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Ministry of MSME is preparing to launch a National SC/ST Hub. This initiative is planned to promote the SC/ST entrepreneurs in the country. In this regard, a National High Power Committee meeting headed by Mr Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister for MSME was held, to review the progress of the National SC/ST Hub.
NEW DELHI: Speaking on the occassion Mr Mishra said that the National SC/ST Hub will be launched soon within a record time of 7 months from the announcement in the budget speech of 2016-17.
On the occasion he stated that the Narendra Modi Government was keen to inculcate the spirit of self-employment among the SC / ST population and he urged upon all the participants, especially industries associations to take it in the mission mode.
He further said that his Ministry has made an initial allotment of allocation of Rs. 490 crore for the period 2016-2020 for the National SC/ST Hub. The Hub would primarily aid in strengthening market access/linkage, monitoring, capacity building, leveraging financial support schemes and sharing industry best practices etc. The hub would operate from National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) Headquarters in Delhi, supported by a special cell created for this purpose.
Hon’ble Minister of State, MSME, Mr Giriraj Singh emphasised the need to work at the grassroot level and start work on a pilot basis with identified CPSEs in the districts having large presence of SC/ST entrepreneurs. Hon’ble Minister of State, MSME, Sh Haribhai P. Choudhary mentioned about working for the demand side from CPSEs and large corporate houses.
For the smooth functioning of the Hub, various committees were constituted viz, High powered Monitoring Committee headed by Minister for MSME, Advisory Committee headed by Mr Milind Kamble, President DICCI, Empowered project Approval Committee headed by Secretary, MSME. The first meeting of the Empowered Project Approval Committee was held under the Chairmanship of Secretary, MSME on 16th August in which the following proposals were approved:
- Subsidy of Single Point Registration Scheme (SSPRS) for SC/ST enterprises for participation in Government purchases. A nominal fee of Rs. 100 per unit of SC/ST enterprises will be charged under the scheme.
- Special Marketing Scheme (SMAS) to provide marketing support to SC/ST owned MSMEs. Under the scheme SC/ST units will get double the rate f country specified daily allowance as per MEA guidelines including expenses for accommodation, transport etc. The transport cost for participation in vendor development programmes will be reimbursed to SC/ST units.
- Subsidy for performance and credit rating scheme for SC/ST enterprises. Renewal subsidy to be given only to the SC/ST units having the rating upto 5 and additional subsidy for SC/ST units to be 15%.
Status of SC/ST Entrepreneurs in the Policy Framework
The public procurement order mandates 4% annual procurement by Central Ministries/ Departments and Public Sector Undertakings from SC/ST enterprises w.e.f 01.04.2015. It has been reported that at present the Government of India procurement form SC/ST enterprises in less than 1% due to low participation of the community. This needs to be scaled up to meet the procurement target form SC/ST.
In the past, there has been some increase in the number of SC/ST owned enterprises but this number needs to increase substantially to enable the socio-economic empowerment of SC/ST communities. In this direction, the National SC/ST Hub in an initiative of the Government of India targeted towards developing a supportive ecosystem towards SC/ST entrepreneurs.
After the announcement of creating National SC/ST Hub was made, MSME Ministry consulted the stakeholders including DICCI, Industry Association, Banks and relevant Ministries to suggest concrete steps to the proposed SC/ST Hub. Based on inputs received from the stakeholders a draft scheme for the proposed Hub was prepared and shared with CEO Niti Aayog as directed by PMO. Subsequently CEO Niti Aayog has called a meeting with all stakeholders. Based on the decisions taken in the meeting a draft SFC note was prepared and circulated to all concerned Ministries for comment. The SFC Committee approved the proposal on 14.7.2016. The final guidelines of the scheme were circulated on 25th July, 2016.
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