Vinai Kumar Saxena, Chairman, KVIC, Ministry of MSME, Government of India addressing a press conference at Guwahati, on Saturday. – UB Photos
City Correspondent
GUWAHATI, Feb 13: Khadi and Village Industries Commission has been consistently promoting khadi and rural industries in the north-eastern region as a part of the Government of India’s development initiatives, said Vinai Kumar Saxena, Chairman, Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Ministry of MSME, Government of India during a press conference held here today.
Saxena highlighted the various initiatives taken by the Government of India through KVIC in the region.
“The North-east is now a focus area of the KVIC. This sector has tremendous possibilities and will also speed up development in the rural areas of the region where millions of artisans have been weaving dreams of rural reconstructions in a Gandhian way. Currently, KVIC is witnessing an average growth of 29 per cent all over India. Growth of khadi is helping in creating jobs which is definitely satisfactory,” he said.
He also informed that many initiatives are being taken up by the government to increase production and to reach the remote and inaccessible areas of the country.
Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to the growth of the khadi industry, Saxena said that to make the traditional industries more productive and competitive and facilitating their sustainable development, the Government of India is setting up a fund for regeneration of traditional industries.
Talking about Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana (KSY), an initiative of the KVIC for empowerment of communities working in the pottery sector in the remotest locations in the country, the Chairman said that the KVIC has created proper marketing channels including tying up with the Railways for selling the production of potters.
“Nearly 810 electric pottery wheels were distributed and around Rs 1.82 crore was sanctioned for the north-eastern region in the last two years,” he added.
Talking about the Honey Mission, Saxena said that the Prime Minister has thought about the opportunities and advised the authorities to explore the possibility of create employment in the tribal regions and backward districts of the region to take up mass honey production under the project Mithi Kranti (Sweet Revolution) in mission mode.
“Rs 11.38 crore has been distributed among 3118 beneficiaries onder honey mission in the region,” he said.
Dr Sukumal Deb, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, NEZ incharge, informed about the activities and initiatives of KVIC in the North-east Zone. Duyu Tamo, Member (NE Zone), KVIC and Samrat Bandopadhyay, Joint Director, Press Information Bureau, Guwahati were also present.
