Two MoUs were signed on Tuesday between the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the MSME Ministry to encourage indigenous products under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's self-reliant India Mission. On this occasion, Minister of Road Transport and MSME Nitin Gadkari, Minister of State for MSME Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda and Minister of State Renuka Singh Saruta were present.
According to the first MoU, Khadi dresses will be provided to children in Eklavya schools across the country. It is noteworthy that Eklavya NIFT, Delhi has been designed for children's uniforms. This will not only give a boost to khadi in the country but will also strengthen the handicrafts.
The first MoU is about the purchase of khadi cloth for tribal students and the second is regarding the involvement of Ministry of Tribal Affairs with KVIC as an implementing agency for Prime Minister Employment Generation Program (PMEGP) to create local jobs by strengthening a large section of the Khadi artisans and tribal population across the country.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs will purchase more than 6 lakh meters of Khadi cloth worth Rs 14.77 crore in the year 2020-21. This cloth will be purchased for uniforms etc of students of Eklavya Residential Schools. As the number of Eklavya schools will increase every year, the purchase of Khadi cloth will also increase in the same proportion.
Under the second MoU, the National Scheduled Tribes Finance Development Corporation (NSTFDC) will be prepared as a partner to implement the PMEGP scheme. The corporation is an agency of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, responsible for the economic development of tribal people in the country. This corporation provides concessional loan schemes to finance entrepreneurial ventures of people from willing Scheduled Tribes in all sectors of the economy. This MoU will benefit tribal people by creating self-employment opportunities involving them in various production activities. This cooperation of NSTFDC and KVIC will increase the number of tribal people in the PMEGP scheme.
Speaking on the occasion, Munda said that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has laid great emphasis on the development of tribal education through Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) to provide quality education to ST students. "There was no standardized school uniform design for students in these schools till now. The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in New Delhi has designed this dress with a different logo and colour scheme and the best available for dress material. The available Khadi fabric has been selected which will be sourced from KVIC. In subsequent years the current requirement of 60 lakh meters of Khadi fabric will increase as enrollment in schools will increase.
Munda said that this is the beginning of a new chapter in India and it will promote vocals for local and employment. It will go a long way to re-emphasize the message of Swadesh and 'Swaraj' given by Gandhi and self-reliant India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The government has allocated 45000 crore rupees to various ministries as STC to spend on the welfare of the tribals and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has set up a monitoring cell which will keep an account of this STC through data management. is.
Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari said that more than 6 lakh meters of Khadi cloth worth Rs 14.77 crore will be purchased for the students in Eklavya residential schools run by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. He said that with the number of Eklavya schools increasing every year, the quantity of Khadi fabric will also increase proportionately. He told that the children who are the future of this country have always been the center of various schemes and programmatic attention of the Government of India.
