On the occasion of Vishwakarma Jayanti, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath declared that the state government had set a target to train 75,000 artisans and craftsmen in the state under the Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana (VSSY).

“The MSME department must set a target to train 75,000 new artisans and craftsmen in the next three months to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and prepare an action plan so that we can provide them with toolkits soon,” the chief minister said while distributing toolkits to 21,000 beneficiaries of Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana (VSSY) and loans to 11,000 beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana in Lucknow on Friday.

Speaking at the event, Yogi said that Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana was launched  on December 26, 2018, and since then, the government had been working towards making the artisans and craftsmen self-reliant.

“Schemes like ODOP (One District One Product) and VSSY have created immense employment opportunities in the state. During the pandemic, people had to struggle for work as lockdown was imposed. More than 40 lakh migrant workers came to the state and it was a challenge to make them strong. Through the ODOP scheme, we have strengthened the labourers and both ODOP and Vishwakarma schemes have set an example and generated immense employment opportunities,” he said.

“In order to provide the necessary impetus and momentum towards entrepreneurship and self-reliance, the state government has trained over 68,400 people and provided toolkits worth about Rs 100 crore to them under the VSSY since December 2018,” the chief minister said.

Yogi further said that the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to provide a platform to traditional craftsmen and train them.

“Working on this, toolkits are being distributed to more than 21,000 artisans and craftsmen of the state. The state government is making its traditional artisans and entrepreneurs self-reliant so that they can contribute to achieving the goal of a self-reliant India. Every skill should get a platform and be made strong whether it is the cobbler, barber, or carpenter of the village. They should be connected with technology by giving higher training. A training allowance of Rs 250 per day should also be given,” he said.

Till date, one lakh craftsmen have been linked to this scheme and have been trained and provided toolkits.

“We have to give respect to the artisans as they were our heritage,” he said.

Congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday, Yogi said that during his 20 years of public service as chief minister of Gujarat and prime minister of India, Modi Ji had given a new direction to society.

He said the state government was organising Vikas Utsav from Thursday and it would continue till October 7 to commemorate 20 years of public service of the prime minister.

“In 2017, we had to search the entire state to collect 51,000 lamps for the festival of lights in Ayodhya. This year we are going to light seven-and- half lakh diyas. This has become possible as we have connected the artisans with technology and provided them with the proper environment to showcase their talent. Our artisans had stopped making the idols of Lakshmi-Ganesh. Earlier, we used to depend on China for them. The previous governments did not pay attention to this issue. Today, the local artisans are a happy lot,” he pointed out.

MSME Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said that the economic model of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had worked in taking the state towards self-reliance.