Much has been said about the Government of Nagaland’s ‘Year of Entrepreneur’ (YOE) which is now set to pull the curtain down come 31st March, 2012. For the 1000 entrepreneurs, selected by the GoN, who were supposed to be given financial assistance to setup their enterprises during the YOE, there have been a lot of confusion and commotion in the last couple of months with the frustrated entrepreneurs voicing their concern time and again. It is to be mentioned that the All Nagaland Selected Entrepreneurs Association (ANSEA) had earlier in January 2012 submitted a Charter of Demand with an ultimatum of 15 days to fulfill the demand. While the nodal department for implementation of the YOE - Industries & Commerce has responded the ANSEA with the selection of 300 entrepreneurs under PMEGP, 50 under NIDC, 50 under NABARD and 30 under NHHDC, vide Govt Advt No. IND/YOE/1/2012, dated, Kohima the 15th Feb, 2012, major portion of the CoD were either dumped to waste bin or could not be fulfilled.
The selection of the 300 entrepreneurs under PMEGP as clarified by the Deptt of Industries & Commerce, vide, Advt. No. IND/YOE/625/2010(Vol-II), dated, Kohima, the 7th March, 2012, insists that the selection was made based on the batch-wise list of the training conducted at IIE Guwahati and Dimapur.. The department also earlier notified that under PMEGP only those DPRs which comes under the purview of PMEGP guidelines was selected.
In the above context, we would like to request the GoN and the Nodal department to clarify on the following inconsistent issues:
1. What projects are PMEGP compatible? As per the guidebook ‘KVIC Activities and Programmes’ published by the KVIC State Office, Dimapur, it is mentioned that “PMEGP is applicable to all new viable micro enterprises……except activities indicated in the negative list (Pg-14) of village industries” [PMEGP Eligibility Condition (Pg-17) sub-clause 5.1(iii)] Therefore, besides the ‘Illustrative’ list of village industries (Pg-10) any project that is economically viable can be selected. However, it was found that many such viable projects which could be taken up under PMEGP were skipped from the selection list.
2. Thorough scrutiny of both the batch-wise training list and selection list was made and it was found that many names were already in the selected list even when the batch-wise training list shows their names in the later part. Besides, the selected list also shows names of entrepreneurs who have not even undergone training. How can such anomaly cropped in if the selection authorities made it strictly based on the batch-wise training list?
3. The nodal department has notified that the 300 entrepreneurs were selected as per the 300 additional allocation of PMEGP during the current financial year. However, it is learnt from a reliable source that there is so far no such sanction, as the proposal is yet to receive ‘approval’ from the Khadi & Village Industries Commission, Ministry of MSME, Govt of India.
4. The department has informed the 300 selected entrepreneurs to realise Rs. 1000/- as fees to prepare a fresh DPR claiming that the DPR prepared by others cannot be accepted even if it was prepared by professional agencies/institution. However, on being enquired, the IIE Guwahati and the KVIC Zonal Office, NE Zone, Guwahati has a different version of the story. It was learnt that no such fees are required except for nominal fees to meet the need of stationeries and printer consumables. In fact, they even insist that the entrepreneurs should be capable enough to prepare the DPR themselves. Moreover, while the DPRs were submitted earlier in the respective DICs, the entrepreneurs have already paid the concern officials in the DIC as fees to get the feasibility of their DPR inspected. Now, the question is, whether the RICS is being utilized as a revenue-generation component of the department concerned. If Rs. 1000/- is the nominal fee as stated above, it is totally ridiculous! Rs. 1000 x 300 entrepreneur = Rs. 3,00,000/-. Whereas, an average DPR of approx 20 pages x 300 entrepreneurs will cost about 13 reams of A4 size paper and about 2 cartridges of laser toner for the printer, valued to about Rs. 20,000/- only. Where will the rest of the money go?
5. Mention had been made about the 50 under NIDC, 50 under NABARD and 30 under NHHDC vide Govt Advt No. IND/YOE/1/2012, dated, Kohima the 15th Feb, 2012. Even after 25 days, the selection list for the said 130 has not been notified. Whatever has happened to this notification?
6. What about the ‘remaining case’ that could not be taken up this time, considering the current financial year due to end in less than 20 days, and the GoN having, ‘yet again’, declared the ‘Year of Tribal Festival & Youth Expo’ for the next financial year (2012-2013). If the remaining entrepreneurs are to be considered in the next phase, does the GoN have any timeline set for that ‘NEXT’ phase?
7. Finally, whose programmes and policies is the much-hyped ‘Year of Entrepreneur’ (2010-11 & 2011-12); who is supposed to have the budget to finance the YOE – the State Government (DAN) or the Central Government (UPA)?
Given the circumstances above, it can be understood that the ‘Year of Entrepreneur’ of two consecutive years is a ‘Total Failure’ and the Government of Nagaland and the department of Industries and Commerce must stoop to own the responsibility for the same. In this regard, we urge all the 1000 entrepreneurs to come forward to stage our grievances, and request the All Nagaland Selected Entrepreneurs Association (ANSEA) to organize a State-level Dharna to demand justice for the so many inconveniences caused to the 1000 selected entrepreneurs. We also urge ANSEA to review the response of the concerned authorities vis-a-vis the Charter of Demand and stick by the ultimatum tooth and nail. While appreciating some of the organization for supporting our cause, we request the other Naga Civil Societies like NSF, EUUN and concerned Naga people to support our issues and grievances.
Pokyim Lkr, Dimapur
Rampayi, Jalukie
Hukato Yeptho, Zunheboto
Mhonbemo Jami, Dimapur
Chuba Yim, Tuensang
Tsithongse Anar, Tuensang
