Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 22
2010 is almost ending and DAN government’s much hyped ‘year of entrepreneurship’ programme is still unclear to most people including the implementing agency- the department of Industry and Commerce. While it is understood that the government will select 1000 entrepreneurs across the state during the road shows and train them in their respective fields; most entrepreneurs want to know what will be the criterion for selection.
“Some struggling entrepreneurs don’t even know how to get to participating in the road show,” an official from the department of Industry and Commerce said. Most of those who participate in the road shows are self help groups, societies, NGOs and entrepreneurs aligned with government departments. Each district industry centre is required to identify at least ten entrepreneurs from different fields. But the department is of the opinion that there is very little to chose from the road show.
Last month, the state chief minister announced a budget of Rs.10 crore for the programme. The department is not clear on how or where to utilise the amount. It does not know if the money is meant to be utilised for training or is a grant-in-aid for entrepreneurs. “If it is for grant-in-aid…the amount is very less,” the department official said. Each entrepreneur will get only Rs.1 lakh if the amount is to be divided among them. The department feels that would be inadequate for setting up any kind of business.
However, if the money is going to be uitlised for training, the department is wondering how the government is further going to help the entrepreneur set up their businesses. The department is at a loss as to how far it is supposed to assist the entrepreneurs with the year almost coming to an end.
The biggest drawback in the programme is the absence of proper guidelines for implementing the programme. The department is unclear about the system of operation because no guidelines have been formulated. It felt that the government should have consulted the implementing agency and chalked out modules before declaring the ‘year of entrepreneurs.’ The department said that the government should have assessed the perquisite modules and formulated the policy in order to avoid confusion. Some officials are of the opinion that the ‘year of entrepreneurs’ will end in a similar manner to the ‘year of farmers, youths and capacity building;’ without a positive outcome.
Meanwhile, Mokokchung DIC has already identified 100 entrepreneurs who are undergoing training at Guwahati. But the DIC is not sure what has to be done for the entrepreneurs after they return from training.
The targeted number of entrepreneurs for the districts under ‘year of entrepreneurs’ are as follows; Kohima- 150, Mokokchung- 100, Tuensang- 100, Mon- 75, Wokha- 75, Zunheboto- 75, Phek- 75, Dimapur- 200, Peren- 50, Kiphire- 50 and Longleng- 50.
