Conference on PMEGP held for tribals from Northeast

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Oct. 21 (EMN): To boost the entrepreneurial ventures of aspirants from scheduled tribes in the North East, the National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC) organised a day-long conference on implementation of Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) for tribals of NE in Kohima on Thursday.

Minister of Higher Education and Tribal Affair, Temjen Imna Along, while addressing the occasion, spoke on the simplicity of the tribal way of life and enormous scope of entrepreneurship in Nagaland.

He highlighted the issues and challenges that need to be addressed. Some of the major problems were lack of proper research and resources, and inability to access markets globally.

Pointing out that the facilities made available by the Ministry were not accessible to the people, he suggested awareness programmes to disseminate various schemes of the government among the target group and to simplify the rules and procedure for availing benefits under such schemes.

The minister lauded the efforts of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and NSTFDC in organising such a programme, saying that such events would boost and motivate budding entrepreneurs.

As part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, NSTFDC also felicitated 53 successful tribal entrepreneurs from Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura.

Moakala Magh, founder of M/s Senje Apothecary, and Zapoto Venyo, acupuncturist at Acu Healthcare Centre Dimapur also shared their success story at the event.

CMD, NSTDFC, Asit Gopal laid emphasis on taking up sustainable livelihood ventures, thereby motivating youths to be job-givers rather than jobseekers. The CMD thanked minister Along for attending the occasion and motivating the young entrepreneurs.

Dr. Sukamal Deb, Deputy CEO, KVIC, North East Zonal office, gave detailed presentation about the implementation of PMEGP scheme and MoU signed between NSTFDC and KVIC for implementation of the same for the development of tribals.

Chairman of Mizoram Rural Bank, managing directors of Meghalaya Co-operative Apex Bank and Nagaland Industrial Development Corporation were also shared their views.