Jan 19: The M/o Tribal Affairs has signed two important MoUs with KVIC of M/o Small & Medium Enterprises. Responding to the clarion call of the Prime Minister to embrace Khadi as a philosophy and as a critical component of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat and Vocal for Local, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) through the National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS), entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to procure around 6 lakh metre of Khadi Fabric at an approximate cost of around Rs. 15 crores. The uniforms have been designed by the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). At present there are 73000 tribal students residing in Eklavya Model Residential Schools in remote locations of 23 states of India. The MoU was been signed in the presence of Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Shri Arjun Munda and Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Shri Nitin Gadkari. Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Smt Renuka Singh Saruta, Minister for State for MSME Shri Pratap C. Sarangi, Chairman KVIC Shri V.K. Saxena and Secretary, MoTA Shri Deepak Khandekar were present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Shri Arjun Munda stated that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs under leadership of the Prime Minister has laid a lot of emphasis on development of tribal education through one of its flagship interventions of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) to impart quality education to ST students. “There was no standardized school uniform design for the students in theseschools till now. National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), New Delhi has designed the dress with a distinct logo and color scheme and best available khadi cloth available for dress material has been chosen which will be sourced from KVIC,” the Minister explained. The current requirement of 6.0 lakh metre khadi fabric shall increase in subsequent years as enrolment in the schools will go up.
Shri Arjun Munda said that the two MoUs will herald a new chapter in the partnership between the two ministries and promote local manufacture and employment. It will go a long way to re-emphasize the message of ‘Swadesh’ and ‘Swaraj’ given by Gandhiji and of Atmanirbhar Bharat by Prime Minister Sh Narendra Modi. This is our contribution to discharge the responsibility of making a New India as envisaged by our Prime Minister, the Minister said. Giving more details, Sh Arjun Munda said that the Government has allocated Rs 45000 cr to various Ministries as STC for spending on the welfare of Tribals and the Tribal Affairs Ministry has set up a Monitoring Cell which keeps an account of this STC through data management. The Ministry-wise allocation, expenditure of STC, and outcomes are reflected on the Dashboard of the Ministry, the Sh Arjun Munda disclosed.
He informed that MoTA is ensuring digitalization to ensure that the benefits reach tribal areas. In the year 2018-19, the Eklavya Model Residential School scheme was revamped to substantially increase the geographical outreach and introduce various qualitative changes to improve the learning outcomes of the students. “452 new EMRSs will be coming up in the remote tribal blocks of the country. This is a giant leap in the arena of tribal education as by the year 2022 there will be 740 EMRS across the country,”he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Nitin Gadkari said the Ministry of Tribal Affairs will procure over 6 lakh meters of Khadi fabric worth Rs 14.77 crore in 2020-21, for the students in Eklavya Residential Schools being run by the ministry. He said, the quantum of purchase of Khadi fabric shall also increase proportionally with the increase in the number of Eklavya Schools every year.
He explained that Children, who are the future of this country, have always been a focus of various schemes and programmatic attention of the Government of India. “Be it schemes of education, sports, skill development, nutrition or all-round development taking the concept of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’, Government of India has taken a number of landmark steps. There could not be a more befitting way than this to take the message of Mahatma Gandhi to the tribal villages as the country is in the midst of “150 years of Celebrating the Mahatma,” Shri Gadkari mentioned.
The 2ndMoU signed during the day was between NSTFDC and KVIC. NSTFDC is a Section 25 company under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs responsible for implementing concessional loan schemes for the economic development of tribals in India for funding entrepreneurial ventures of aspiring scheduled tribes in all sectors of economy. NSTFDC has been enrolled as implementing agency under PM Employment Generation Program (PMEGP scheme) in order to increase the coverage of PMEGP amongst STs. With the signing of this MoU, National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC) will be added as an implementing agency under PMEGP and is landmark initiative to bring synergy between NSTFDC and KVIC. It would result in identification of the prospective ST micro-enterprises to be financed under PMEGP Scheme and help in increasing coverage of PMEGP in tribals. Therefore, the MoU between NSTFDC and KVIC will formalize this arrangement and will be able to reach out to tribal entrepreneurs under the larger ambit of PMEGP scheme.
Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Smt Renuka Singh Sarutaand Minister for State for MSME Shri Pratap C. Sarangi highlighted the benefit that the two MoUs will bring to the local manufacture industry and to the Tribal population. They pointed out that through this focused attention, the tribals will now get an opportunity to participate in Gram Udhyog. Chairman KVIC Shri V.K. Saxena and Secretary, MoTA Shri Deepak Khandekar also expressed their happiness that this is a big new beginning that will encourage increased partnership in other similar areas to benefit both local manufacture and tribal livelihoods.
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