dream of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat'.

The latter made the statements on during the inauguration of West Tripura Bamboo Mat Cluster and the new KVIC building under the SFURTI programme, as well as the launch of numerous initiatives in the nation's North Eastern regions, held in Agartala, Tripura, on January 9.

He further said all must give our help in order to realise this dream so that more and more spinners, weavers, and other artists involved in this industry can receive acceptable pay.

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission is making every effort to promote the KVI programmes initiated for the development of the sector, so that Khadi and Village Industries activities can be implemented more effectively at the local level, according to Kumar, who was speaking in the presence of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Narayan Rane and Chief Minister of Tripura, Manik Saha.

Chairman KVIC remarked that over the past eight years, our Prime Minister has continuously worked to promote Khadi. He prioritized bringing back Khadi, and he is now elevating the genre under the guiding principle of 'Khadi for Nation, Khadi for Fashion, and Khadi for Transformation', he added.

Kumar continued by saying that in order to make it simpler for projects to be completed under the PMEGP scheme, the Government of India also increased the maximum project cost from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh for the margin money subsidy to be paid under PMEGP under the manufacturing sector.

The sale of khadi and rural industries surpassed Rs 1,15,000 crore in the fiscal year 2021–2022. The biggest record sale of Rs 1 crore 36 lakhs was made on October 2 at Khadi Bhawan in Delhi, while on November 14 during the International Trade Fair held at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, the Khadi Pavilion recorded the sale of Rs 12 crore through more than 200 stalls, the chairman informed.

Moreover, in the past three years, 346 Khadi artisans have received work sheds, 15710 bee colonies have been delivered, 1020 potters have received electric potter wheels through the 'Kumhar Empowerment Scheme', and around 23,00 units have been provided through the PMEGP scheme.

A total of 467 crores worth of subsidies were approved and given out, employing 1,83,616 persons. While in the North Eastern region, over the years 2021–2022, Khadi output totalled Rs 13 crore 11 lakh and sales totalled Rs 15 crore 55 lakh, creating 5,827 jobs in the area.