Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Giriraj Singh, said that Khadi and Village Industries (KVIC) have provided cumulative employment to an estimated 140.36 lakh persons in 2017-18. Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, Shri Singh said the Ministry of MSME is implementing schemes through KVIC for generation of employment in the country. He informed that Tamil Nadu was the highest beneficiary of KVIC schemes generating employment for an estimated 19.23 lakh persons, closely followed by Uttar Pradesh with 19.00 lakh persons. West Bengal with employment given to 10.72 Lakh persons, Rajasthan 10.67 lakh persons, Maharashtra (including Dadra & Nagar Haveli) 10.15 lakh persons and Karnataka 6.47 lakh persons are the other big beneficiary states of KVIC Schemes.
KVIC implements the following schemes:
i) Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP): It is a credit linked subsidy scheme, for setting up of new micro-enterprises and to generate employment opportunities in rural as well as urban areas of the country through KVIC, State Khadi & Village Industries Board and District Industries Centre. Under the PMEGP scheme 48398 projects were assisted with estimated employment generation for 3,87182 persons during 2017-18.
ii) Market Promotion Development Assistance (MPDA): A unified scheme by merging Market Development Assistance, Publicity, Marketing and Market Promotion. The objective of the scheme is to ensure increased earnings for artisans.
iii) Interest Subsidy Eligibility Certificate (ISEC): The Scheme provides credit at concessional rate of interest through Banks as per the requirement of the Khadi institutions.
iv) Workshed Scheme for Khadi Artisans: The Scheme provides financial assistance for construction of workshed to khadi artisans belonging to BPL category. This empowers khadi spinners and weavers to chart out a sustainable path for growth, income generation and better work environment.
v) Strengthening infrastructure of weak Khadi institutions and assistance for marketing infrastructure: Under this scheme, financial assistance is provided to existing weak Khadi institutions for strengthening of their infrastructure and for renovation of selected khadi sales outlets.
vi) Khadi Reform and Development Programme (KRDP): It aims to revitalize the khadi sector with enhanced sustainability of khadi, increased incomes and employment for spinners and weavers, increased artisans’ welfare and to achieve synergy with village industries.
vii) Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI): The Scheme envisages providing need-based assistance for replacement of production equipment, setting up of common facility centres (CFC), product development, quality improvement, improved marketing, training and capacity building etc.
viii) Honey Mission: KVIC launched Honey (Bee) Mission in July, 2017 for promoting Beekeeping and generating employment in the beekeeping potential States of the country. One of the objectives of the Scheme is to encourage scientific beekeeping practice for enhancing the income of farmers and rural youth.
KVIC also implements other promotional activities for the development of different village industries like pottery, polymer and chemical based, agro based, handmade paper and fiber based, bee-keeping and other forest based activities.
